“You’re afraid of death,” he responded, his eyes narrowing as he studied my face.
I shook my head. “Not anymore. Go ahead and kill me, War! Do it!” I replied. steady as I stared into his beaming eyes. I was pressing his buttons, willing to put my life on the line to see how he truly felt about me. It was a bold move, but I was desperate to find out the truth about his need for me.
“I think that poison fried your brain. You aren’t thinking clearly,” he replied.
“Fuck you!” I snapped, my voice cracking with frustration. I spun away, storming down the hallway.
“Don’t walk away when I’m talking to you!” War’s voice thundered, echoing off the stone walls. His footsteps pounded behind me.
“I’m going to check on my sisters!” I hurled back, refusing to look at him.
Suddenly, something snaked around my ankles. I crashed to the floor, dragged backward, my nails scraping desperate lines into the polished stone. War reeled me in, wrapping my locs around his fist, yanking me upright until I dangled before him. My neck arched, exposed, vulnerable, my breath coming in shallow gasps.
“Get away from me!” I gasped, pounding his chest with weak fists. He didn’t budge. Instead, his mouth found the sensitive spot beneath my jaw, his lips hot and hungry. My body shuddered, heat pooling low in my belly. He grabbed a handful of my ass, pressing me hard against the cold wall, his body pinning me in place.
“War…stop!” I moaned, breathless, but my voice betrayed me, trembling with passion. My hands clutched at his shoulders, torn between pushing him away and pulling him closer.
He pressed closer. “Your body’s begging me to keep going. You make me hard every time you look at me with those sad, miserable eyes. You owe me for leaving the park when I told you not to. Make it up to me, and I’ll let you see your sisters,” he murmured, tongue tracing a slick, burning path along my neck.
“We can’t keep doing this…it’s setting me crazy,” I replied, on the verge of exploding into tears of frustration. My voice wavered, my hands trembling against his chest. I wanted to know how War felt about me outside of his hate for Charmden. I wanted to know his deepest feelings.
“You set me crazy too, Eboenia. It wasn’t supposed to get this far, but when Sin came to me, I thought he was setting me up. Luring me in to get killed because I’m the new leader of my clan. I had to get inside his head to figure out if what he wanted me to do was real. In his thoughts, I saw you…I felt you. I needed to have you, even if I had to kill you too, I just wanted to feel you. I came to Charmden that night, to get you. Capture you and make you mine to play with because that nigga was wasting your time. I’m not a gentle lover, but I am protector…I just can’t protect you from me,” he said, his thumb tracing my jaw as he spoke.
“You knew who I was when I saw you in the city, leaving the club with my friends? You should’ve just told me the truth from the beginning. It didn’t have to get this far. This curse is like a wave…it takes me up and then brings me back down,” I responded, my eyes glistening with tears.
A tear fell down my cheek and War licked it away. “It did have to get this far. I wanted you to see the destruction I broughton your people so that you’ll fear the thought of dying by my hands,” he replied, like a dark-hearted, obsessed psychopath.
“This is your final destination, Lor Pussy Fairy. You just gotta stop fighting and fall into me, so I can catch you and hold you forever,” he whispered. He pulled my lip down, tracing his tongue across the marking inside my lip. My eyes fluttered, feeling the darkness his grip had over me. My thoughts were spiraling and my pussy was leaking. My nipples tightened, the ache between my thighs growing unbearable. Wetness slicked my skin, the scent of my sweet cream thick in the air, wrapping around us like a spell.
“Okay,” I finally whispered, surrendering, my body relaxing into his hold.
I glanced down, catching the sight of his erection straining against his jeans. I was drawn to him like a bee to honey, wanting him to maliciously pound out my pussy, and feeling weak at his mercy. A portal opened, revealing a staircase shaped like clockwork gears, each step ticking with a chilling energy. War’s voice rumbled behind me. “I’m right behind you. Lead the way.” He placed a firm hand on the small of my back, guiding me forward.
I walked up the stairs that seemed to float in a dark sky, and at the very top was a door. When I reached the final step, the door opened, and I walked into paradise.
I found myself in a room that had to be the highest part of the tower—because when I looked out the window, I could see two worlds: his, and beneath it, Baltimore City. We were inside a three-floor bedroom. Books lined shelves that climbed the walls all the way up to a dome-shaped ceiling etched with glowing runes. His floating bed hovered above a glass-like floor, makingme feel like I was walking across the sky. Sleek lamps drifted in the air, enchanted plants floated in the corners, and a wall-sized screen displayed shifting arcane symbols. Near the bed, a massive fish tank held a strange sea creature with gold scales and ancient markings, gliding through the water like a living relic. I was locked in on it, tapping the glass. It opened its mouth, revealing sharp, jagged teeth—a mashup of Komodo dragon and axolotl.
“Now, this is heavenly,” I said aloud, my voice full of awe.
War glided his hand across my ass cheek as he walked by. “This room belonged to the first wizard. It was his second home,” he said.
“I thought he only lived in Charmden,” I said, watching him undress.
“He created this world while living in Charmden—he died because of it, too,” War replied.
“What do you mean he died for it? I thought he died during the battle at the ceremony.”
War turned to face me, he delicately peeled away what was left of my black rose dress. The petals had wilted, shriveling up as they dropped to the floor. “You really think those weak Charmden warriors were strong enough to kill me?” he asked, nostrils flaring.
When War talked, he slipped in and out—sometimes he spoke about his old self, the wizard, in third person, other times he used ‘I,’ like he was both people at once. It was like Azarion and Cashaun were having a conversation through him. Azarion was quick to snap, but Cashaun was the one who tried to protect me. I was finally starting to tell them apart.
“I was just going by what you painted on the wall downstairs,” I said quietly.
He traced his fingers down my arm, sending goosebumps racing over my skin. “There were missing chapters,” he admitted, his voice softer.
“Are you going to share them with me?”
War just smirked and unclasped my necklace. My wings unfurled, stretching and fluttering, finally free. A floor-to-ceiling mirror appeared—a gleaming gold frame with tree branches winding through the metal, standing on four legs shaped like upside-down horns. The inside of the mirror sparkled, opening into a lush forest.
