I’m unsure if I have nothing to say, or so much so it keeps me silent.
“He can’t meddle with you?—”
“What of my cunt mother?!” My fists slam onto the table with a loud crack. “Can’t hemeddlewith that bitch?” I seethe, the venom in my voice sharp enough to cut through the air. “Also—” I shoot to my feet, standing tall as the anger surges through me. “If you tell me he sent you to me to protect me, take me to him, or claim me, I will kill you over and over. Then, I’ll go find him, break his fucking horns off, and shove both up his ass.”
“Well…” He sucks air through his teeth. “I’ve got some bad news for you.”
I can’t be here. I may actually kill the dozen people in this room by accident.
“Fuck this shit.”
I turn sharply and find the nearest door before storming off. The fresh air hits me as I barrel through it, but it does little to soothe the suffocating pressure building inside. I feel like I’m trapped in a box and it’s slowly closing in on me.
My heart pounds, ricocheting between my stomach and throat. The moment my feet hit the grass, I double over, struggling to hold myself together. My hands press against my stomach, skimming over my skin as if to reassure myself. Fearfully, I search for any sign that something might be growing inside me.
Nothing, thank fuck.
I exhale a shaky sigh, the tension gradually easing.
Don’t worry, you’re fine. Youarefine.
“Succubae are ruled by Proserpina, whereas Incubi are governed by Belial.” Alaric’s voice comes over the ringing in my ears. “He couldn’t tell me anything because it would break the bondbetween him and Proserpina. Domestic dispute, as he put it.”
“What does hewantwith me?! Why couldn’t he have come to me himself?!”
“Again, Proserpina would be pissed.”
My hands won’t stop shaking. I can’t say I’m surprised because of how furious I am.
“He offered me something in exchange for keeping the prophecy from being fulfilled.”
I turn and drag my nails down my forearm, drawing blood, then sweeping it across the space in front of me. The crimson strands hang suspended in the air, held by my hemokinesis.
“What did he offer you, Alaric?” My body tenses, because I swear to the Gods themselves if he saysmeI am going to fucking lose it.
He sighs, shaking his head in response as he steps toward me. “You, but?—”
I twitch, shaping the blood into sharp, pointed daggers that vibrate in the air, mirroring the tremor coursing through my body.
“I didn’t accept that, because no offense, at the time what was I going to do with you? However, after some thought… I figured if I could save you?—”
“I don’t NEED saving!” My voice raises to a shout.
“—while also getting what I want, you’d be a beautiful consolation prize.”
An involuntary twitch occurs in my head. “I am not a fucking prize to be won.”
“But you are. Imagine for a moment: A Demon and a Divine being, creating a new race.”
I shake with my roar. “I’m not fucking livestock!”
“I’d never say that’s what you are, Xeraphine. I can see right now?—”
“Never, fucking NEVER!”
He continues as though I’m not screaming at the top of my lungs at him to stop. “—that what I want will be impossible, especially after what your mother has done to you. We are both eternal, and we have larger issues at play than creating a superior being.”
I must have been thrown into another universe—there’s no other fucking explanation for what’s happening right now. Do I not get a say in my own damn life?! My own body…
