Seven’s head turns swiftly toward me, and his big brown eyes hold even more concern in them than usual. Christian’s fury burns brighter where the redness tinges his glinting gaze.
“And Delilah?”
“I don’t want your sister. I don’t want your lands or your crown. I only want her.” He nods toward me. His voice is steady,but the moment he says those things, my heart stutters at the sound of someone blatantly stating they want me. Even someone as terrifying as the Thorn King. “Maybe someday, I’ll come back to right the darkness that’s staining our lands, but not today.”
“And how do I know you won’t just kill her?”
“You mean like your father would?”
I swallow hard at that fact.
This morning, I wanted so badly to escape. I thought I’d run tonight. Instead, I ran right into their arms. And I’m still facing the same fate I was when I woke up chained to a vampire prince’s bed.
The Thorn King is offering me life. Maybe he’s a monster of a man, but at least he doesn’t want to eat me alive. Jesus. It’s pathetic how low the bar is for the men in my life.
“I’ll go. I want to go.” I meet Christian’s eyes, and there’s quiet pain there mixed in with the dark violence. For the first time possibly ever, he shows his remorse in the downturned line of his lips.
He can’t protect me from his father. Not unless he kills him. I don’t honestly believe Christian has the ability to do that. Despite how much he seems to hate him, there’s a sick, twisted loyalty between them. And above all, I don’t want more blood on his hands because of me.
He said it himself: He’ll never have me. But he won’t let anyone else have me either.
I can’t live like that.
I need safety. I’ve always needed safety.
Now more than ever.
“She’ll be safe there,” Rorrick whispers to his friend, mirroring my own thoughts.
Deep down, I know Christian knows that. I know he knows he put me in this situation. And I know he hates himself more than I ever could.
I can see it in the depths of his silver eyes.
“You want to go with this monster?” His tone is cutting, his cruelness turned on me now despite the sadness in his gaze. “Go. A war will come of it, either way.”
He steps back from me. It’s only a single step, but my emotions launch the moment he does, twisting around and tightening in my chest.
Can I truly walk away from the only men in my life that ever made me feel like a goddess even while bound in chains?
Rorrick doesn’t acknowledge me. I study him for a long hard moment but he only focuses on the ground. He doesn’t speak. He can’t even look at me.
Just—Look at me!
You’ll be safe with him.His velvety warm voice enters the intimate space of my mind like a secret I’ll never hear again after tonight.
Still he doesn’t meet my gaze. Hot tears prick my eyes but I refuse to let them fall.Why do they all make it seem so easy to shove me away? Why can’t it feel that easy for me too?
My heart sinks while my stomach turns. What if I can’t do it? What if my life is just as tragic in the fae world as it was in the human world? What if?—
“I’m going with her,” someone says. The words are spoken quietly but effectively. Every pair of eyes drifts toward the one man who hasn’t said a single word:
Seven.
His hand slides into mine. He’s confident. He’s assured enough for the both of us. And I’m so incredibly thankful for that.
The Thorn King pauses on our interlocked fingers before he swiftly calls out to unseen soldiers. Pain slices through my chest, cutting my heart in two. I hold the prince’s gaze for far too long, hating that I can’t see a single ounce of emotion inhis steely eyes. He looks exactly the same as that first confusing night in The Neon Gods Club: devastatingly handsome, and yet, emotionally empty.
A chaotic wind bursts around me, a shrieking of bats and a sound like a thousand wings beating at once crashes into my chest. The metal slide of swords being drawn can be heard around me. But none of it matters. Because suddenly, Christian is pressed against me. His hand captures my chin and he tilts my head up firmly. Depthless eyes tainted with a pulsing ring of red look down on me. My heart beats wildly against his chest. It pounds so hard within me it makes up for the silence within him.
