“Koen, she’s right. I killed her brother.” The tips of my boots glide in the white sand, casually walking up towards her. “Shutup,” Koen hisses, glancing over his shoulder, not daring to let his eyes glance up to meet mine.
“You have no right to tell me what the hell I should do!” My voice drips to a low grunt, biting the inside of my bottom lip. Who the hell does he think he is?
Klayra scuffs, biting her dagger blade in between her teeth as she tousles her teal hair up into a high messy bun, covering the other buns that were once visible. “You know our code!” she grunts through her clenched teeth. “You more than anyone should know that her soul shall be taken for killing one of the past chosen eights!”
He was a chosen?
Koen takes a dangerous step towards her, cracking his neck as his fingers roll over the hilt of his dagger. “Stand down, Kly. I won’t ask again.”
“Then don’t ask again,” I mutter, crossing my arms as I blow a strand out of my face. “I thought you couldn’t help me anymore.”
Koen frustratedly groans, throwing his hands up as he shifts on his heels to turn, but fights with his mind not to do so. “Damn it,Serene, not now!”
I let out a sarcastic scuff. “Quit barking orders at me.”
“Her heart must be thrown in the fire!” She throws her arm out towards the statue in the center. “As the last true Queen ordered us to! It’s in the damn code!”
“I don’t give a damn about the code when it comes to her life!” Koen's voice explodes through the air, causing me to recoil and take a step back.
“Oh now you care,” I mutter under my breath. “Why are you protecting me?”
“Damn it, Serene!” His eyes widen. “Enough!”
Klayra’s brows lift, ripping the blade out from her teeth to stand in an attack position. “You can’t stop me from killing her. She decided to take his life, and now this is her fate. This iswritten in the ways from our Gods. You chose this life, now honor it!”
Florian shifts in front of me, holding out his arm, ready to protect me if need be.
Koen glances over his shoulder, noticing Florian’s movement. A cocky grin spreads across his face, his lips curling with a hint of amusement. He scuffs under his breath, a low, rumbling sound that suggests he's holding back laughter. As if he is doubting Florian's ability to protect me.
But the truth is, I fear Florian might go to the ends of this world to save me. No matter what it costs him.
And as I stare at Koen, the one I want,the one I crave to be near me instead, I begin to wonder… would he do the same?
He said he would kill me. Now he protects me. Unsure what sort of mind games he is playing, but it needs to end.
A raging scream bellows from Klayra’s throat, whipping my attention towards her as she lunges towards me. Her veins swell against her neck but a body blocks me before she can reach me. A grunt rips from the depths of his throat, dark blood splashing against the white dirt. His arm is blocking the blade that was directly targeted towards me.
Koen.
He rips his gaze back towards her. “If you so much as breathe near a single strand of her hair, if you even dare look her way again,” Koen growls, his voice a low, dangerous rumble that echoes around us. I have yet to hear his voice turnso dark, sodeep, sofast.
He grips the blade that ripped through his skin, yanking it out with a violent tug. “I'll tear your heart out of your chest with my bare hands and crush it while you watch.”
Chapter 29
“Only a huntress can see the hunter’s mark. However, the eye of a dragon can see them, which is a weakness to the hunter. How can a huntress hide if the eye of a dragon is always searching for them?” - Book of Azure
“KOEN!” I SHRIEK, MY VOICE cracking with fury as my brows draw together.
“What the hell is wrong with you!” I shout, feeling heat radiating through my neck.
“You don’t understand what she is capable of…”
“And you think I can’t handle this myself?” I snicker, my eyes locked on his lips that pull between his teeth with defiance.
“It's not that.”
“I dare her to try and burn me.” Klayra chokes on a laugh, wiping the sweat beads that roll down her face with her arm. “She has no idea who she has messed with.”
