“Did this happen here?”
“No.” Her voice was quiet and small as her eyes dropped from mine.
Swallowing down the rage I felt, I bit out in a low, calculating voice. “Who did this to you?” I didn’t care who the fuck it was, I was already planning their death.
I could feel the tension in her body, and I quickly realized that what I was seeing was a fucking handprint around her wrist. It looked like someone had tried to break it. I couldn’t even consider who the fuck would have touched her, who would have dared put a hand on her…
“I think it happened during the placement testing,” she murmured softly, but I didn’t believe her. The indifference in her voice told me that she sure as hell didn’t believe herself, either.
I used my other hand to grab her chin as she darted her gaze away to look over my shoulder. Kieran was lying to me.
Why the fuck was she lying to me?
“Kieran.”
“I should go.” She suddenly dipped out of my arms, backing away from me. She hesitated for a moment before she sighed heavily and said, “I really should go, Ronan.”
Before I could stop her, she ran from the stables and I heard her wings snap out. I followed her from the stable, watching as she took flight the second she was in open air, leaving me to watch her retreat in shock. Niz landed on my shoulder as I put a hand up to him for comfort, considering how the fuck I wanted to handle what I’d seen.
Someone was hurting Kieran, and they were going to fucking pay for that.
KIERAN
Following my failed testing with Ronan, I spent the majority of the afternoon avoiding my family’s home. I didn’t know how quickly Ronan would inform the council of my failure, but I knew it would happen eventually because my father would demand the results.
Instead, I spent most of the day wandering the kingdom’s busy streets, trying to appreciate the beauty in a place that I was probably going to have to leave soon. While my father hadn’t outwardly told me I needed to leave Alfemir, my options were either to be homeless here or to fall and trust in Gabe. My father wasn’t the type to back down from anything, and he had never made that type of threat to me before, so I felt certain he would stick to his plan.
When I finally arrived home that night, landing on the balcony, I found my bedroom door still locked and slipped the dagger—that apparently had some real separation anxiety—underneath my pillow before discarding my shredded jacket. Almost immediately, I fell into bed and into a deep and heavy sleep, exhausted from the lack of rest the night before.
Unfortunately, my sleep was far from dreamless. Instead, my dreams were filled with different memories and images—ofGabe’s smile and touch and the feel of Ronan’s lips against mine. But neither of those feelings were enough to banish the anxiety that woke me in a cold sweat for the second day in a row. I was shocked that my door still hadn’t been broken down and my ass thrown out onto the street in the middle of the night. Silver lining, I supposed.
I sat up in bed, staring at the brightening sky for nearly an hour and trying to figure out the best way to handle what I was sure I would face today before a hard knock eventually sounded on my door. The knock was one I was now familiar with after yesterday’s encounter.
Shit. He really was here to make good on his word.
Straightening my spine, I stared at the door, trying to convince myself that under no circumstance—no matter what he said—was I going to let him intimidate me. While I didn’t have an answer or a solution to his demand that I leave his house, I knew that I gave one hundred percent of my effort yesterday, and if he couldn’t see that…Well, there was literally nothing I could fucking do.
With a hard push, the lock of the door popped open. My father stepped into the space, fully dressed for the day and leveling a look of familiar disgust at me.
I was positive the man truly hated me at this point.
My bedroom door slammed closed behind him as he used his shoe to kick it shut. The silence between us was deafening as he paced the length of the room with his hands folded behind his back. Finally, he said, “You know…I thought yesterday, for just a moment, that maybe I hadn’t raised a complete failure—that you would have finally found some type of placement, even if it was amongst beasts. Instead, the news I received late last night was of the same note I’ve come to expect. Failure.Alwaysfailure with you.”
Anger tore through me as I tightened my hold on the bed sheets. “What would you have had me do? How am I supposed to make myself have a placement when I don’t? What would you have me change?—”
“Everything!” he roared, his voice echoing through the space as his expression contorted with disgust and fury. His cheeks reddened with emotion, all of the control he had mustered disappearing. “I would have you changeeverythingabout yourself. You are lazy. Entitled. A complete failure. You do not belong here in this kingdom, and you do not belong in this house.”
I hissed, hitting my limit as I stood and stalked forward. “Fuck you,Dad.Fuck you and every metric fuckton of pressure you have placed on my shoulders day after day, year after year. You don’t think I would love to have found a placement? To get you to finally leave me alone? To make you fuckingproudto have me as your daughter, for once?”
“But you haven’t.” He appeared in front of me, his finger hitting right below my throat in a hard jab that nearly made me stumble back. “You don’t have a placement, and you never will. That much is clear. I willnotwatch my own flesh and blood become a symbol of embarrassment and shame. I will not have you ruin my legacy when your wings are ripped from you and you are cast down amongst the humans. Your mother has left me enough shame to deal with, and I will not allow you to add to our burden.”
“Shame!” I demanded of him, eyes going wide as my mouth dropped at his audacity. “What shame does Mom have? You mean the shame you put on her because she can’t produce more heirs? How do you not see thatyou’rewhat’s wrong in all of this?Youare the problem!”
I cried out as my final words were met with a hard hit across the face, the slap making my ears ring as I bit down on my tongue. Blood welled inside of my mouth.
“You are the problem, Kieran, and you always have been. I want you out of my house. Immediately.”
“No,” I snarled, gritting my teeth and holding his gaze, my chin tilted up in protest. “I am not leaving. Get out of my room, now.” I put a hand on his chest in a hard shove, needing him to get out of my space immediately.
