I could climb up on Eros’ coffin, straddle him, and give them both a show.
Then, to add a little pizzazz, I’d cut off his dick when I was done.
Jeez. What was wrong with me?
I mean, it’s not like any of this was real. Vin was in Fairie right now, scouting out our location so he could take me to his village. Still, these twisted thoughts were…worrisome. It was a sign my monster was growing stronger. Which was a good thing when violence was the answer to whatever clusterfuck I was in at any given time. But sometimes, like last night after the council meeting, discretion was the wisest course of action.
Ugh. What a mess.
But at least... At least there was time now. If Eros wasn’t off in his knowledge of Fairie time, I had about a week before the vampire king showed up on the coven’s doorstep. That meant I had one week to convince Vincent to take me home and convince the Elders to supply an army or source my own. That or find Sapphire Lockheart and hope two Helsings would be enough to bury Thomas Knight once and for all.
No problem. Right?
Fuck me. How was I even supposed to convince Vin to take me home? His fae side was keeping the few brain cells he had capable of compassion and actual love on complete lockdown.
And I was in a cage. Worlds away from the only home I’d ever come to love. I was with Vincent, but I still felt...alone. After so many years of isolation, I was pretty damn over feeling so utterly alone.
I’d made a promise to myself to never feel alone again and to be no one’s prisoner.
Vincent Feral had made a liar out of me on two counts.
I locked eyes with the dark fae restrained on Eros’ coffin, or at least what remained of it, crushed beneath the male’s titanic mass.
My breath caught behind the fist-sized lump in my throat when I registered the hint of something foreign banked in my brutal mate’s gaze. When I parsed what it was, I was reminded again that this was nothing but an illusion.
Shining brightly in Vin’s obsidian orbs was the unmistakable glint of devotion, regret, and, most outlandish of all: humility.
I’d seen the devotion. Even the regret. Definitely not the humility, though, and never with the absence of that possessive, dark fire that always burned whenever he took on his most dangerous form.
“Princess. I love you.”
My tongue went limp in my mouth, and it took a second for me to make it work. “Is this the fae part I’m speaking to?”
“Yes.”
I stood a little taller and pressed a smile, even though it felt all wrong. “Then you’re a liar. All you want is to further your bloodline. You’re a wild monster. A beast. An animal. And animals don’t give two shits about the feelings of their mate. So long as you relieve your carnal urge to breed, it’s all good, right?”
The feather-speckled flesh wrapping his throat flexed with a swallow. “No. I want more than that. I want to make you happy. That’s all that matters.”
“You’re just saying that because that’s what I want you to say. The real you doesn’t believe that. Not for a damn second!”
He fought against his restraints, and an irate rumble peeled from his chest when they didn’t give. “Fuck you. Yes, I do.”
“No! Shut up! I’m tired of all the lies!”
“What do you want me to do?” the illusion snarled low, making my blood boil in my veins like lava-filled circuits beneath a volcano.
Any minute now, I’d explode.
“It doesn’t matter what I want because even if I tell you, you won’t listen to me.” I stomped over to the imprisoned hybrid, standing in the same spot I’d found Eros when I’d first entered the dream with the furnace fire behind me, its heat bleeding into my back. My fingers curled around the looped handles of the iron shears, and with one jerk of my arm, I dislodged them from the fae’s pelvic area.
“You never listen to me!” Now I was screaming. Seconds from combustion.
Vin’s jaw opened, probably to spew more lies.
I was over it. I’d had enough of his bullshit. So in a manic attempt to keep his dagger of deceit from driving any further into my heart, I plunged the shears deep into his.
And staked him.
