A shark smile splits his beautiful face. “A second letter for my brother.”
I force myself to hold Kylian’s unflinching gaze as Kai’s screams puncture my heart.
“The only way I am walking down an aisle is if you drag me, kicking and screaming.”
Kylian scoffs. “Nonsense. What would I tell our children?”
I want to laugh. He has zero qualms about kidnapping and imprisoning, but he draws the line at a forced marriage.
“You’re delusional.”
He claps a hand over his toned chest. “And you are breaking my heart. Listen, I’m more than happy to keep playing this game with you. It’s oddly refreshing, hearing the wordno. But this is a game I intend to win. As for my feeble little brother…I wonder how much a body can take before just”—he snaps his fingers—“giving out.”
Another round of heartrending cries. Crimson blood drips from the tip of Mal’s serrated knife as I dare to read the three letters imprinted on Kai’s heaving chest.
Wor.
Fury tumbles through me.
“You know, this whole big bad bully act is pretty unoriginal. You must be compensating for something.” I make a face, nodding toward his groin.
He smirks, giving me a quick once-over. “Come over here and find out.”
“Better idea. Go fuck yourself.”
A sharp, gut-wrenching cry has my head snapping toward Kai. Mal has his dagger embedded in the fleshy space between his shoulder andneck. His face is pale, contorted in pain, his eyelids twitching as sweat beads on his brow.
“Mind your tongue when speaking to your king, witch.”
“Just stop! Stop hurting him. You want someone to smack around? Fine. I volunteer. But Kai has nothing to do with this.”
Kylian stoops to me like a god descending to his acolyte. He cups my cheek, his eyes raking over my mouth.
“Give me what I want, and this can all be over.”
Temptation—decadent,fataltemptation—drips from his smoky voice. Everything about him is designed to compel. His looks, his scent, the melodic, deep timbre of his voice.
“His suffering can end. We can start over, and I will lay the world at your feet,” he vows with sober conviction.
“I’m only interested in a world without you in it.”
He cocks his head. “Are you really as fearless as you claim to be? Something tells me you’re not, yet here you are gambling with my brother’s life.”
He’s right. The longer I put this off, the bigger risk Kai is at. I don’t know how much more he can take.
“Just tell me where she is. I promise to keep it between us.”
“Prophyria will destroy you on sight. She will obliterate you just like she obliterated Ienar.”
“Are you so sure about that?” His fingers toy with my hair. “My love, I have ways of dealing with dragons just like Ienar and his brother before him.”
My stomach sinks. I’m not sure what he means by that, but one thing is certain—the only thing powerful enough to destroy a god is dragon fire. Which is how both brothers met their demise.
I pull back to look him in the eye. “You want me to call her? Fine. Unbind me. It’s your funeral.”
Kylian’s features remain the same—impassive, unaffected, slightly amused. But for a moment, his expression flickers. It’s brief, but it’s there—that small hesitation.
“Oh, I see.” My parched lips pull into a tight smile. “You won’t do it. You’re afraid. Of her…Ofme. That’s why you haven’ttaken these chains off—not even to call my dragon. You’re so terrified, you had to level the playing field with these, you fucking coward.”
