Rocks.
The first one strikes his temple with a sickening thud before the stones start raining down upon him like a swarm of locusts. He takes each one, wincing and grunting. The crowd laughs as crimson streams trickle down his head and neck, staining his broken body in their wake.
“STOP!” I cry, lurching out of my seat to lean over the balcony. “Stop it! Kai!”
He thankfully loses consciousness, but as his full weight sinks and his body goes limp, his shoulders dislocate. I scream, unable to look away as his head droops. It’s a pitiful sight.
I watch in helpless horror as the stones begin to leave deep gashes and dents in his head and face, and parts of him become visible that should never be visible.
I dash toward the exit and am met with a wall of guards, shoulder to shoulder. I whirl back to Kylian.
“You need to stop this now. You’re going to kill him.”
Kylian has the nerve to ignore me and laugh as another large stone collides with Kai’s mouth, causing blood to pool out from his slack jaw.
I twist toward Ilspeth sitting there, cold and unfazed. Fully unaffected as she watches her son’s brains revealed beneath that beautiful head of dark hair. Rage like I’ve never known courses through me, and I don’t need magic for what I do next.
In one stride, I close the distance between us, lifting my heavy, ore-bound hands and bringing them across her face at a downward angle. I barely have time to appreciate her wide-eyed reaction before I’m toppling her back, throne and all. Satisfying red gashesappear on her smooth face as I unleash the feral animal inside of me.
“That is your son, you fucking monster!”
I claw at her, shredding her skin with my nails before Mal has me pinned to the ground by my neck, fangs bared. Kylian’s laughter fills the box before Mal’s fist connects with my face and bright light explodes across my vision. He pulls his hand back again, but the blow doesn’t come. I blink up to see Kylian holding Mal by the throat, suddenly seething.
“Strange. I don’t recall giving you permission to touch her face.”
Kylian shifts, and then Mal is bent backward over the railing, his feet kicking for purchase. He clutches Kylian’s wrist—the only thing keeping him from his waiting death below.
I struggle to make sense of what I’m seeing. Is Kylian actually defending me? Is this some kind of sick, possessive thing? Onlyhe’sallowed to torment me?
“Kylian.” Ilspeth’s icy voice is a sharp command. “Let him go.”
Kylian dangles Mal a moment longer before wrenching him away from the ledge. Before he can even recover, Kylian snatches up his collar and yanks him forward to whisper something in his ear, his expression lethal. Just like it was when he ripped out that girl’s heart for slapping me.
He shoves Mal aside, and without a word, bends to toss me over his shoulder. I scream my head off, shouting Kai’s name all the way back to Kylian’s room.
“You killed him.” He shrugs me off his shoulder, and I fall to the ground in a heap. “You killed him,” I repeat over and over, a broken record, unable to rid myself of the image of Kai hanging there, lifeless, brains exposed.
“Oh, spare me the dramatics. My brother will be fine. I can’t say the same for Mother’s face.”
“I hope it scars,” I seethe. That bitch had it coming.
He drops to a crouch before me, elbows resting on his knees. His hand reaches toward my face and I cringe back.
“Don’t fucking touch me.”
“Let me see your face,” he snaps, grabbing it and turning it to the side where Mal cold-cocked me.
“Why are you so obsessed with my face?”
He shoots me a dark look before assessing my cheek. It hurts like hell already, and I can feel my eye swelling shut. Kylian cradles the side of my head, smoothing over the growing bump on my brow a few times. Warm light dances around my periphery as I watch him, my chest heaving.
“What are you doing?”
“That should feel better by the morning,” he murmurs.
“Did you justheal my face?”
He drops his hand. “Have dinner with me.”
