“Strange?”
“Tired,” he admits, blinking sleepy eyes at me.
His head lolls to the side and I capture him in my arms as he slumps.Malus’ Thorns. The weight of him is incredible. If I don’t get him on the bed, then he’ll simply crash to the floor. “Don’t you dare.” I grab his chin. “Bael, wake up.”
“What...” He blinks again. “What’s wrong with me?”
“Bael, stand up.”
Somehow, I manage to manoeuver him toward the bed. We crash onto the mattress together, thwarted desire and curiosity mingling within me.
I have to know.
I have to.
“The monster inside you,” I whisper. “What is it?”
Bael blinks at me, fighting the urge to close his eyes. “Hungry.”
“The truth!” I shake him.
Our eyes meet.
“You know the truth,” he growls.
And then his eyes roll up in his head.
Chapter 12
Zyla
True vengeance is best served at knifepoint.”
—ZYLA BASHKIRIA
Bael’s breathing comes soft and slow in the quiet night.
One in. One out. The rhythm a soft cadence that keeps my nerves stretched tight as I lie there staring at the pillow wall between us.
My hair is bound in a plait in order to keep the oils in, and the scent of it makes me restless for it reminds me of home. Not my aunt’s home. Not the refuge Aylin and I found when we’d run from the city…
Buthome.
A distant memory now. Merely the rumble of my father’s deep voice, even if I can barely recall his face. The warmth of my mother’s hands and the sound of her laughter. The smell of coconut oil, and camel’s milk, and spiced cinnamon. And Mother’s hum, a murmured lullaby as her soft hand strokes the hair from my face, whilst I lie safe and protected in my once distant bed.
Something hot and wet leaks down my cheek, but I dash it from my face, forcing those memories away.
I’m not that little girl anymore.
I’m no longer safe. I’m no longer loved.
I know nightmares exist now.
I’m alone, and alive, and the only thing that sustains me after everything I’ve suffered is the promise of fury and vengeance.
The knights took my sister from me.
But it had been the Beast of Kerawan who claimed her, his insatiable appetites bringing about Aylin’s ruin.
