Don’t you fucking talk about her, I wanted to scream. I thrashed against his hold on my mind, feeling those dark fingers loosen. For a moment, an image of Ivy flashed across my mind.
Broken. Bloody. Back seeping from wounds that made me physically ill.
Dante shoved me down, taking over with force. “Brother has fight in him,” I growled in that same distorted voice. “Would be best killinghim.”
To that, Elias snarled. “You know we won’t do that, and neither will you.”
“You sure?” I felt myself grin, blood filling my mouth. “He is…useless.”
“If that were the case, you would have killed him by now. But he’s fighting you. He’s going to keep fighting you. For Ivy. For his mate and Queen. He won’t give up,” Elias said.
Chains coiled around my arms, chest, and torso, before snaking up to wrap around my throat. I reared back like I’d been burned, but no sound passed my lips. It fuckinghurt, but I could tell it threw Dante off-kilter.
The magic of the binds glowed a deep, unforgiving red, swirling around me until there was nothing but ancestral magic.
Elias sat back, crossing his arms. “You came out to play for something. Why are you here?”
“I’m going to break her,” I said, unable to stop myself. “So close to learning your secrets.”
Elias kept his features neutral, despite the storm of rage building within his eyes. But somehow, he maintained control.
“Considering keeping her alive after power transfer,” I continued, each word like glass cutting my throat. “She has something I will need. Something that will keep you all in line. I just need to uncover it first. Seer hid it too well.”
From the other side of the table, Rowan slammed his fists into the wood. “You’ll always be ten steps behind my mother,” he sneered. “She knows what you’re doing, and you will not win.”
Goddess above, I hoped he was right.
But Dante said, “You hated her.”
Rowan stormed over to me—him—and sneered. “You seem to think you know a lot, Dante. But I never liked you, and the only reason I put up with you was for Adrian’s sake. Which I deeply regret.” Rowan grabbed the back of the chair and leaned down to get in my face. “If you’ve planted yourself in my head, I will make you regret it. If you touch my mate again, I will make you yearn for death. And if you do not leavemy best friend, you soul sucking piece of shit, I will hunt you down personally and create for you your own personal hell. You might think you’ve won, but we haven’t even started yet. The war isn’t over, and my mate isn’t the weak human you think she is. She’ll break free of your hold, and she’ll take everything down with her.”
There was no response from Dante immediately, but I made a gurgling sound, head snapping forward as more blood filled my mouth. Rowan pulled back, stepping away as I thrashed against my chains.
Dante fought to maintain control, but I felt him slipping. There was still more he wanted to do—to say. I felt those intentions rushing through me as if they were my own. And it was horrifying.
“He was waiting. Like he knew I would try to break through,” Blythe said, voice trembling. “I am so sorry.”
Someone responded, but I couldn’t hear those words as I shoved Danteout. I fought him for control, something I knew he couldn’t maintain for much longer, no matter how hard he tried. His grasp was slipping, even if I knew my own struggle was weak.
When I lifted my head, blood dripped from my nose, the corners of my lips. But for a moment, I could use my voice. “Don’t let him out again.”
Rowan took a step towards me. “Adrian?—”
“No,” I growled, wincing as Dante tried to take me again. “He’ll keep coming back. You need to—you need to lock me up.” I squeezed my eyes shut, skull pounding. “Or put me down. He knows too much.”
He knows everything, I wanted to say but couldn’t make the words pass my lips.
We hadn’t anticipated him being so ingrained in my head that we hadn’t taken any real precautions against him. I’d attended every meeting, every discussion about our plans to storm Luna and get Ivy back.
Now, Dante knew it all, too.
Everything we’d done this last week was for nothing.Because Dante had been here the whole time. He’d picked at all my memories in an instant and pulled free the ones he needed most.
My head snapped forward again, and I let out a pained groan. When I lifted my chin, it wasn’t me in control.
“Listen to him, don’t. Either way, she’s still mine,” I said in that same, distorted voice.
Before Dante could say any more, darkness crossed my vision, the smell of something sweet tickling my nose. I welcomed being free of Dante, even if only briefly. Because he couldn’t control me when I was unconscious.
