“A warning for what? Ruspin? Kind of late for that, don’t you think?”
Her eyes narrowed to slits. “You have no idea who you’re messing with, Onyx.”
My stomach grumbled. “Fine, hurry up and warn me so I can go get breakfast.”
Her left eye twitched, and she clenched her jaw. “You think this is a joke? You think taking him from me is a fucking joke?”
“No. I think you’re a fucking psycho bitch who belongs in a cage.”
She sneered. “You have no idea!”
I slowly pushed myself up and dusted off my uniform. “I think I do.”
A cacophony of emotions flitted across her face. “I want him back.”
“Tough shit.”
She took a step toward me. “You’re going to get him back for me.”
“Um…how about go fuck yourself.”
“You’re going to assert a claim on Ruspin. You made a deal to free him, and so he owes you a debt. You’re going to cash it in by asking him to offer himself to me once more.”
She was delusional. “Why in the world would I do that?”
“Because if you don’t, everyone you care about will suffer.”
Seriously? I laughed. “That’s perfect because the only people I gave a shit about are dead. Everyone else is one-hundred-percent dispensable. So have fun with that.”
A few weeks ago, those words might have been true. Now? A bald-faced lie. But Tamina could never know.
“You think you’re stonehearted?” she hissed. “You think you’re above feelings? Well, we’ll see about that.”
A shiver ran up my spine. “Get a life, Tamina. Better yet, get some psychiatric help.”
I made to shove past her, but Theo grabbed hold of my arm and hauled me back. “You don’t get to disrespect the princess and walk away.”
“Theo?” Tamina said sharply. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to teach this bitch a little humility. I’m going to break her.”
I yanked at my arm, but his grip was steel. He threw me to the ground and covered me with his body.
“Theo!” Tamina cried.
“Get off me!” I bucked, trying to get in a position to roll him off, but he was too large—his limbs in all the wrong places for me to enact the move.
“Stop fighting, and you might even like it,” he said, breath hot on my cheek.
Horrific realization flooded me. I twisted, yanking a hand free to reach for the pin in my hair—but he was knocked off me before I could use it.
I scrabbled to my feet. Tamina was on top of Theo, her fingers curled into claws as they swiped at his face over and over. “Never! Never, never, never!” she screeched, eyes wild, blood-spattered across her face.
“Tamina!” Her cronies tackled her, prying her off her minion.
What the actual fuck? I backed up. She was chaos. They all were chaos. I grabbed my backpack and ran.
* * *
