I smirk. He’s playing the game now. “Of course, Prince Koa. What is it?”
He dips his head in gratitude.Really laying it on thick, huh, Koa?“Thank you, Your Highness.” He gestures toward Elle and says, “I’m assuming you’d like to keep the kingdom under the guise that this is Mae, so I would not recommend a prisoner transfer. We have ancient wards in our dungeons that prevent portaling, which would mean we’dneed to take her to a separate location before transporting her. To do so would require more guards to ensure it can be done successfully. The fewer people that know of her existence, the better.”
Cora’s next words have me fighting to contain Elle.
“Fine. Kill her there.”
After Cora assigned House Panthera with Mae’s death, she left the throne room with Katze to discuss the details. She didn’t ask me to join, and frankly, I didn’t want to.
The moment the guards shut the door behind them, I released Elle from my control and ordered her to leave. I didn’t care where she went. I just needed to be alone in silence. To sit with my thoughts and think through what comes next.
I stand and stretch the ache from my back. I fucking hate this throne. Every day, I wonder a little more why I wanted this so badly to begin with.
All I wanted was power, but Cora holds onto all of it with an iron fist.
The silence that I yearned for quickly becomes overwhelming. My thoughts threaten to pull me into the darkest corners of my mind as I question everything I’ve done, and it’s too hard to pull myself back from that place once I go there. I exit the throne room. I don’t know or care where I’m going, I just need to get away.
The frigid air bites against my skin as I exit the castle. Bare trees and gray clouds are my only companions as I walk the cobblestone path. Even the birds are silent, or absent. I wouldn’t blame them if they chose to flee this place, too.
My steps lead me to the pool terrace. A singular figure sits on the edge, feet soaking in the water.
Elle.
A guard stands watch over her. She wears nearly nothing, her skin pebbled as the wind gusts past. I can’t help but wonder if she’s trying tokill herself slowly, or if she’s just punishing herself for every choice she’s ever made that has landed her here. It’s what I would do. It’s what I do.
Leaves crunch under my black loafers as I approach, but she doesn’t turn. Her head remains down, fixed on the swirling water at her feet.
I stand there, watching her, wondering why the fuck I’m here.
Her blood-red hair running halfway down her back. What would it feel like to run my fingers through it?
She pulls her feet from the frigid pool and rises. She turns to me. Her eyes are empty, devoid of any emotion at all, except, maybe, for hopelessness. My heart does a weird thing as I find myself wishing for her anger. For the way her eyes narrow to slits, how her cheeks flush with the lightest burst of pink, how her lips part, ready to hurl insults sharp as the edge of a blade.
My heart squeezes again, and I turn to the guard. “Get her a towel,” I say, “And find her some shoes.”
He disappears, and I’m about to turn back and ask Elle why she’s out here, but jagged nails dig into my cheeks, clawing at my eyes.
“Fuck!” I curse, trying to fling her off me. But it does nothing. Her legs are wrapped around my waist.
“Your Highness!” the guard exclaims, rushing toward me.
I wave him off. “Stand down,” I growl as I try to unlock Elle’s legs. How do they look so frail, yet still have this much power?
“You motherfucker!” she screams as she wraps her hands around my neck. I grab her wrists and yank them apart. She flies from my back and lands in a heap on the ground. She jumps back up and I grab her wrist again, twisting it behind her and pulling her back flush against my chest. I wrap one arm around her neck, her chin resting on the crook of my elbow. She struggles, but she can’t break free. Asmo can barely escape this hold.
I ease the pressure around her neck. We stand there in silence, her back pressed against my chest, her breath hot against my arm.
“Am I next,Your Highness?” she spits. “First Mae, then you’ll kill me?”
That was always the plan, wasn’t it? Anybody who got in the way—Silas, Adelaide, Etta. Mae was next, but she escaped and took my brother with her. Elle is disposable, her life just a tiny part of this story.
Icould end it right here. The truth is out. Replace her with some other poor, unsuspecting hybrid, or human. It doesn’t matter.
But then Elle would be gone.
And I’d be all alone.
Horror slithers through me as something ancient and primal stirs, somewhere deep inside of me. Something that rarely happens to hybrids.
