His eyes glinted, and before I could gather myself, white-hot pain flared across my cheek, my face forced sideways. Tears sprung to my eyes at the abrupt hit.
I should have seen it coming, should have known after last time, but I was just as blindsided as before.
Stupid.
Terym hooked his hands into the top of my nightdress and tugged, the fabric straining against my skin as the dress ripped down the middle. Fear held me immobile when he groped at my breasts, pinching my nipples so hard I cried out in pain.Tears, hot and thick, spilled onto my cheeks as he took from my exposed body.
Gods, it was so much worse than I thought.
His rough touch was sickening. Wrong—everything about it wrong.
Grimy hands moved south, and the ice in my veins thawed, melting into a blazing flame of fury the nearer he got to the place he thought he was entitled to. The fire was unlike anything I had felt before, surging from my chest and consuming me until I was nothing but pulsing, burning rage.
I wasn’t his to touch. My body wasn’t his to take.
He had blackmailed me. Threatened me. Threatened Eleanor. Only fear for her had me playing along thus far. He knew it, even got off on it.
He wanted to take something precious from me, but it wasn’t his to take.
It was mine.
OnlyIhad the right to choose who to give my virginity to, and it certainly wouldn’t be him.
Fingers reached my core, breaching roughly, and I released a guttural roar. “No!”
Adrenaline fueled the fire in my veins, and I raised my knee quick and hard; it connected with his face in a satisfying crunch. Blood spurted from his nose, splattering on my bare skin as I scrambled out of his disgusting touch.
Forgive me, Eleanor.
I couldn’t do it.
Terym let out a string of curses, cupping his nose, with a torrent of blood rushing down his palm and dripping off his chin. Seeing so much of the deep-red liquid threatened to send me into a panic-induced memory.
I held it at bay. Just.
I had to get free.
Wrathful eyes fixed on me, and I shuddered at the chill it sent down my spine. Rolling over, I aimed for the nightstand and the lamp that meant safety and protection. Terym was quicker, gripping my legs so hard they would bruise, dragging me back to him. I clawed at the sheets, the pillows, anything to find purchase. It all slipped through my fingers.
Fuck.
I twisted, aiming another kick at his face, but he was ready for it this time and caught my foot, chuckling darkly. “The fight only makes me harder, dear Adelia.”
Then he was straddling me, my legs trapped beneath heavy thighs as he raised a fist. If I thought his open palm hurt, it had nothing on the pain when his closed fist met my face. He didn’t hold back.
Dark spots danced in my vision, and I struggled to blink them away. I bucked, my body acting on pure instinct and terror. I screamed for help, even knowing it was futile.
No one could protect me from the king.
No one except Shade.
I had to reach him. Release him from the lamp.
I rolled my head back and forth, searching for the small black trinket through a haze of pain.
Too far. It was too far.
Terym struck my side and the barely healed ribs, making me wheeze out a breath. His strikes continued, no part of my body untouched, until I was nothing but pain.
