“Get off me!” I scream. He picks me up, my legs flailing in the air.
“Relax, child. I will be quick. This will all be over before you—” He drops me.
I scramble across the floor away from him. Eden gathers me into her arms; I didn’t even notice she’d crawled out from under the bed. But I do notice Maeve, the vase from the dresser now clenched in her hands. The blood-stained base drips blood onto Elheart’s body.
After a few moments, she drops the vase and crumbles to her knees.
Blossom hurries over to her. Maeve ignores her as tears roll down her face.
“He’s still breathing,” Blossom gasps. Maeve grabs his hand, sniffling.
“We need to leave,” I say to everyone. “Before he wakes up. Maeve?” I crawl over to the girl. “Maeve?”
She ignores me, clutching Elheart’s hand.
“She still loves him,” Eden murmurs. “We didn’t know any of this… I thought she was just a handmaid.”
Maeve presses a kiss to Elheart’s hand. It’s strange. She looks so young. Demons age differently, I suppose.
“We have to go,” I tell her. “You don’t have to come with us. But if you want to leave here, we have to go now.” For a moment, I wonder if she’ll insist on staying. Despite what Elheart saidabout ‘making mistakes’, there’s still so much love in her eyes. Maybe Tauren really is the villain in their story.
The salt barrier was for her protection.
We were in love and he couldn’t stand it.
An ugly feeling stirs in my heart.
Elheart groans in pain, shuffling.
“Come on. We need to go!” Blossom urges.
I keep my focus on Maeve. “Are you coming?”
Conflicted, she wraps her arms around Elheart as my heart sinks.
Then, she takes my hand.
30
TAUREN
Iglare at the pine trees through the window like they’re bars on a cage. It’s been hours since she left, and I haven’t moved a muscle.
Kennix visited once, sticking his head inside the carriage to give me a patrol report. His men watched Dahlia get escorted by Elheart’s guards through the salt barrier, so we know she’s inside.
But otherwise we’re completely blind, and I can’t fucking stand it.
All I can think about is her shivering body tied up in a cell beside a broken demon girl that was once my sister.
He has them both now.
I’ve given him both.
My baby sister. My wife. Magic crackles in my palms. I never should’ve let Dahlia go.
She’s mine. My fucking wife. The carriage rumbles with the force of my power. And I handed her to that pig dressed in a silky white gown that was way too low-cut to let her out of my sight?—
“Tauren?” The door swings open, and whoever is standing there is thrown from the carriage.
