Lorcan ripped through his bonds and caught her wrist in his fist. His fingers tightened around her bone, snapping through the cartilage. Pain flared with an electric heat. She cried out, and her fingers opened by their own accord. The dagger thunked into the mattress, blade down, hilt up.
He grinned and snatched the blade with his free hand and brought it up to her neck. Her heart rattled inside of her as a rock of fear got lodged in her throat. A whistling breath escaped from her nose as she scuttled back. His hand tightened on her wrist, yanking her back.
“Hello, Reyna Darragh.” He smiled. “It seems you’ve failed to undo the curse yet again. And here I thought you found your answers with the Dryads.”
He pressed the blade tight against her neck, the edge of it skimming along her skin.
“I did find the answer, and I did what they said.” She swallowed hard. “It’s only a matter time now. Soon, the curse will be dead. And you won’t be here anymore.”
His booming laughter echoed all around her. “You think a little nick is going to undo one of the most powerful curses to have ever been cast? You think a few droplets of blood will satisfy the magic?”
Her heart roared in her ears as she stared at him. “You seem to know a lot about what needs to happen, so why don’t you just tell me?”
Lorcan scoffed. “And give you the knowledge you need to destroy me?”
“So, it’s true then,” she said, lifting her chin. “There is a way to save him.”
Maybe there was hope yet, though likely not like this. With her wrist trapped and a blade against her neck, there wasn’t much she could do but keep him talking.
His lips curved as he reached beneath the covers and held up the book they’d lost in the forest. Her heart thumped. He’d somehow found the answers inside, and they’d missed it.
“Save him? No. Destroy me? Yes.”
She narrowed her eyes. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Here’s a hint,” he said, leaning forward so that their noses almost brushed. “And I’m only telling you this because I want to see the look on your face when you realize it.” His smile stretched wide. “It’s going to take a hell of a lot more blood than this.”
Her gaze shifted to the blanket where four droplets of blood had seeped into the fabric. Reyna had spilled his blood, but…it wasn’t enough.
“How much?” she whispered.
“Enough to wash the curse off the throne,” he hissed back.
The throne.That was where the curse had been cast. She should have known she’d have to return the blood to it. The Seat of Power and the High King were inexplicably linked. None of this could be over until she spilled his blood on the throne.
“Sounds good,” she quipped. “How about we go there now? You can sit on the throne, and I’ll stab you.”
“It won’t get you want you want. You’ll never get him back. He isn’t even in here anymore. A body is just a vessel for a soul, and his soul has been gone for a very long time now.”
With a newfound fury, Reyna ripped her broken wrist out of his grip and launched back off the bed, landing in a crouch. Breath frosted before her as she held herself steady with her good hand. Lorcan threw the blanket aside and stepped out of bed slowly, as if he had all the time in the world.
She pushed up, squaring her shoulders.
“Ah, Reyna Darragh.” He tossed the dagger from one hand to the next, twirling it as if it were nothing more than a blade of grass. “The Hero of the Fallen. Your eternal stubbornness is grating on my nerves.”
Reyna wet her lips and bent her knees to brace for an attack. “That’s lucky. I’m not here to make your life pleasant.”
“No.” He smiled. “You’re here to get your lover back, but he’s gone. Forever.”
His words shook through her, threatening to knock her down. But she held strong. He was only trying to get a rise out of her and to cause her as much pain as he could. They were lies and nothing more.
Her limp wrist hung by her side, but she used her left fist to gather an icy blast of magic. Lifting her hand, she launched the ice across the room where it slammed into the wall behind Lorcan’s head. To her delight, he looked surprised.
“That could have kill me,” he growled. “If that magic hits me, it will transformmeinto ice.”
“That’s kind of the point.”
He scoffed, stalking toward her. “You don’t want to kill me. I’m your lover.”
