“Just trust me, Pickles.” He whispered before his hands left my hips, and I felt him walk away. The noise returned—the voices, the drums, the disgusting sounds of Aurelius with that female. He must not have been able to block sounds for me unless he was close or touching me.
“The seed is confirmed!” the hooded female announced.
“Yes, we can see that from here,” a council member commented lewdly, to which the rest of them, all males, chuckled in amusement.
The council responded by pounding their chests and chanting, “May the almighty Flame bless us with the heir to rule and conquer all!”
Titus went back to being vacant and distant, as if he had put on a mask.
“Aurelius, Master of Dragons, please come forth…” Caddver summoned. He pushed the poor female “warming him” aside and walked toward me fully nude. I turned my head away; I didn’t want to see him. That night in my room he alluded to being larger than Titus when he accidentally saw Big Red. At the very least I hoped he’d be gentle, but I knew he wouldn’t be, not after what he put that poor slave through. I didn’t even recognize him anymore. He used to be so kindhearted and chivalrous. Now he looked crazed and demented, with a permanent aura of darkness clinging to him.
Titus should have listened to me. I warned him that Aurelius was dangerous. He didn’t believe there was a world where his “brother” would turn on him and challenge him, and what did he do instead? He called him names and shattered his wrist.
But perhaps there was a part of Aurelius that still loved me. Maybe that part would shine through this darkness. Maybe he would be gentle and quick like Cercies. It was all that I had to hold onto— some farfetched hope.
“I’ve fantasized about this moment many times Delilah, you bent over giving yourself to me, but you wouldn’t, so now I’m going to have to take it!” He chuckled darkly—
I shut my eyes and every muscle in me tensed. “Please, …don’t” I choked out.
“I don’t want you to enjoy a single second. I want to punish you for all the times you chosehimover me, and darling, I can go for hours.” He growled.
The drum beat rapidly and I felt like my heart could beat right out of my chest.
“Don’t’ do this Aurelius, you were my friend, you found me, remember?” I cried frantically.
“I don’t care,” he said coldly. “I despise you, Delilah. You chose him over and over again—an inferior male who treats you like you’re disposable—because of your greed for power you thought he was the surest path to it. While I worshiped the ground you walked on, and you still turned me away. This is what you deserve. If cruelty is what you respond to… then cruelty is what you’ll get!”
“You don’t have to do this, I begged.”
“You are nothing to me. Not anymore."
My body went into a state of panic—uncontrollable shaking, ragged breathing. He was going to hurt me. He was too far gone, not at all who he once was. I screamed, and the sound fractured the air, colliding with the stone walls.
His nails dug into my skin as he gripped my ass. I gasped and shrieked in pain.
“TITUS!!!!...Do something please!” I screamed, but nothing happened.
Aurelius dragged his long tongue up the back of my neck while he rubbed himself. He whispered cruelly, “this will not be pleasant.”
This was it. This was the moment he was going to slam his disgusting self inside of me. I braced for the pain. It would all be over soon, I hoped.
He could take my body, but he couldn’t take my mind, and he would never have my heart. He would not break me. I said the words over and over in my head. They were the only thing I could cling to, like a life raft tossed into a sea of dread, keeping my head just above the surface.
“Somebody, anybody please help me!!!” I pleaded.
I repeated it again and again, but the panic kept rising and the fear kept building—an overwhelming tidal wave about to crash over meand swallow me whole—until a memory flashed in my mind and pulled me to the surface.
It wasn’t Jared’s face exactly, but it was him. I couldn’t see him clearly, but I knew it was him by the way his embrace felt. I was wrapped in a dark mist and he was there, comforting me—steadying my racing heart. It wasn’t comfort alone. It felt like something reaching for me.
I didn’t understand what was happening. I hadn’t been able to recall much of anything about him recently, but right now… here, in my mind… he felt so real. So close.
I sighed in relief. It felt so good to be in his arms again. He felt like home. I reeled through our time together and it mended my fractured soul. Warmth wrapped around me like a blanket, and I relaxed into it—then I realized it was his love.
Aurelius’s grip tightened, pulling me from the hallucination.
Then the world detonated.
A booming burst of energy exploded, like a bomb going off. Blinding, searing, and burning orange light erupted outward. A shockwave of heat sent furniture and bodies flying, and everything ignited into violent, malicious flames.
