She rests her forearms on her knees, slouching forward. “They kill the bastard?”
“No.” A huge sense of satisfaction and freedom hits me hard, and I smile. “But I did.”
A feral grin transforms her face into something terrifyingly beautiful. “Didn’t think you had it in you, princess. No wonder the world went to shit; hell froze over.”
The tension in my shoulder slowly dissipates as I stare into her calculating, violet gaze. “I need a favor.”
“Are we busting out of this joint?” she exclaims, sitting up straighter and looking way too happy.
I cock my head. “Is it really that bad here? If so, I’ll help you make a break for it, but heads up, things really are going to shit out there in the real world.” My gaze darts briefly to her bodyguard shadow leaning against the far wall studying us intently, and I drop my voice. “Why do you want to leave, Terra?”
For the longest time, she only stares at me. Eventually, she quietly admits, “It’s not that I want to leave, it’s that I can’t understand why they want me to stay.”
Taking her hand, I squeeze gently before dropping it just as quickly. “You and me both. Hard to trust anyone’s motives when so many people have let you down.”
Her eyes close, and she draws in a shuddering breath. “Stop being wise, it’s a weird look on you.” Opening them again, she brushes past the moment. “So, what do you want?”
“You can manipulate ink, right? Other marks too?”
Furrowing her brow, she looks me over slowly. “Your scars?” Tilting her head, she thinks it over. “Blood’s a liquid, so I suppose in theory if we reopened the wound, then I sped things along so it’d heal fast enough it wouldn’t scar…” She shrugs. “What the hell, I’ll give it a shot. Worst case scenario, you’re not any worse off than before.”
“No, not those.” I take a deep breath. “My mate-mark.”
ChapterTwenty
STONE
People on the sidewalk give us a wide berth, instinctively sensing the danger emanating off of my brothers. A riot of emotions flit through them too fast for either to process, helpless to do anything other than wait. It goes against their nature to do nothing other than accept what will come to pass, and neither can bring themselves to say a word.
I, on the other hand, hope Amara removes that accursed mark. Her parents, Malcolm, the Fates themselves, and now us; from the moment she was born, people have tried to stake a claim on Amara’s future. Without that mark, she’s free to make her own choice for the first time in her life. She needs to realize that she’s free to walk away before she can truly accept there’s nowhere else she’d rather be.
I need her to stay because shewantsto be with us… not because she’s made her peace with a situation she was forced into.
A small eternity later, the doors open and Amara walks out. Raiden forces levity into his tone that I know he damn well doesn’t feel as he asks, “Did everything go alright?”
Amara glances around at the abundance of people on the sidewalk. “We should go somewhere more private for this conversation.”
Grim silence follows us the entire way home. Kodi lets us into the castle, and we walk up the stairs on autopilot, all lost in our own thoughts. When we reach the destroyed part of the castle, she looks at me with a raised eyebrow. “Raiden wasn’t kidding.”
I shrug, unrepentant. “If you don’t want me destroying things, don’t get kidnapped.”
She snorts. “Fair enough.”
Unable to stand the tension any longer, Kodiak clears his throat. “So, what’s the verdict? Safe to kiss you without it reappearing, or are visits into town part of our aftercare routine now?”
Steeling her spine, Amara faces the three of us head on. “It was kind of annoying not being able to see it without a mirror.” Hooking a finger in her collar, she tugs down her shirt to reveal her chest right above her heart, and the tribal dragon head mate-mark emblazoned there. “Everyone knows I’m yours anyway, so may as well show it off-”
She doesn’t get to finish her declaration, Kodi crushing his mouth to hers.
A low growl tears through Raiden’s chest the longer it goes on until he can’t stand watching anymore, pulling her away from Kodiak. Crashing his lips against hers in a brutal kiss, he barely lets her catch her breath before throwing her over his shoulder and stalking down the hallway.
She braces herself against his ass, lifting her head with a huff. “I can walk, you know.”
“Keep telling yourself that, beautiful, because soon you won’t be able to.”
ChapterTwenty-One
AMARA
