“I won’t take you to Edith. She and Flame are only to ensure your cooperation. But I will take you to the demon servant of the Serpent Lord,” he said.
My stomach dropped. “What? Why?”
“Isn’t it obvious? He has been seeking you.”
“But I’m nobody.”
“I agree you are nobody, and you will be nobody after I deliver you to him. But he wants you, so who am I to say no?”
“You’re working for him?” I said, disgusted.
“I’ve struck a deal.”
“Whatever he’s offered you, he won’t give it. Blake and the otherswillmend the Anchor. And then it’s only a matter of time before your precious lord is sealed tight in the Demon Realm again and you are ended.”
“Maybe. Or maybe I’ll be seated on the throne and Blake will be the one who is ended.”
The throne. He’d…
“You made a deal for the throne of the Silver Tyger Dominion?” I laughed. “Isn’t it already yours? When the king dies? He’d never make Malissa his heir.”
He sneered at even the mention of his princess’s name. “She is a yin—of course he would never make her his heir. But he would name Blake after he married Malissa.”
I couldn’t stop the ache of jealousy.
“The king adored his Twin Blades, and especially Blake.” His voice dripped with disgust. “But I would be more than king of the Silvers. The Serpent Lord shall make me emperor over all of the dominions. And everyone shall kneel before me. Like you’re doing now.”
As his voice rang out, filled with a cruel, hungry certainty, Ire stood, an unholy light in his eyes. He was all hulking mass as he crept over me and released my chains from the hook, jolting me down into his lap when he settled back down.
I tried to shove off him, but one meaty hand wrapped around my throat above the collar like a vise. “Relax, little yin.”
The smell of wine was pungent, his voice a dark caress.
“Don’t touch me,” I snapped, fear making my voice shake.
“The Serpent Lord may consume you.” He smirked, lowering his head and skimming his nose against my throat. “But I will have you first.”
“You’re disgusting.” My body felt like fire, seething with anger, teeming now with power I could feel but couldn’t release.
Ire drew his mouth closer and closer to mine before I slammed my head forward into his granitelike forehead. It hurt me far worse than it injured him, but it wassomething.
He stood and dropped me unceremoniously on the floor. His large hand grabbed for my hair, yanking it hard as he dragged me across the room and up onto my toes, securing my chains somewhere behind me, so that I was nearly tied to the wall, my neck already aching from the immediate strain.
“Listen here, you little Azure bitch,” he snapped, his face red and furious. “Axefire and his brother have taken everything that should have been mine, by right and by birth. Blakewilljoin the other Twin Blade in a grave by my hand.”
“Blake has taken nothing from you. You will never be able to hold the power he has.”
“I will be your emperor!” he shouted, hands clenched.
I glared at him. “You will never be anything to me or anyone else.”
His hand smacked so hard across my face, my vision swam. And before I could get my bearings, he delivered another blow, and darkness clouded my mind.
48
It could have been hours or minutes when I woke next, groaning at the pain pulsing through my body. Ire was nowhere to be seen.
My shoulders ached from the strain of being pulled back so severely behind me. My wrists were raw and bloody from where the cuffs had chafed. But it was the pain in my neck and face that had a whimper crawling up my throat.
