Page 12 of Touched By Death

Where else would she go?

My damn cousin better keep his hands away from her, or to hell with the contract.

Breathing in the damp air and the stench of rot and death, I release a guttural roar that tears through my lungs like sharp blades. The chains rattle overhead, hauntingly loud in the blackness shrouding me. I need to get out of here. I need to put things right.

She thinks I’m marrying Dariana.

“Fuck,” I whisper defeatedly, swinging on the spot and dragging my toes over the gritty floor, suspended too high up to balance. The blinding agony in my shoulder joints has nothing on the thick, molten fury brewing in my chest. I’m going to destroy my father for keeping me from her.

Just then, the naked bulb overhead blinds me, and my father retreats from the shadows.

“Electricity,” he drawls, reaching up to still the dancing bulb. “It’s so overrated.”

“Then light a fucking torch,” I spit, blood spewing from my mouth.

Wiping away a speck from his cheek with deliberate slowness, he makes a point of looking at his thumb and smearing the bead of blood between his fingers. “Do you know how long you’ve been down here? Locked away in the darkness?”

My head lolls, a humorless laugh caressing my raw vocal cords.

“Three days.”

A tired breath escapes me. Three days away from Aurelia. Since when did I allow her to crawl beneath my skin like this?

“Three days of your cousin working his magic on her.”

The snarl vibrating in my chest has a smile pulling at the corners of his lips. My father likes to toy with me like a serpent with its prey. “How many more until she lets him between her legs?”

My incisors throb painfully, the sharp tips dripping venom at his taunts. “Shut. Up.”

“Unless, of course, you can convince me of why she’s not a threat to the throne.”

When I don’t respond, he shrugs his shoulders and kicks an abandoned knife on the floor out of the way. “I’ll tell you why she’s not a threat anymore: after the truth slipped out, she won’t let you near her again.”

“She won’t have a fucking choice,” I growl before I can stop myself. And then, because I’m already on a roll, I add, “I don’t care what she wants. I need her. She’s mine.”

“You think she wants a male angel as weak and pathetic as you? Look at you, son. Strung up like a weakling with your wings tied behind your back. You’re not even out there beneath the moonlight to protect her.”

My heart sinks at his words. He’s right; I’m weak.

“Your cousin is stronger than you and more able to win the female,” he taunts, adding salt to the wounds. “Do you think she’ll choose you after she sees you like this?”

My head flies up, and I wince as my skull explodes with blinding pain that bursts behind my eyelids. I try to peer at him but slam my eyes closed again and let out a tortured groan.

“She’s upstairs, looking for you. Do you want me to let the girl of your dreams come down here to see you like this? Pathetic and broken?”

He’s lying. I know he is, but my head still shakes and my lips still breathe out a plea for him to keep her away. If she sees me like this, she won’t want me. No female wants a male angel as weak as me. I can’t even fight off my own father. I’m at his mercy until he decides he’s had enough of me.

The door behind us creaks open. An elongating shadow crawls along the bloody stone floor before disappearing as the door clicks shut. My father turns to the guard and says, “Continue his punishment. Come find me when he’s unconscious and broken.”

DARIANA

Ronan closes his locker beside me and blows out a tired breath. I stare off into the distance. Students mull about, some with their arms laden with books on their way to class. When they spot us, they duck their heads and scuttle off. Unless they’re females. Then they flash their most charming smiles in Ronan and Alaric’s direction before noticing me. I do love watching the color drain from their faces at my snarl.

“Lucifer will release him soon.”

Torn from my thoughts, I slide my gaze across the crowds of people until Ronan’s muted, dark eyes lock onto mine. “Why the hell are we at school when Lucifer’s guards are doing God knows what to him?” Straightening up, I pull the bag’s strap higher onto my shoulder, careful to let my hair hide my face. I hate showing weakness like this. “We should try to free him.”

“Dari…” Ronan ducks his head to my level and forces me to look at him. As he parts my hair, his brown eyes soften. “If we tried to save him, we’d be thrown into the cellars, too.”

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