Page 142 of To Bleed A Kingdom

“You lied to me,” he says with tightly leashed anger, hands fisted at his sides.

“I didn’t,” I reply quietly. But even I hear the lie in my voice, the guilt in my tone.

He slowly walks toward me, my body responding to each crunch of his boots. Not in desire as is its usual response, but with the need to flee from this person wearing Darius’ face.

Visibly trembling with suppressed rage, he lowers his head toward mine. “You made me believe you lov –” Clenching his jaw, he turns his head to the side and squeezes his eyes shut. “You betrayed me.”

Oh, gods.

“Listen to me, Darius,” I plead, raising my hands to his cheeks. “On my life, on all the Stars above, I swear to you I did not betray y –”

“Shut up!” he roars in my face, knocking my hands away. “I’ll not hear another word from that lying tongue of yours!” I flinch, shaking my head as he snarls, “You pretended to be human.”

“I never said I was. Everyone just assumed.”

“And you let them,” he sneers. “When all along, you're a Gods Cursed.”

I shake my head, wrapping my arms around myself. “I'm not a Gods Cursed.”

“Then what are these?” He snatches up my arm and drags me to his chest. Uncaring of my wounds, he smears blood across my skin as he traces his thumb along my markings.

“I was born with them.” Just as he was born with blue eyes and black hair, I was born with fangs and markings covering my entire body. If I could rid myself of them I would. I never asked to be who I am, what I am, but he should understand that better than anyone.

“As a Gods Cursed would be,” he retorts, his face so close to mine I can see every spark of glacial fire in his eyes.

Temper beginning to rise at his hypocrisy, I tear my arm free and point at my cheek. “Do you see Desdemona’s rune? No, you don't, because I'm not a Gods Cursed.”

His gaze strays tomy cheek, a knot forming between his brow as he inspects it. Seeing his hesitation, my body begins to loosen in relief. But then his gaze hardens once again.

“Maybe not, but this is a curse.” He grabs me roughly by the chin, jerking it up. “These lips. Your eyes. That face.”Pain radiates through my face as he digs his thumb into the hollow of my cheek, hissing, “My curse.”

I grab his wrist and try to pull free, but he pinches tighter, refusing to release me. “What are you going to do now?” I challenge, my voice sounding bolder than I feel. “Kill me?”

“I should.”

I rear back in shock, pain, Darius following me with his iron grip.

He means it. I see the truth in his eyes. So much hate and scorn, his pupils blown wide in a maddened rage.

But he can’t believe this of me. Not after everything we shared. Not after what we’ve come to mean to each other. There has to be more behind that hate.

Bracing myself, I feel for the bond, searching for a small hope, a sliver of something that'll let me know I can't possibly be tossed aside so easily. And a small sob escapes me when I find that the once vibrant link that ties us together is now devoid of all life and blackened to a parched husk.

A dagger suddenly appears on the ball of his throat.

“Let her go,” Amara says from where she’s slipped partially between us, her voice cold and unyielding. He growls but remains unmoving, glaring down at me. “Let. Her. Go.” Amara digs the blade deeper and punctures his skin, blood beading beneath the point to slowly drip down the column of his throat.

Darius growls, the dagger vibrating from the sound as he bears down on the blade, drawing more blood to flow down his neck in a steady stream. He grips my jaw harder and I bite back a wince, feeling the bruises already begin to form, before he gives me one last snarl and releases me, tracking my every move as he walks backward.

“Silas, escort them to the city gates.”

A large fae with red hair moves toward me and reaches for my arm. When I feel his skin graze mine, rage and pain swell within me and I round on him, fangs snapping out with a hiss. “Don’t. Touch. Me,” I seethe.

He gasps and jolts backwards, a move echoed by all the other survivors.

“There she is,” Darius says. I whip my glowing gaze to him and see the same face that watched me with adoration only hours ago, now watching me with a face contorted in disgust.

Griffin moves to Darius’ side, drawing his attention to him. “You can’t send them out there. It’s too dangerous.”

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