Page 51 of Taken By Touch and Torment

Ordinarily, her voice would’ve brought me back down to earth. But not today. Not with another man’s fangs in my soul, my heart, my unending obsession.

“This meeting has been a sham,” I spat. The comment was directed toward Kole, but my eyes never left Scarlett’s, even when they closed shut.

“Rune, I was very clear that no amount of magick would be tolerated at this meeting,” Kole warned, his tone sharp.

Durian licked his wound shut, blood on his lips as he slowly lifted to stare at me. “You were putting on a good act, my bastard brother,” Durian said, oozing with smug condescension as his eyes darkened, staring hard at my growing cloud of darkness. “But I know how addictive my pet’s blood is. I bet she’s ruined all others for you.”

Durian’s hand trailed from her neck lower. Her heart beat slow and hard. He’d taken too much, and now she was drained. All I saw behind my eyelids was darkness and fury, no matter how much clarity magick Sadie fed me.

I had planned to wait until we were in the air before I rescued Scarlett. There was no way in this gods’ cursed realm that I was going to allow her to remain Durian’s slave for another minute after this meeting. I was always going to take her back, to follow all the kingdom’s rules except whatever it took to bring my Little Flame home.

Durian’s fingers trailed lower, and I realized our meticulous plan was about to go up in shadows. Mason tensed. My clan knew it, too.

“She has earned the obsession of my entire court,” he said, and Brennan grinned as he flashed his fangs. “I understand now why you valued her so highly.” His hand passed her belly button, and I shot up from the table. “Her addictive blood is one thing, but her perfect, adorable little cunt...”

I submerged us in darkness.

I ignored Kole’s cowardly shouts, warning us that harming him would be seen as an act of war. I didn’t give a fuck about Kole, about his pandering to the born, his blatant disrespect for my rule. The kingdom had refused to act, to dole out even the barest of punishments to the born in order to protect Valentin and enforce her laws.

Taking back Scarlett wasn’t going to change anyone’s mind. It would be an act of justice; I was this island’s arbiter and executioner.

Everyone moved at once.

“No killing,” I managed to bite out, against my true desires.

“Maiming?” Uriah asked.

“Permitted. No, encouraged.”

Durian shoved Scarlett, limp and unconscious, behind him. My shadows leaped from my skin. Brennan enacted a shield, and Nereus wielded light to counteract my maddening shadows. They weren’t quick enough to dodge Percy’s poison, and Brennan hissed as his translucent shield wobbled and warped.

I forced my shadows through the cracks. They were aching, heavy with the indescribable need to finally reach for her—to touch her and hold her close.

Durian threw a dagger quicker than even the most trained eyes could track. Dev must’ve been watching him closely, as he deflected it with air magick before it could slice through my chest.

“Hey!” Kole shouted, dodging the deflected blade.

Oops.

The earth trembled as Kole’s rage multiplied. “You are all in direct violation of the kingdom’s decree. This is treason!”

Even as I dodged and struck, pulling weapons from hands with my shadows and shouting directions at my inner circle, she was all I could think about.

Scarlett. My Little Flame.

But I could no longer physically see her. I craned my head, my shadows skirting along the ground. At a blast of light from Nereus, I winced, my shadows recoiling.

“Please.”

My head swiveled, and I couldn’t breathe as I watched Scarlett shakily stand and approach Kole to our left. Durian halted too, unaware that she’d dragged herself away from him.

“Please help me,” she whispered with a scratchy voice, faltering and nearly falling back to the ground.

Kole steadied her, the ground’s quaking replaced by a subdued tremble. I gritted my teeth. At least she was no longer in the direct line of fire.

Dev took the opportunity to lift the table off the ground and send it flying into the born with a mean gust of wind.

Kole held Scarlett steady as the powerful air whipped about.

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