Page 127 of Their Pretty Little Monster

“I told you not to show your face at these events. I guess my wish of finally having another heir, hopefully not as useless as you, is finally in Blight now.”

“Father… I-I mean, King Bren, my ability is growing and?—”

He squeezes her arm aggressively, his fingernails breaking her skin, a droplet of blood running down her arm. She winces.

“You dare challenge me in front of others? You show such little respect for your King? You’re an embarrassment. You taste blood and see who someone is—that’s not impressive for a King’s daughter. You’re weak, Elara, and that’s why I’ve never let you taste my blood to have power over me.” He drags her out of the hallway and drives a hand into her back, throwing her out, where she falls to the floor. “Guards, take her to the dungeon. Maybe a few days without food will teach her respect.”

My insides are shards of glass shattering at his mistreatment of her. The vision fades fast.

Then, I’m back in the room with my true mates, with our guards, stumbling on my feet as I see the last wisps of Elara leaving the room.

“What the hell was that?” I rub my eyes, feeling as though I’ve just woken up from a deep sleep.

“Are you all right?” Killian asks, his hand on my back, steadying me. Wolfe and Nyko are at my side, too.

“I-I’m…” I can’t finish as tears fall. I keep picturing her agony, her being bullied, how she might not even know of the atrocities her father committed as he won’t let her link to his thoughts. “I don’t know how, but her touch just showed me snippets from her past. Our father’s been mistreating her, torturing her… I think she’s reaching out to me for help.”

Wolfe stares at me, his expression serious, his gaze reflecting my own worry. “Your half sister formed a psychic link with you when she tasted your blood.”

My chest constricts, making breathing harder, thinking of her stuck here with that fucking beast.

Nyko embraces me. “You think it’s legit or some kind of game her father’s putting her up to?”

“It felt real.” I try to rub the chill out of my arms. “You saw the way he treated her earlier, his comments. He’s taunting her, belittling her.” It reminds me so much of those who bullied me back in Nightingale Village, where I felt helpless, as though nothing I did was good enough. They’d made up their minds and hated me. My father kept telling her she wasn’t good enough, not strong enough.

Fuck him!

“I want to help her.”

Killian steps closer, his hand gently squeezing my arm, standing close. “Of course we will. But we also need to survive first.”

Nyko tightens his hug, his presence grounding me.

I take a deep breath, trying to steady my out-of-control pulse.

“My father’s going to do everything in his power to stop us.”

Wolfe cups my cheek, moving in closer. “That’s why we’re not going to fail,” he whispers. “I’m going to fucking murder him before we’re done.”

Chapter

Thirty-Four

SAGE

The door swings open to our temporary accommodations. I’m ushered through the threshold by the bug-like guards and keep my distance, as I don’t want their spindly legs touching me.

Wolfe, Nyko, and Killian strut inside, practically bowling over the guards. They’re pissed, fucking fuming, and I can’t blame them. I’ve been clenching my teeth since we left the holding room. Our guards from the vessel had been escorted into their own quarters farther down the hall.

Inside ours, the opulence strikes me instantly, especially in comparison to the elevator and dark underground hallway we just traveled through to get here, to avoid seeing anyone or the city itself.

The walls, a pale blue, are adorned with monster skulls as decorative pieces. There’s a round dining table, chairs made from what look suspiciously like bones, and rugs dyed in dark hues over the stone flooring. An L-shaped couch sits by the curtain-covered window, and spotlights overhead chase away the shadows.

A grunt from one of the bug guards, and the doors bang shut with finality. I flinch at the abruptness of it.

Killian strolls through the place, vanishing into a hallway to my left. Behind me, I spot the other two chatting, Nyko joking about our cozy family set up in prison. Wolfe isn’t laughing but sighing heavily. He meets my gaze, and the sorrow on his face mirrors my own.

I turn and follow Killian to check out the rest of the quarters, finding him in a grand bedroom with a bed giant enough to fit four, but it promises we’ll be plastered to one another. Curtains cover the windows here, too.

---