Page 51 of Their Demon

How could he say that to me? At breakfast, he’d been thinking the exact opposite. Did he change his mind? Did he see something I wasn’t? Was he right? Did I even have what it took to do this?

I cast my searching eyes to the floor, trying to rein in the voices telling me everything he said was true.

“Speechless, princess?” he mocked me.

Fury burned through me as shock turned to disbelief, then pure hatred. Red filled my vision as I swung the daggers at him harder and faster than before.

He made a surprised noise as he tried to deflect my angry assault. “What thefuck, Lillian?” He backed up to avoid my swings.

Our heavy breathing rivaled the thuds of the daggers colliding. I continued to advance on him as he took step after step backward.

I was winning.

Keir chucked. “Finally getting the hang of it. Took you long enough,princess.”

“Gah!” I’d finally had enough of his shit. I threw the daggers to the floor and launched myself at him, spearing him to the ground.

I heard his weapons clatter to the floor, his hands grabbing my hips and meeting the skin that peeked up under my shirt.

Anoomphleft his lips as we fell to the floor, his back taking the brunt of the hit. I sat up quickly, straddling his body, andstruck his chest again and again, losing myself to the violence he’d unleashed in me.

“I hate you!”

“I know,” he spoke softly, as if I wasn’t sitting here punching his chest. He didn’t even try to stop me. He just took hit after hit, like he knew he deserved it.

“I didn’t even want this!”

Everything I’d kept bottled up was coming to the surface. He’d pushed me too far this time.

“I know.”

I could feel my arms tiring out, but I wasn’t done.

“This is your fault! You ruined my life!” I could feel my heart cracking as I shouted at him.

“I did.”

I screamed, tears streaming down my face. My arms were still swinging, but the power behind them flickered.

“If you would’ve trained me when you promised, I would’ve been ready! Everything would have been different! I would have a better chan—”

His hands grabbed my wrists, stilling me, silencing me. I swallowed, giving in to him, and as I looked at his face, I found something that resembled regret. I nearly laughed. He wasn’t capable of such a feeling.

We sat like that for several beats, staring at each other, my skin burning where he touched me. No thoughts. No words. No movement.

His eyebrows gathered in, and he scowled. “You’re right,” he whispered, sighing with his words.

My mouth fell open as stray tears continued to fall. I tried to speak, but words wouldn’t come. I shook my head at him and tried to pull away, but his grip tightened around my wrist, refusing to release me.

“Don’t,” he said.

That was it? Don’t?

“You can’t tell me what to do, Keir. Fuck you. You fucked everything up, and I’m supposed to just take it?” I bit my lip as I started to cry again. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see his stupid face.

“I’m sorry.” He let my wrists go.

I almost got up, but then I felt his hands glide across the outsides of my exposed thighs. I shivered, the touch so light, it tickled. It was intimate—too intimate for us.

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