Page 53 of Prince of Ruin

Tarsus

Ulna shakes me awake, which is so unusual for her, to the point that the first thing I look for when I jolt up is Aden. His spot is empty beside me, and panic grips my throat.

“Aden let Clavicle out of his cell and took him to the guest room down the hall,” Ulna reports dutifully. I’m halfway to the door, pulling a silk robe on as she finishes. “I had twenty guards stationed outside the door.”

I shake my head, fury igniting through my veins. “Twenty guards would never be enough to hold Clavicle down.”

When I burst through the doors, I’m surprised to find Aden sitting beside Clavicle, and not dead on the floor. They’re both naked, telling me exactly what I don’t want to know. My eyes immediately dart to their linked fingers—where Clavicle’s pinky had, indeed, disintegrated off his hand.

Just like I expected it to.

Everything in me deflates all the same. I suppose there was a part of me that desperately wanted him to be innocent.

“Aden,” I say in the calmest voice I can muster, despite the rage bubbling in my core. “Get out.”

Aden stands from the bed, his nakedness reminding me he let this awful prince fuck him again. I don’t care who Aden sleeps with—it’s his body and his choice and we have an agreement to keep our relationship open—but putting his life at risk with the enemy might possibly be the stupidest thing he’s ever done.

“I’ll leave,” Aden says, looking between us, “only because I know you two have some serious shit to sort out. But don’t you dare leave a goddamn mark on him, Tarsus.”

“Don’t worry, Aden.” I don’t take my eyes off Clavicle as I smile coldly. “I’ll leave that to you once you realize what a monster he is.”

Aden snorts and walks out.

I nod at the guards. “Clavicle is still mortal. I’ve got this. Stand outside the doors and keep your ears open.”

Ulna nods and closes the door.

And then it’s just me and Clavicle. My step-brother-turned-lover-turned-enemy. And every emotion that has stemmed from each of those relationships iswarring within me, violent and controlling. Fondness, lust, love, hate.

“I’ll fucking kill you if you ever fuck my boyfriend again,” I say, my jaw clenched.

His lips curl over his teeth. “He’s not yourpet. Aden is free to do what he wants, with whomever he wants.”

“Except you.”

As though feeling too exposed, Clavicle grabs the boxers off the bed and pulls them on as he stands. He pulls on a pair of gray sweatpants next that look an awful lot like Aden’s. And seeing my ex in my boyfriend’s clothes makes confusing emotions twist violently inside my stomach.

I want to kill him…but I also want to fuck him.

He’s tall—for a human—and scrawny, and I can see the outline of his ribs. His ridiculous pink hair is disheveled, spikes sticking out in every gods-damned direction. Those glasses on his face aren’t doing me any favors. He looks weak and adorable, exactly how he wants me to see him. My cock grows hard as fuck seeing him in nothing but those black-rimmed glasses and Aden’s sweatpants. I take a step toward him. Clavicle lifts both hands in defense, and seeing four fingers instead of five on each hand only fuels my hatred for him.

The fucking lying bastard.

“M-my memories are in my nightmares,” he stutters, blinking rapidly while he stumbles back. “I-I don’t have tangible memories, but sometimes I get these strange visions—”

“Shut the fuck up, Clavicle.” I stride toward him, not slowing down as he backs up until his back is flush against the wall. Of course he’s scared of me. Heshouldbe scared of me. He’s still very much a mortal.

“I’m sorry—”

“I saidshut up.”

I’m so gentle with Aden. Us fae can sometimes underestimate our own strength around fragile mortals. But I’m not gentle with Clav as I reach out and grab a fistful of his pink hair and tilt his head back, satisfied when he flinches at the pain. His breath hitches on a panicked inhale as he blinks up at me, terror written all over his features. His hands clamp around my wrist, but his weak mortal body is no match for my fae strength. He used to be taller than me in his fae state. Stronger, too. His antlers had inches upon my own. But in his human form, he’s at least six inches shorter and a hell of a lot skinnier.

Still sexy as hell, though, with high cheekbones, long lashes, and those pouty lips begging to be wrapped around my dick. Seeing him at my mercy,this beautiful specimen who tried to stab me in the back, it makes my cock throb. I wonder if his human mouth can suck my cock as well as his fae one used to. My dick stiffens at the thought.

I don’t usually take things from other people that aren’t willingly given. But it’s not like his life is worth anything. He died to me the day he tried to kill me. This bastard isn’t the Clavicle I was in love with. He’s the enemy, and he’d kill Aden at the first opportunity he’d get. I glance at his four-fingered hand again, and fire explodes through my veins.

“I wouldn’t believe a thousand apologies from you, Clavicle,” I say, not hiding the roughness from my voice. “But maybe I’ll show you how sorry youshouldbe.” With his hair still in my fist and his back against the wall, I shove him to his knees so his nose is inches from where my erection presses against my tunic. His mouth screws in disgust, but I press my hips forward, nudging his face with the tip of my cock through the fabric.

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