Page 3 of Vicious King

2

Tatum

Elias returnedto the island sooner than I thought.

I’d wondered if he’d stay on the mainland with his father while he was recovering in the hospital, but now I realized that was simply wishful thinking.

I was in trouble, deep trouble, and I wanted to delay my punishment—or death—as long as possible. But it was only the morning after my escape attempt, and here he was, a scowl on his face and dark malice flashing in his eyes as he stared down at me in my bloodstained bed.

Terror surged in my mind, and my blood felt like ice in my veins. These could be my last few moments on Earth, but my tongue was tied, so I couldn’t even fall to my knees on the floor and beg for mercy.

“Get up,” Elias said, venom practically dripping from his tongue. His nose wrinkled as he caught sight of my filthy, scratched-up feet and the dried blood caking my hair. “You’re fucking disgusting.”

I finally choked out a couple of words as he dragged me to my feet. “Please, Elias…”

He cut me off. “Haven’t you already murdered enough of my family members?” he asked, eyes blazing.

I cowered, my legs trembling like mad. “I’m so sorry,” I mumbled. “Really, I’m sorry.”

He narrowed his eyes and slammed me up against the wall. “I think I’ve heard that bullshit word from you enough already, you lying little slut.” He sneered. “Let me guess… you’re going to claim this incident was an accident as well? You tripped and accidentally stabbed my father in the fucking neck as you fell?”

I shook my head helplessly. “No. It wasn’t an accident. But I do regret it. I swear. Please believe me.”

“No shit. Of course it wasn’t an accident. You planned this. A bedspring, huh? Hidden in the vent? Smart, I’ll give you that. But now you know that even if you got away with that little scheme, you’d never really get away with it.”

“I know,” I said in a ragged whisper. “We’re on an island. I get it, Elias. You’ve trapped me. I was trapped all along…”

A vicious smile curled up the corner of his lips. “How long did you think you’d be able to trick me?”

“What?”

His nostrils flared. “You pretended to want me. Pretended like you might have actually accepted your place here. But the whole time, you were scheming and plotting.”

“So were you,” I said. I immediately regretted it. As much as I hated the thought of him laughing behind my back over his plan to trick me into thinking he wasn’t aware that I was here against my will, pointing out his hypocrisy at a time like this wouldn’t help my case in the slightest.

He leaned closer, his hot, angry breath right on my face. “How fucking long?”

“I don’t know,” I murmured. “For a while, I really believed I wanted you. I swear I did. I wasn’t plotting anything then. But it went away when I started to think straight again.”

Did it, though?

Hot shame built in my core as I considered this intrusive new question. As much as I despised Elias after discovering his true nature yesterday morning, some traitorous part of me actually felt guilty for hurting him. Disappointing him. He obviously wanted me to want him, wanted me to fall for him, despite his loathing for me, and I’d made him believe he was getting his way before turning around and stabbing him in the back.

Well, I stabbed his father in the neck, to be specific, but the point still stood. I led him to believe one thing, and then I betrayed him. He was the one person in here who could decide my fate, and as a result of my actions, I’d well and truly ruined whatever twisted fragment of a relationship we had before now.

How could I do that?

The thought filled me with teeming shame and regret. Just a week ago on that altar in the woods, I told him I wanted him, needed him, and then I nearly killed one of the people closest to him. I was an awful, terrible, evil girl. A toy that deserved to be broken.

Stop it, stop it, stop it,I chanted in my mind, trying to stop myself from careening down this mad path again. But I couldn’t stem the heavy flow of guilt. The stark realization that I still had some sort of feelings for Elias, still felt some sort of strange connection with him, made a cold sensation slither through my guts like a serpent.

I suddenly realized I could’ve jumped yesterday. I could’ve plunged right into the ocean off that rugged cliff and made an attempt to swim away. Yeah, I would’ve most likely been smashed on the rocks below or carried away in a cold current, struggling to stay afloat and shivering violently as I sank, legs and arms finally giving way with frozen exhaustion. But at least I would’ve tried. At least there would’ve been a chanceat survival, as infinitesimally small as it was sure to be.

Earlier, I’d told myself that it was an obvious choice to remain on dry land. The likelihood that I would’ve died in the escape attempt was enormous, especially as I didn’t even know which direction to swim in to reach the mainland.

But now, a sneaky voice in the back of my head was whispering to me, telling me that it wasn’t the only reason I gave up and let the mansion guards bring me back here. Perhaps part of me didn’t want to leave, alive or dead… that same part of me that wanted Elias last week, against my better judgment. Perhaps that same tiny, fractious part of me kept me here, desperate to see Elias again.

The realization made me shudder, but I couldn’t stop the feelings from coming, no more than I could stem the flow of gut-wrenching guilt. The voice in the back of my head grew louder, turning from a whisper to a screech like iron nails scraping against rock.

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