Page 141 of Wings of Betrayal

My mouth gapes open as the realisation kicks in that he’s really dead.

Holy shit. Amaros killed him.

Amaros pulls the sword out of his lifeless body and allows the weight of it to drag on the ground as he turns to look for me. His gaze locks onto mine, his chest rising with each heavy breath.

Then he stalks toward me.

I turn back to the doors, trying to open them, but they won’t budge.

Please, please open.

I shake them, then peer over my shoulder to see him coming for me. I hold my mother’s locket up to the doors, but before I can get them open, he snakes his arm around my waist and hauls me backward.

My pulse roars between my ears, and my blood turns to ice in my veins. I scream as he throws me into the room, and I trip and land hard on my side. Shit, that hurt. I scramble onto my back and scuttle away from him. He holds the sword up, pointing the blade at me. Zalore’s blood drips off the end of it.

“I can scent it, you know,” he says, glaring. “The mating bond.”

Oh no. I get to my feet and back away from him. “Stay away from me, Amaros.”

He lowers the sword and laughs. “You still think you can make commands of me? Your King.”

There’s a dark and evil glint in his eyes that steals my breath. Each and every time I see him, it’s as if the darkness has pulled him farther in, filling his mind with a toxicity I don’t think he can ever come back from.

There’s not much left of the male I once liked. He’s been replaced with someone evil and cold, and he frightens me.

He tilts his head to the side as he studies me before walking right up to me. I hold my ground, refusing to allow my fear to play out across my features. I don’t know what this male has planned for me, but I will not be weak, nor will I back down.

He reaches out and caresses my cheek. “You are mine. My powerful Queen.”

I bat his hand away, and he chuckles.

“Together we will rule over the Kingdoms, as I always knew we would.”

I lean my head back and look him in the eye. “No. I am not your Queen. And I will never be yours.”

He slowly walks away from me, then abruptly spins around to face me again. He scratches his chin with his free hand. “I enjoyed killing Harlum. He should have never been King in the first place. I have been by his side for hundreds of years, waiting for the right moment. He wasn’t a god. He was never worthy to rule.”

I don’t dare speak. Anything I say is likely to anger him further, and I have to bide my time until I can find a way to escape from this. From him.

He stalks back over to me and leans in close, sniffing my neck before pulling back again and screwing up his face. He grabs me around my throat and shoves me back against the stone wall.

“You disgust me. I will kill Kyle for this, for putting his cock inside my female,” he warns.

His words swirl in the pit of my stomach, creating a wave of nausea, and I will myself to remain strong. My body trembles beneath his touch, and I fear for what he will do to me.

“Doesn’t matter though. I have ways to break the bond, and when I do, we will finally mate.” He traces his fingers down my neck, between my breasts, down over my stomach, and settles his hand between my legs. “There’s nothing to stop me from having a taste now, though. I know you want it. You always have.”

I struggle against him, but he has me pinned against the wall. “No! Get off me!”

My powers blast out of me in a powerful shockwave that shoots Amaros backwards. He drops the sword and lands hard on his back. Seeing my opportunity, I sprint for the doors, thankful they did unlock earlier, and yank them open.

“Zarla!” he shouts.

I make a beeline for the stone stairs leading down through the tunnels. Even if Amaros has been down here, maybe I can lose him in the tunnels. I’m fast on my feet, and he’s injured.

“Zarla!” he calls out again, his voice echoing down through the tunnels.

He’s on the stone staircase. That much I’m certain of. If there isn’t another way out of here, I will open a portal.

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