Page 92 of King of the Unsightly

Gren nodded his head, mechanically. “I know.”

I frowned. I wanted to believe this would be the hardest part, but life loved to throw curveballs excessively at my face, so I highly doubted it.

“Okay,” I said weakly.

“If anything feels off, I will stall them long enough for you and Lucien to run away.”

I raised my head; the confusion furrowed into my brows as a hint of anger swirled in my irises. “No. I would never leave you.”

“Are you worried about me?”

“Of course!”

Gren snatched the two keys from my palm and leaned so close I could see the swarm of emotions flicker like stars in his eye. “You really shouldn’t.”

Gren’s reply stunned me.

What did he mean? I thought we were in this together!

I placed my hand on his firm shoulder. “Why?”

Gren’s expression turned sour as he looked away. “I have half your soul. That’s more than I deserve. So please, don’t sacrifice for someone else’s sake again.” He smiled brightly, and if I was an outsider looking from afar at our conversation, I would have thought his expression was from pure joy.

But I knew that wasn’t the case. If he thought his hollow look would calm my nerves ... He was dead wrong.

I squeezed Gren’s shoulder.

I couldn’t always be the one losing someone, but for now I indulged Gren and told him what he wanted to hear. “All right, I promise.”

My face tightened with the same smile he gave me. A smile layered with a multitude of emotions where if he wanted to reveal the truth hidden behind it, he needed to peel the deceptive layers away, one by one.

“Good. Now, are you ready?”

I laughed, and it was dry and bitter against my tongue. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”

The mirror was placed in my pocket when I pulled it out and traced the silver thorns wrapped around the skull, and gently moved my fingertips against the three golden vipers spilling out of its mouth and eyes.

I squeezed the mirror in my palm and expelled all the air filling my lungs.

The vipers came alive and wrapped around my arms, and before I reacted, they sank their fangs into my flesh. The room spun around me as Gren snatched my hand before I fell backward.

“You have the keys, right?”

Gren patted his pockets anxiously and searched.

His face twisted with worry, and his lips moved, but I couldn’t hear a sound as darkness shot out of my fingertips and surrounded every inch of the room until it devoured us.

Taunting Adeline

The darkness dissipated into the night sky and forced us out. The world spiraled in hues of cerulean blue as a heavy fog crawled in.

An audible thud echoed throughout the surrounding forest as we dropped to the ground.

Somehow, Gren wrapped his arms around me and pivoted us so I landed on his chest instead of the damp soil.

My vision refocused, and my jaw dropped.

I knew exactly where we were, but why here?If those bastards were always this close, why didn’t they come for me sooner? Was it really because of some barrier?

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