Page 79 of King of the Unsightly

I didn’t know how many more lashes it took for me to crumple to the ground, my cheek smashed against the floor facing the stairs. Until I contained nothing but emptiness.

My body could only handle so much before my eyes flickered open and closed.

I about lost it when reverberating footsteps came from above.

Was itFellcoming to finish the last fifty?

Tears pooled down my cheeks as a hint of a white blur shifted past me.

A heavy thud and warm blood pooled by my legs.

Someone stroked my forehead, and I dared steal a peek.

Kaschel crowded my vision and crouched beside me, his rough hands gently touched my legs, and I shrank further into the floors.

He busted the chains off my legs and hands; his delicate touch abandoned my skin, and I exhaled.

Unable to hold his gaze, I looked away and muttered, “It didn’t work.” I stifled back a sob attempting to flee my mouth. “The dagger.” I pushed myself to sound strong and put together, but my voice cracked and revealed my shattered self.

Kaschel didn’t respond and snatched me from the ground, cradling me in his arms.

All the emotions I thought I could hold in poured out of me. My sobs turned into dry heaves as everything went mute. Kaschel carried me as if he could strip away all my sorrows.

He witnessed the room. The chill to the air. The lacerations across my back.

The scars.

“It’s over.” Kaschel finally spoke as he ran his fingers through my hair and instead of soothing me, I ugly cried harder into him.

I snuggled my face deeper into his chest, fully taking in his masculine scent of spice and earth.

“How did you get out?” I asked, my voice a delicate whisper.

My quivering body eased into his, and the drone of his heartbeat hypnotized me.

Kaschel pressed his forehead to mine. “I have been broken and molded back together more times than I can count.” Kaschel didn’t elaborate on what happened to him when we were apart, and I didn’t think I needed to push him further.

Instead, I nodded my head as his warmth sent sunlight through me, clearing out the raging storm in my body.

I lifted my chin, and our eyes met.

Kaschel maintained his vacant expression. I couldn’t tell what crossed his mind or what he thought of me now.

But I knew he finally caught a glimpse of the real me. The one I thought I could hide.

All the blemishes, imperfections, and trauma.

Everything I kept locked away so no one would know how truly damaged I was—laid bare in front of him.

Desire

Kaschel swerved and dodged trees as the air whipped around us. I buried my face farther into his chest as the cold air assaulted my shivering body.

I didn’t know how long Kaschel ran as he carried me in his arms—but he never pressed me further, and after some time had passed, my stomach wrenched my insides.

The silence could only alleviate my mind for so long before I went stir-crazy.

We had an elephant in the room, yet he decided for the both of us to turn a blind eye and not address it?

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