Page 78 of Cruel Crown

“Fuck.” Bas held on to his neck, massaging where Gideon had hit him.

“Kiss her again and I’ll kill you.”

Bas flicked Gideon off and started to crawl out, but he turned to Gideon once more and grinned. “Is his dick pierced?”

I groaned and Gideon kicked him out. Once he was out, Gideon zipped the tent again and turned to me with a somber look.

Here we go again.

“What?” I said, not liking the dread that started to take over me.

“Were you aware that Yorovich had a crown jewel?”

I shook my head. I wasn’t, but I bet that my father knew, and that’s why he offered me off on a silver platter. My throat constricted, and I swallowed the vileness. Now Damian had that object when I could have had it all along.

“Petal.” Gideon’s voice was right by my ear. Then I felt his arms wrap around me. “I think you should also know that the Italian girl did not make it.”

I clutched him tighter as the guilt consumed me.

People often wonder what it’s like to take a life. How you can do it so carelessly. The first kill you never forget it; it stains your soul, and you feel that blackness sweep into your being. Then every other kill after that just spreads the blackness in your heart.

War meant sacrifice, but the hardest deaths were always the ones of the innocent people who didn’t ask to be a part of it.

“I killed her,” I whispered as I let him hold me.

“No, baby, you saved her. Her fate was written the moment her father decided to take the throne of the underworld.”

I held on to him tighter. “Everything is changing fast.”

He rubbed circles on my back, then kissed my forehead. “You got me.” Gideon pulled my hair back, forcing me to look him in the eyes. “You always got me. You get that?” His eyes blazed with passion, trying to burn that fact into me.

“I’m starting to.”

“Thank fuck.”

The rest of the night and the next day was met with impending doom. When the white team won, we all headed back, wondering what awaited us at the castle.

Gideon

The drive to the castle went by fast, everyone dying to get back to the heat, warm food, and a nice bed.

Daphne held on to me, resting her head on my back, and it was the little, soft things she did that were so unlike her that undid me.

I wasn’t like most men. The fact that she had shared her body with countless nameless faces didn’t matter. We all did it to fill a void, to feel that warmth that came with being human. The kills took a toll, and more often than not, it left you feeling cold.

In this world, sharing your body was easy. It was something you did to get by, just another way to exploit people, but to bare your soul—those were the things that slowly sunk themselves into your skin like broken glass, leaving tiny little cuts that alone didn’t bother you, but when they all added up, those motherfuckers burned.

Right now, I was burning, but feeling something was better than not feeling anything at all.

When we got to the castle, people had gathered around in a half circle. I parked the snowmobile, and Daphne and I immediately got off. We took off our helmets and put them on top of the vehicle.

“What’s going on?” Daphne looked up at me. It was the first time I noticed how tiny she was.

“Want me to give you a piggyback ride? You’ll see better?” I mocked as I put my hand on her lower back.

“Want me to hit you in the balls so hard you fall on your face so I can use you as a stepping stool?” she sassed back.

I was about to say something else when the yelling had us both snapping our heads to the front.

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