Page 82 of Cruel Crown

“I’ll be running in the legislative elections. Can you imagine getting a seat inside this country’s political powerhouse? The things we can do? We’d be unstoppable.”

Cheers erupted in the hall from our new companions. I looked at Francesca, who looked like she and her boyfriend had been crowned king and queen at the dance. Bas was cheering, but I knew it was just a façade.

Roman looked like he was going to be sick, then looked at Daphne and disappeared from the pit. As for my petal, she was almost comatose, looking at Damian without blinking.

“Petal,” I whispered.

“He just declared war on the world,” she said in a monotone voice. “He took Yoro’s throne and merged his filth with our people. The Sekt has hundreds of spies all over the world who he has control over. If he gets his foot into politics, it’s game fucking over to anyone who dares cross him…” She stopped talking and turned to face me. “I’m sorry.”

She said the words, got up on her tiptoes, and kissed me. Then she pulled back, and because I knew the crazy bitch, I knew what she was going to do. She had her Glock already up and ready to aim at Damian’s face.

Raising my elbow, I hit her in the back of the neck hard, causing her to whimper in pain. The gun dropped, and before it could hit the floor, Roman picked it up.

“Get. Her. Out,” he gritted out.

Shots were fired, and the sound ricocheted. I turned to see what had happened, and Bas gave me a quick wink as he and a few others fired shots in celebration to Damian’s news. The fucker had caused a distraction.

As people congratulated Damian, Roman and I got Daphne out of there. We didn’t go to her room. Instead, Roman brought me to the lab section, and he kept going through doors, each one taking us higher until we came to another tower. This one was warm, and it was lit.

“This just became her new room. No one is safe anymore.”

“No offense, how is this safer?”

Roman grinned. “All the levels have different bioweapons ready to be activated if someone infiltrates.”

Fuck, these people were fucking crazy. “I like you,” I told him before I shut the door in his face.

When he was gone, I took a chair and sat next to Daphne’s side. I waited a few minutes until she regained consciousness. The moment her eyes opened, they searched the room. Her silver eyes were blazing with all kinds of fire. I got up and caged her to the pillow.

“You don’t do anything on your own anymore,” I said through gritted teeth. “Do you get that?” I brought my hand to her neck, squeezing some fucking sense into her. “Nod if you understand me?”

It took seconds, but she did. I removed my hand, and she massaged her throat. It was red from where I lost control at the thought of her dying minutes ago.

“I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t think it through, I was so angry.”

“I know, babe,” I said as I rubbed my hand on her forehead, and I couldn’t help but kiss her. She kissed me back, and I knew that shit had to go down this way. She smiled at me, and it was the scariest shit I’d ever seen because it was sweet. I was fucking here for it.

“What now?” She looked at me.

With her eyes and trust in me, I felt like I could take over the whole world.

“Well, Petal.Wego to war.”

A Few Months Later

Daphne

Location:Maldives

“Come on, Petal,” Gideon said as he rubbed his thumb over my lower lip. “Stop pouting.”

“I am not pouting.” I seethed. The only reason why I wasn’t screaming at him was that I was tired and thirsty. He said we had a job to do today, and I was looking forward to a little bloodshed.

I didn’t even mind being in warm weather. The time at the castle was still fresh in my mind. The things that Damian was doing were like a coldness that kept spreading over my body every time I let it creep in. Failure was a crippling feeling. It was probably the worst of them all. You could deal with betrayal, with heartache, but once you failed, you wondered what was the point in going on if you weren’t going to amount to anything

So, for now, I let the castle, Damian, and Russia stay in the back of my mind. I let fear take place in my heart because I had allowed someone else in—I hated it, but I didn’t know how to stop it.

“You are, and I think it’s cute,” he teased as he forced his thumb in my mouth.

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