Page 39 of A Touch of Gold and Madness

Through the heaviness, I focused on the form. A black cloak draped over their head, obscuring their face, as they clasped their hands together between their knees. I gasped, recognizing it washim. Griffin.

What the fuck?

So many questions pummeled my fuzzy mind, but they were irrelevant. What mattered was that I could kill him here and now.

Jumping out of bed, I ignored my body’s distress warnings. My feet met the cold wooden floor on tired legs. I didn’t have it in me to fight right now. I’d fought in worse conditions before, yet I felt useless against the most dangerous person alive. But Ihadto act. I couldn’t just let him go again.

I lunged. The rickety chair he sat in flipped over backward with the force of my collision. A loud crash and thud echoed throughout the room. For half a second, I wondered if the floor would cave in, but I didn’t let the thought interfere. I punched his jaw with all my remaining strength, despite my leaden arm. He jerked to the side, but to my surprise, my knuckles still connected with his jaw, rocking his head to the left.

Not even a grunt escaped him as he snapped his head back to face me. Long, black hair whipped across his cheek, the ends playing at the hollow of his throat. A bright blue, glamoured gaze peered at me through the mussed ebony strands. I was plunged into its empty depths, where life was sucked dry. Nothing remained of the mischievous and restless energy he emitted the night we fought topside of the speakeasy. A hollow shell of a man gazed back at me, like he was here, but not really. Like he was already dead.

I reached for his throat and squeezed my fingers around the tattoos covering his skin… and then squeezed more. If I didn’t know any better, it seemed like heallowedme to choke him, causing something to bristle within me. With a clenched jaw, I grunted. “Fight back, you fucking coward.” I punched him again.

At my words, a spark lit his blue eyes back to life. In a swift move, he jolted his hips upward and flipped me onto my back, pinning my arms to the floor as if I was a child. That was way too easy for him. I cursed myself because, once again, I gave him the upper hand.

Me and my damn mouth.

With the roles reversed, he lodged his hips into mine. I grunted, his full weight pressing me into the rotting wood floor.

A curse spat from my lips at the intimate position. I should’ve capitalized on killing him during his moment of weakness. With my energy spent, my body drained, my magic inhibited, and weapons gone, I was at his mercy—again.

Griffin’s face hovered inches above mine as his warm breath huffed out, blanketing my face in waves. He stared down at me, absorbing all my features, his eyes clear of the emptiness that had just resided within them. In fact, a wicked glint began to shine through.

Many small scars marred his smooth, tanned complexion with olive undertones. A deep scar in the shape of a half-moon sat in the corner of his right eye. Thick, dark lashes drew attention to cat-shaped eyes. They held a slight feminine quality to them, which accented the masculine features of his face. I resisted the ridiculous urge to caress the high cheekbones that dipped into a strong jaw. And then I resisted the urge to vomit at the insane thought.

Despite my hatred toward the man, I wasn’t above admitting that he was beautiful. Beautiful in the “lure you to your death” type of way. But beautiful, nevertheless.

My lip curled up at him in disgust, the coldness within me begging to bite at him. My breaths came in harshly through my nose as I glared at him with every bit of hatred I harbored for him.

“There she is,” Griffin growled. My body reacted to the tenor of his voice before I could do anything about it as heat flushed my skin. He leaned in, brushing the tip of his nose along the shell of my ear. “I always knew there was a little savage in there, waiting to be unleashed.” He pulled back and smirked, huffing out a quiet laugh. “Can she come out to play?” he breathed into my ear.

Hearing his taunt sent shivers down my spine, rage flooding my stomach as I clenched my jaw and tossed my head to the side to avoid his touch. Yet, to my horror, my thighs clenched beneath his hips as a slow sensation of lust began to rise in my lower body.

What theactual fuck?

“You don’t know shit about me,” I snapped. “And get your dick off me.” I bucked my hips, trying to throw him off, but he remained firmly planted. All the motion accomplished was my dry-humping him. I growled my frustration as this only fueled my need to break free of his holdimmediately.

“I know more than you think, Princess.” He ignored my second statement and remained pressed against me, searing me with his striking gaze in a way that seemed to be an innate gift. “Don’t worry, Gray. I don’t want you dead—not yet, at least.” The corners of his lips curled into a wicked smirk, and I cursed myself as yet another flair of desire shot through my veins.

Stupid fucking hormones can’t differentiate friend from foe.

“Good. It’ll make killing you a bit easier, then,” I seethed. Pushing aside the dark beauty of this man, I called upon the memory of Slate, envisioning his stony gray hair and soft hazel eyes. It was a reminder to not fall for Griffin’s charm a second time.

“You still believe I killed your boyfriend.” Griffin rolled his eyes. “I believe the humans used to call that ‘fake news’.” A black eyebrow arched up in amusement.

“You ambushed his squadron.”

“Nope. Wasn’t me. I wasn’t there.” A grin formed at the edges of his lips. “I even have witnesses.”

Lies. “You expect me to believe anything that comes from your mouth? From any Elemental’s mouth for that matter?”

“And yet you believe anything that comes from your king’s mouth. Why are you here, anyway?”

Instead of answering him, I countered, “What did you do to me? Where am I?”

“Oh!” Griffin perked up, a manic joy lighting up his eyes. “Chloroform. Sorry ‘bout that,” he said with an unapologetic shrug. “I couldn’t have you fighting me the whole way while I found us this lovely place, could I? It’s a bit of a fixer-upper, but—”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I cut him off as I struggled against him again. Like before, it was futile. His arms were steel, and his weight was relentless. “Fucking chloroform? What do you want with me? To use me as leverage against my father?” If that was the case, he was shit out of luck because he would be doing my father a service.

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