Page 82 of Eternally Yours

Abhorred, I backed away from him. “You imprisoned her and treated her like some kind of lab rat?”

“I did what was best for our people.” He stepped closer, reaching for my hand as if that would help me understand his motives better.

Pulling from his grasp, I puffed my chest in defiance. “My heart died every single day believing she was gone, Father. You stood by my bedside and watched me crumble the day you delivered the news.”

Pacing, I clenched my fists, fighting with my desire to unleash my wrath on him. But doing that now would be a death sentence. His guards would kill me and Loren before I could inflict any damage with my bare hands.

“Son. I’m sorry for the pain I caused you—”

I couldn’t strangle him with my bare hands, but my eyes did little to hide the hatred buried in them. “I believed I’d lost my bloodmate. Have you any idea how that feels? For your mate to die?”

He stiffened. Of course he didn’t.

“The pain eating me from the inside was her bond calling to me,” I shouted, pointing at Loren. “Her suffering. She needed me and you kept her locked up in a dungeon.”

“You’re bloodmated to her?” Ellie asked, her voice scraping at my insides like a blade.

I didn’t turn around to face her or I would’ve killed her myself. But no matter what role she’d played in this, in time, I would make sure she paid for any harm she may have caused Loren.

“With her alive, our bond…” Ellie’s voice trailed. “This ceremony was all for nothing?”

“This union wasn’t about your love for my son, Ellie,” my father sneered. “The bond was inconsequential. This ceremony was about staking our position as a governing force.” He glanced around the room at the masked faces. “We can still salvage this. We can make this allegiance work.”

Loren took slow, calculated steps toward my father, her dominant strides demanding his full attention. I thought about stopping her, fearing for a second she’d start an outright war if she tried to hurt my father. But despite her anger, she was not an uncontrolled feral beast like my father had claimed. Her beautiful monster pawed beneath the surface of her delicate skin, but she didn’t need to bare her claws or gnash her teeth to prove she was stronger and more powerful than any of us.

Slack-jawed, I marveled at the grace of her movement in that red, corseted gown. Loren looked like she’d been plucked from the pages of my past. A queen at court.

“You’re out of your fucking mind if you think I will allow this ceremony to continue,” she began, her voice leveled. “Nic and I are bloodmated, a union breakable only by death.”

Murmurs circulated around the room, bodies began to stir. The energy had shifted. There was doubt among those present.

My father took a threatening step toward her and growled, fangs flashing. “Howdareyou speak to me, cretin? You are nothing more than a hybrid bastard spawned from a savage animal and the impetuous decision of a son who never deserved the throne.”

I stepped forward and stood next to Loren, reaching for her hand and bringing it to my lips. She looked up at me, her blue eyes shadowed, perhaps expecting I’d come to her defense. But she didn’t need me to defend her. Loren was a woman capable of fighting her own battles.

Turning toward the man who sired me, I no longer felt anger, but pity. My muscles relaxed. Perhaps it was Loren’s strength vibrating through our touch. Maybe I’d finally realized I never legitimately belonged in this family. Either way, I now possessed the courage to denounce him as my father.

“I never wanted your throne,” I said. “But you knew that. I lacked the ambition you needed to build your empire, and you despised that about me. It’s why you killed Elizabeth. And after examining your plans for the future of this coven, I want nothing to do with you or this family. I will never partake in the slaughter of innocent humans.”

“You ungrateful, degenerate fuck. This family gave you everything and you shit on our honor, as if the blood coursing through those veins doesn’t make you one of us. Seize them both. Throw them in the Solaris.”

Members of my own Iron Guard rushed toward us. Dressed in their ceremonial armor, they sported swords instead of automatic weapons. Aiming their sharp blades at our necks, we stood still as they shackled our hands behind our backs.

Nostrils flaring, I glared at my father. I could handle whatever he wanted to do to me, but if he touched Loren…

He stepped closer, the hatred spewing from his eyes skewering me in place. But he didn’t bother addressing me.

Turning to Loren, he said, “You care so much for your bonded mate. Then you can watch him burn to ash. And after, I will personally dissect that pretty body of yours, piece by piece, until there’s nothing left but scraps for the pigs.”

“You disgust me,” I said, spitting at his feet.

“Get him and that wretched animal out of my sight,” he commanded my own officers.

“Not so fast, my Lord!” Catherine’s voice echoed in the room. I couldn't pinpoint exactly where it came from, but given the frozen gazes of the guests still in the room, my guess was she stood right behind me.

“Catherine, what are you doing?” my father called, his face twisted in horror.

“Something I should’ve done long ago.”

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