Page 116 of Tyrant

I shake my head. “I have no idea what’s going on. What did I do to you?”

She leans in and brushes her cheek against mine. I feel her warm breath tickle my right ear.

“Tyrant,” she whispers. “That’s what you did. You fucked my man. You fucked the man I’m marrying. Well, the man I’m already married to. At least in the terms of normal society.”

My stomach plummets and I gasp for a breath. The woman steps back and watches my reaction. I blink fast and shake my head.

“No,” I say. “No fucking way. How? Why would he…” I swallow hard. “Wait. I’m just aclaimed. That’s all. What was I supposed to do? He was using me to pass to marry Des.”

“Wrong!” Her voice booms through the concrete room. “Sort of right, but mostly wrong.”

I look around. I have a sense of déjà vu but no clue why. This room is literally just concrete. It’s bright and creepy.

“You think it’s okay to fuck someone else’s man?”

“I don’t believe you,” I say.

“Who do you think pierced his nipple,” she says with a sly grin. “Well, I guess I claimed one and you claimed the other, right?”

My lip starts to quiver.

“Oh, don’t fucking get like this right now,” she says. “Too late for that. Plus, you saw what I did to him, right? I just couldn’t fucking take it anymore. Waiting around for something to happen. Waiting for Des to get his shit together. When I heard him confess his love for you. I just… I had to do something. I lost my mind for a second. But it felt good jamming that knife into his back. Watching him hit the floor. I hope he’s dead. How would that make you feel?”

“If you’re his wife, why doesn’t it bother you?” I ask.

She puts the back of her right hand to her forehead, throws her head back and lets out a weeping sound.

“Oh, no! What happened to him?! I loved him so much!”

“Fucking scumbag,” I say.

Her hand drops down. “What did you call me?”

“You heard me. You’re a scumbag. You’re worthless. He didn’t want you. He didn’t love you. Why was he given someone else? Did you listen to all the times we fucked? Huh? Were you ever part of any ceremonies? Were you everclaimedbefore?”

I’m digging deep for my bitchiest attitude. It’s working. The woman’s eyes go wide. She runs toward me and slaps me across the face. I see stars and I hear ringing in my ears.

“I’m pulling out these staples,” she growls. “Let you fucking bleed to death.”

She grabs my hair and pulls. Her fingers claw at my head, bringing on a new, fresh pain that makes me scream.

I take my chances and bite her. My teeth sink into her right arm and I hold on as tight as I can. Now the woman is screaming in pain, trying to get away.

There’s a slightpopsound in my jaw as she breaks free. I feel myself then falling to the right. I hit the floor with a hard thud, which includes my head. I feel blood seeping already.

The woman grabs at her right arm.

“If it wasn’t for your stepmother, you’d already be dead!”

The words register but then don’t.

What does…

The door to the concrete room opens and in walks my cunt of a stepmother. She looks at me. She tilts her head for a second. Then she looks at the woman.

“What happened to you, Danielle?”

“The bitch bite me.”

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