Page 82 of Tortured Royals

“I’m fine,” he says, his midnight blue gaze locked on me. “We all are. You don’t have to worry.”

Without knowing what the power is, there’s no way to be certain that any of us are safe, but his words send a spark of relief through me. “Okay, well I guess it’s probably a good thing only I can feel it. And in any case, it’s gone for now.” The sensation of icy claws has left me, but I can’t shake the unsettling feeling in my chest.

“I felt it,”Shade says, puffing up her feathers.“Or at least, I did when I came here to deliver your message to the king.”

“What?” I stare at her. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You were busy with Ivar,”she replies.“But I definitely felt something when I entered the castle. Something…unnatural.”

“Great,” I say sarcastically.

“There’s more, too,”Shade says hesitantly.

My unease spikes. “More?”

Shade tucks her wings in tighter.“When I found King Dalton, the physician was there again.”

“Well, that’s not a surprise, is it?” I say slowly.

“The king really isn’t well, Blake. Remember those welts we saw? It’s worse. So much worse,”Shade says.“He looks like he’s hardly left his bedchamber.”

For a moment, I continue standing there, unable to move. I know Dad has been growing weaker, but I hadn’t expected this.No wonder the guards were relieved to see me if war is coming and the king has hardly left his rooms.

“Fuck,” I growl, and I storm through the castle toward the king’s chambers.

My mates keep up, flanking me, and the guards patrolling the hallways straighten as I pass, relief shining in their eyes.

We reach Dad’s bedchambers, and two massive demon guards stand outside his room. There was a time when I would have asked them nicely to let me through and given them a chance to act. Now, I keep striding toward them and say a single command. “Move.”

The guards stiffen. “You know we can’t do that, your highness. The king doesn’t wish to be disturbed.”

I’m not about to argue.Huh. Too bad for them.I’m fully prepared to take on the guards myself, but Alaric and Nate move in front of me.

Nate grins at them. “You heard the princess.”

The demons prepare to fight to stop us, but Nate and Alaric have them down in a few moves, unconscious on the floor.

“Well damn, why didn’t you find your mates sooner? They’re hella handy,”Shade comments, whistling in my head.

Nate beams at me and Shade like he’s a puppy who needs to be told he’s a good boy.

I run my hand along his chest as I stride past and burst into the king’s bedchamber.

King Dalton stands shirtless in front of a floor length mirror. He has his back to me, and black marks track across his skin, twisting and winding like it’s a growing entity, trying to consume him.

I gasp. “Dad,” the word falls from my mouth before I can stop it. I never call him that, but the sight of his back has my stomach churning.

He turns as we stop in the middle of the room, and Mason closes the door behind us.

“Ah daughter,” he says wearily like me barging into his bedchamber is the most natural thing. “If you’re here I suppose that means you’ve taken care of Ivar?”

I struggle to find my words, and Dante takes pity on me.

“Ivar has been neutralized, your majesty,” Dante says, bowing his head.

All of my mates stand awkwardly behind me, and I hadn’t thought how this would be strange for them. Too late now.

“What the fuck is that?” I blurt, pointing at Dad’s chest because Ivar is old news. Now that he’s turned, I can see how the marks spread over his chest, resembling the way bolts of electricity split off, crackling out through the sky during a lightning storm. The black marks reach up his throat toward his chin, and my throat feels tight just staring at it.

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