Page 84 of House of Mages and Raven

It wasn’t merely a threat she’d issued. She knew something about the coming second trial, and it’d be worse than the first that had nearly done me in. The druid had poisoned me with the Seed. Just remembering the inhuman agony made me shudder all over again.

I dreaded going through a trial again, but I wasn’t a quitter, even though I couldn’t care less about being a Bride. I wouldn’t be too sad if I was finally kicked out of the Selection. I just hoped that Cade would still house me. He had establishments in the U.K. I could stay there, and I would even set myself up as an influencer.

My stomach chose that moment to groan in hunger while I pictured myself as a successful BookTok influencer, but there was nothing else to eat, as I’d finished the protein bar in two bites. Should’ve rationed it. In a sour mood, I scrambled to my feet and padded to the shelf to check out the selection of smut books.

A dark fairytale romantasy paperback caught my attention right away. A memory swirled back. Killian had come to my room as I sobbed over a heartbreaking scene.

“The billionaire dragon shifter heir and the virgin can’t be together,”I had told him.

“Who is the fucking billionaire and who is the virgin?”he had growled in confusion, then picked up a book—the wrong book—from the table and flipped to the page that I’d dogeared and read the line aloud.“‘want to fill your tight cunt with my cum.’”

He might’ve teased me about my reading taste, but I’d seen the heat and lust burning in his gaze. He’d looked at me as if he wanted me more than anything and anyone in the world. As if I was his whole world.

It was ironic that what had happened between us was like a twisted version of the dragon and the maiden. In the book, at least the star-crossed lovers fought to be together. In reality, Killian had dumped me, not for someone younger and prettier, but for my “upgraded” version.

My mouth tasted like ash and sulfur, yet I couldn’t get the picture of our last morning together out of my mind. I’d woken up with his head buried between my thighs, his mouth feasting on my pussy, his tongue lapping my swollen clit. The searing pleasure had nearly undone me.

And he’d told me that I was the first woman who’d ever slept overnight in his bed.

“Mine!” he’d growled.

I’d demanded,“But are you mine too?”

He was a liar and a fucking seducer. He’d never been mine. Never would be. I’d fallen for him, only to be throw away like an old shoe.

I wasn’t retired but replaced.

A sudden, inconsolable rage leapt into my belly and kept rising.

A flood of heat flared in my chest, and with it, images of the chaos prince and me fucking like savages pounded into my mind. I didn’t want that. I tried to shove them away, but they kept coming, wave after wave, crashing into meunceasingly, until the heat sank into my veins and coursed in my bloodstream.

Before I knew it, my panties were soaked and my pussy throbbed.

What the fuck?

The heat turned to liquid fire, licking and burning the tender flesh between my thighs. The need turned into an ache, then pain. At last, I was writhing in terrible agony.

You’re in heat, Barbie,Sy said.

27

Barbie

The unwelcome liquid fire licked my core, searing hotter.

My body trembled, my pussy ached, and sweat broke out on my forehead.

With a snarl, I dropped to the cold stone floor, but I wasn’t getting cooler. My whole body was burning.

My panties were completely soaked, wetting the ground. I rolled away to another spot, and it heated beneath me as well.

What the fuck did you do, Sy?I snarled.

How is it my fault that you went into heat?she barked back.You fucked Killian, then you stopped.

He stopped!I shouted.He initiated it and he stopped it. He should be the one to be punished.

It’s useless and negative to point fingers and assign blame,she said, as if she was suddenly a logical being rather than more primal than anyone else.Even if he stopped, you should’ve kept it going. You should’ve fought for him. I’d never back off if any bitch tried to take my man.

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