Page 149 of Devil's Doom

It doesn’t help that we parted the way we did. I loathe myself for fucking with her memory. And I loathe her, too—for telling me she would leave me.

Her words unleashed a swarm of emotions so tangled, it physically hurt. It felt like my heart and mind were assaulted by insects, bloodthirsty, unstoppable beasts, and I had to make them stop.

I had to make her stay.

But now she’s gone, anyway, and I am half mad already. If she isn’t found by morning, I don’t know what I’ll do. I’ve never been this desperate.

“Look in the city first. Check every nook, find her, and bring her back!”

The cavern floor in front of me lights with a silver glow. I stop speaking, watching that spot with a frown. Why would Chors come here? We’ve agreed to keep our visits rare and casual to avoid suspicion, so whatever his reason, it must be urgent.

My heart thuds when red hair flashes in the light, and then she’s there, falling to the floor without a sound. For a moment, my heart soars. She came back to me.

But then, I realize what it means.Hebrought her, and I remember how I saw them last, naked in the river. She looks up, eyes full of fear and confusion, and my rage slams back, tearing the happiness to shreds.

“Where the fuck have you been?” I ask, careless of the hundreds of rebels gathered here, watching.

She flinches away from me, so unnaturally scared, and I exhale in surprise. The last time I saw her, she was soft and smiling. Now—this. It’s like she knows what I did. My insides churn, and I push that thought away. She can’t know. It’s only my guilt making me think that.

“I… I went for a walk,” she lies unconvincingly through her confusion.

She gets up, and I don’t help her, my eyes latching onto her lips, dusted with a silver glow, and her throat, likewise silvered.

What the fuck?

The world tips around me until I’m falling into a reality that’s rejection, betrayal, and pain.

“You… and him,” I snarl, staring at her and willing her to deny it, yet knowing it’s pointless. I see the proof of it. It’s obvious and glaring, almost as if he left it there on purpose. Just like his mark before.

She flinches, her fear tightening around her throat until her breaths are fast and shallow, her eyes flying around in search of an escape.

I don’t want to touch her now. The very thought makes me nauseous, a heartsick, horrible feeling pooling in my gut. It’s like sorrow, yet a thousand times worse, and oh fuck, I wish I could just be angry.

With any other consort, I would. I’d probably break her neck publicly for a betrayal of this kind, yet the very thought of touching Jaga’s silvered throat makes me want to rain fire on the world.

When she takes a step back, I shoot my shadows to capture her, but she slips through them, immune. Of course, since she charmed my blood to repel my shadows. It feeds my fury and my hurt, becausewhywould she, when all I ever wanted was to keep her close, snug and warm?

She moves away, step by stumbling step, and I stop time, trapping her with me.

It’s a relief of sort, to be rid of the audience. It’s also torture. Now that we’re alone in a place without time, I can smell her.Them.

“Let me go,” she chokes out, eyes frenzied. She panics, turning this way and that in desperation, as if she knows the wild, uncontrolled twitching of my fingers reveals a craving to grab her neck and snap it.

I could do it. She would die. But her death is the last resort, isn’t it? Not yet. I won’t take her life. Not when there’s still hope.

“Why did you betray me?” My voice almost breaks with the shivering pain climbing up my spine like poison.

At that, she straightens. She’s terrified, still, but also angry.

“You betrayed me first.”

I shake my head, the buzzing growing louder, the pain and the fury twisting into a force I can’t contain. I want to roar, or maybe weep, but I cannot when she stands in front of me, so small, shaking from terror, yet still defiant.

What does she mean? Does she remember? She must, because why else would she say that?

“I explained about Mokosz,” I snarl, shaking my head. Is she willfully obtuse? “I kissed her to protect you. But you… Did you fuck? Was he inside you?”

I step forward with the need to tear her clothes off and reveal the truth myself. She stumbles back, throat bobbing, her hands tightened into helpless fists.

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