Page 136 of Her Tortured Beasts

“Your mistake,” he says, adjusting his monocle. “You’ll be leaving in pieces.”

Already am.

Marduk presses his ID tag to the electronic sensor and the lock deactivates. I wrench the door open and head inside the foyer and left, down to the recreation room.

Savage and Beak stand at the ready before the double wooden doors.

My heart twists at the hate on my wolf brother’s handsome face. At the pain that lies under it. It feels like I have not seen him in years and the sight of him makes me blink back the burning in my eyes. He still wears the black stud I gave himmany years ago. I’m surprised he still has it on but honestly with Savage it’s more likely he’d just forgotten that I’d been the one to gift it to him. Still, it’s my only consolation as he looks upon me with such contempt. I’d heard his vow on the day Aurelia was returned to them. I was sure he’d try to slash my throat as soon as I’d come in the door. “I have orders not to kill you, dragon,” he spits. “Otherwise, your head wouldn’t be attached to your body.”

Savage would never keep a cabinet of body parts like my father. No, he’d just chuck my head straight into the bin, never to be seen again.

The thought makes me want to laugh for some reason.

“Eugene?” Savage says in disbelief.

The rooster clucks happily and pecks Savage on his bare foot. Savage lifts him up to check on him. “Mate, I thought you were dead.”

“Almost was,” I say drolly. “But I fixed him right up.”

Savage frowns deeply in my direction.

“On your knees,” Lyle sneers from behind me, snatching up my bag and rudely opening it for an inspection.

My ears tell me the room beyond is full of beasts. They’ve prepared an audience for me, likely gathering the entire animus dorm. So they should have. I would have done exactly the same, and it makes old pride swell in my chest.

I drop onto my hands and knees, immediately noticing the dirt and grass particles on the linoleum. They haven’t swept in over a week, I bet, and half these ferals walk around barefoot.

Savage and Beak open the doors, before striding in and announcing my name, in growling, mocking voices. The room goes silent, over a hundred heartbeats thrumming in my ears.

I begin crawling.

It’s not so foreign, I suppose. I’m on all fours as a dragon anyway. I ignore the boot marks, toe prints and dirt on the floor,the dark whispers and mutters. The only thing I focus on is who I see when I raise my head.

They’ve sat her like a queen on the stage. Her animas, including Minnie and excluding Raquel and Connor, stand around her, Scythe standing at her right-hand side. I grimace under Sabrina’s glare. Her scent is all over one of the dungeons in Drakos Estate.

Aurelia wears a long blue dress with no sleeves and a high neckline. Her hands are curved around the ends of the armrests, her chin high as she watches me with those blue eyes that are seared into my mind.

The only thing she’s missing is a crown.

I hasten my pace a little, and rather quickly, I reach the front, getting off my hands and planting a foot in front of me.

“Uh-uh!” Savage says to me like a stray dog as he and Beak come to stand with their backs against the stage like guards. “You stay on your knees, betrayer.”

“Fair enough,” I mutter, swinging my foot back.

“Oh my god!” Minnie shrieks, pointing at Savage. “Eugene!”

Aurelia gasps and Eugene wriggles out of Savage’s arms and flies onto the stage. The animas make cooing and crying sounds, huddled around him. After each one has had a kiss, Aurelia cuddles him to her chest. But Eugene won’t stay there. He proceeds to hop off the stage and comes back to me, standing sentinel by my side.

Savage exhales irritably. The animas frown at his behaviour.

“Why have you come here?” Scythe asks, in his distinct voice that sails easily across the pin-drop silent room. “What right have you to speak to my regina?”

“Go back to your family,” Savage snarls. “The one you chose over us.”

Lyle growls, “The ones who gave you that tattoo you wear so proudly on your arm.”

I glance at Aurelia, listening to her. That heart of hers beats fast, though her breath is controlled by her concentration. Her lips part gently with breath; I miss seeing her on a daily basis.

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