Page 87 of Her Tortured Beasts

My mouth quirks up at the thought of my regina, with her fierce eyes and soft mouth. “She has a kind heart, but a thirst for revenge. I have a feeling she would approve.”

Scythe nods, meeting my gaze as if he needs it. “I wonder what she’s thinking right now. I wonder if they’re caring for her properly.”

My jaw clenches until I hear a crack. “Don’t let your mind go there, Scythe. You’ll go mad. Properly this time.”

A muscle in his jaw pulses. “I can’t stop thinking about it. I can’t stop—” His hand goes over his right pec. “This agony I feel. It’s like nothing I’ve experienced before. She needs to know what I feel for her.”

Vulnerable Scythe feels dangerous. “She will know.” I try to use a reassuring voice, but in truth, my mind has gone to the same places. “I think everyone will understand how much we love her soon enough.”

“And Xander.” Scythe’s tone changes completely. Thunder booms in the distance and I eye my brother warily as the tide seems to change, seems to become furious. “He will know what his betrayal means to me too.”

Chapter 47

Xander

8 years ago

Whoever these people are, they keep bothering me.

“I keep telling you to fuck off and you keep not listening,” I snarl at the new, forever darkness that plagues me.

The wolf, from his scent, pats me on the head. “Calm down, brother. You need to listen to us.”

I shove away from him. “Stop calling me that. I don’t know you.”

“Well, it’s not my fault you can’t see the mating mark!” he exclaims. “But I can see yours, mate, and I promise you, I’m your brother!”

“It’s not possible,” I snarl, waving off the hand I feel coming.

“Xander.” This voice belongs to the shark. He smells of brine and darkness and I quieten to listen to his damaged voice. “Do you want to see again?”

The burn in my eye sockets hasn’t gone away. Despite my dragon healing, despite the weeks that have passed, there is a permanent fiery buzz inside my head that makes me?—

“I want to die,” I say firmly. The shark says nothing. Blessedly, neither does the wolf. I sigh. “Okay, fine, I don’t actually want to die, but I’ll probably be killed soon enough. How many blind beasts do you know that live until old age? I’m a dead beast walking.”

“I know one,” Scythe says. “But you’ll have to trust us enough to help you.”

“Whyareyou helping me?”

The wolf sighs loudly, and I hear him dramatically move away. The shark, however, goes still. There’s a knock in my mind, a request for communication I’ve only ever received from other dragons.

I frown, letting it in. “You’re our bond-brother, Xander.” The shark’s voice is in my mind now. “I know it may be hard to believe, but for some reason only the Wild Goddess knows, you share our mating mark.”

“You believe in the Wild Goddess?”I grumble.

“Everyone believes in something. And I also believe you can see again… I have a friend who might be able to teach you.”

“Who?” I ask suspiciously.

The shark moves closer to me, and for some reason, I don’t get the urge to cringe away. “His name is Eko. He’s a Greenland shark who sees with magic.”

Chapter 48

Aurelia

Three days.

For three confusing, heavenly, agonising days, Xander takes care of hisjewel, as he now calls me. It’s him—haughty, arrogant, predatory Xander—and yetnot. It’s as if all inhibition, all the parts he’d lost to hate and anger have returned to him. That perhaps I’ve gotten a glimpse of the person he might have been if whatever awful thing that had happened to him never did.

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