Page 57 of Desire

The emotions suppressed underneath the lid of my well boiled out, and my control fractured.

Behind him, the glass shards jittered on the floor and then began to rise into the air. My gaze shifted from them to his rage-contorted face.

“Stop. Please,” I rasped.

“Beg harder.” He slapped me again.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus on better, happier moments. Daemon and his kiss. Eadric’s innocent smile. Garron’s sweet blush. Brandle’s care and kindness.

It wasn’t enough. The dishes started to shake on the shelves.

The tracker slammed me into a wall. When his hand fumbled to pull up my skirts, my eyes flew open. My need to strike out threatened to swallow me whole.

I gripped the arm suspending me above the floor for support.

“My name is Kellen Cartwright,” I rasped. “I am the daughter of a merchant and a noblewoman.”

“Do you think that will spare you? I’ve always wanted to fuck a noblewoman,” he said.

“My name is Kellen Cartwright,” I repeated, desperate to remind myself who I was. “I am the daughter of a merchant and a noblewoman.”

Behind him, the glass trembled in the air.

“I am not cruel!” I screamed. “I will not kill you.”

He yanked his hand from under my skirt and slapped me so hard I tasted blood.

“In what world could a girl like you kill me?”

My world,I thought, boiling with rage.

The lid moved to the side, and energy in the well exploded outward, washing the inside of the cottage in hues of violet and blue. The air crackled with the freed power, and my hair floated around me like it did when I swam with Eloise in the pond.

In front of me, the man made a strangled sound. His eyes—the only things he was able to move—darted around frantically.

Terrible, hateful anger pulsed through my veins. My throat burned from his punishing hold, and I wanted to hurt him for daring to hurt me. That need for revenge ate at me.

Refusing to give in to it, I touched his chest and pushed him back. His grip remained firm around my neck until I tuggedmyself free. He whimpered as he slowly floated away, adrift in the current of violet-blue dust.

The anger inside of me didn’t abate. Neither did the fear. Of him. Of myself.

Energy sparked under my feet with each desperate step toward the door. I reached for the latch, seeking my salvation. But what I saw outside wasn’t the help I needed.

Chaos reigned. Near the trees, Edmund, Eadric, Darian, and Daemon were fighting the other four for all their worth.

Garron, nearest to the cottage, wasn’t looking at me but at Liam and Brandle near the upturned table that lay partially in the cooking fire.

Liam swayed on his feet, and Brandle caught him by the arm.

“Stay upright,” Brandle said to him before spotting me.

“Kellen. The tea. Quickly.”

Garron turned to look at me and then through the open cottage door behind me. I knew he saw what I’d done when his eyes widened.

As he met my gaze again, the panic and wild need to cry overwhelmed me.

“I can’t stop it,” I said with tears streaming down my cheeks.

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