Page 102 of The Ballad of a Bard

He knew what she’d done in the Blades and how she selectedher kills with the limitations in place. Of course to anyone else, it would only serve as proof that she was a killer, capable of taking a life without an issue. That it was entirely plausible for her to have taken out theSaints-damnedEmpress. But beyond the things that she’d done to survive, to make sure that Cobalt survived, there was no reason behind the murder unless in cold-blood. Their interactions had all been public, all been pleasant and without any sort of reasoning to kill.

In a quiet voice full of trepidation she said, “West will defend me.”

Altivar looked mildly interested in that, like the cat who caught the canary and swallowed it whole. “No, he won’t.”

Her head snapped up, her heart turned into a raging storm. Her hammering pulse was the massive beats of thunder and startling lightning that flooded through her system with a chilling electricity. It shocked her very soul, sending her into a cataclysmic shock.

“And why is that?” She tried to steady her tone, tried to force her confidence into her words.

He toyed with her weapons as he toyed with her. “Theseareyour fighting knives. But these are also yourtalismans.”

In two sentences, her world flipped upside down.

She couldn’t speak, couldn’t move.

“But I understand if you don’t feel inclined to believe a word I say. So let’s test that theory, shall we?” Altivar rose from the bench and strolled across the small space. He unearthed a key from his amber trousers and fit it into the lock, turning towards the left. The lock clicked and he pushed it open as he entered the cell. With his fingers firmly clasped on her right blade, he uttered a command at her.

“Don’t move.”

Within a second, her body went rigid and her spine locked into place.

No,she whispered to herself, inside her head. Because her mouth wouldn’t open, her jaw firmly shut and she couldn’t speak out loud at all.

The Prince approached her.

She stood against the wall with her back firmly against the stones, frozen in place. His hand lunged out to grab her by the back of her neck and she internally winced at the pressure he applied. She wanted to shirk out of his grasp, to dart to the side and avoid him entirely but she couldn’t because her body, her soul, her will, no longer belonged to her.

Instead, they belonged to him.

And nothing scared her more.

He smirked to the side, “Wonderful. But you could be pretending, so let’s add another test on, shall we?” He leaned down as his thumb traced the outer lines of her mouth. There was an underlying urge to tremble. “Just to make sure. Then I vow to leave you and your no doubt frantic thoughts alone. For some time.”

Crimson could taste her terror.

Altivar came closer until they shared a breath and it shot dread into her stomach, curling and clawing at her to move, to escape, to do anything. But she was frozen, as if he’d transformed her into a block of ice.

With a tight grip still on her knives, he whispered, “Give me a taste of what you gave the captain. Kiss me, lovely Lyric.”

Her heart sank into levels of despair that she didn’t even know she had as her body moved forwards without her permission. Crimson closed the gap of space between them as she stood up on her toes and placed her mouth against his. Heexhaled as she kissed him against her will, moving in tandem with his lips. Altivar shoved her against the wall, harder as his kisses deepened and became rougher. She whimpered but not in pleasure or enjoyment.

Crimson had only ever kissed one person before.

West.

And she’d wanted it to stay that way for the rest of her long-lived, Saint’s blessed life. But now, her entire system began to shake as the Prince took this from her.

He broke away at last, wiping his glistening mouth on the back of his hand as he smirked. “Well, I can certainly see why Westley Saint has kept you around after all this time.”

She poured all of her hatred for him into that glare, until she could feel the burn behind her eyes. “Get out of my cell.”

“Gladly. Once I tell you your next command.”

Her lip twitched. “I hate you.”

“I don’t care.” Altivar slyly said. “It won’t stop you from doing what I’m ordering you to do.”

Crimson didn’t want to know.

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