Page 208 of Owned

“Just like your mother,” she said.

The calmness of her voice made my skin crawl. I wasn’t sure if it was her voice.

Her lips twisted, a small unsettling smile.

Not the smile of someone who was afraid.

I stared into her eyes.

They were darker. Definitely darker.

“Trust me,” she said. “You’ll understand—”

I heard the faintest glimmer of laughter in her voice, and it was more than I could take. My grip tightened and what Bastian had said—what he’d learned from Lucian’s disgusting advisor—rang in my ears. His plans were inescapable.

Not just for her. But for all of us.

I shoved her away from me as my frustration boiled over.

“There’s nothing to understand,” I snapped. “You’ve fucked us all, Avril.”

She stumbled back with a gasp, but she didn’t fall. Her foot caught on the hem of her gown and she steadied herself by grabbing hold of the banquet table.

“I told you—” she started.

“Fuck you,” I spat.

Lucian’s laughter was suddenly loud in the air. I turned slightly and straightened my back as my father approached us.

“May I steal my bride away for a dance?” His words are smooth as he extends his hand to her.

Avril doesn’t look at me as a smile curves over her darkly painted lips and she steps away from me and lets him take her arm.

Her willingness wounds me more than his cruel laughter.

Lucian’s pale eyes met mine, but only briefly, and he smiled as he pulled her closer.

As he claimed her for his own.

I turned away from them before my fury got the best of me and I did something I’d regret.

I stormed back toward my brothers with the sound of the celebrations echoing in my ears.

To hell with her.

To hell with all of this.

I grabbed a bottle of whiskey off the edge of a makeshift bar I passed and ignored the servant’s surprised shout.

I was a fool to think Avril cared for anything more than her own survival.

The words she’d said cut deeper than I wanted to admit, and I felt Valen and Bastian’s eyes on me as I made my way back to the edge of the shadows.

This blood bond, this fucked situation—

There had to be a way out.

There had to be a way to break it.

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