Page 230 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

“You’re stunning,” I tell her, hoping she’ll hear the truth in my voice.

Though she was beyond that. The dress she chose brought out every one of her captivating curves and bewitching features. I was enthralled the minute I saw her, imaging all the ways I could show her how much I adore every inch of her mind, body, and soul.

“But if there’s something else you’d like—”

“No, this is perfect,” she says with a frown. Her words were at one with her emotions, confusing me once more.

“Then why do you look sad? I promise no one will be upset if you hate what we bought you.”

We’d remove every item and start again until she has everything she’s ever wanted and more. She deserves the world, and I intend to make sure she has it.

She laughs. “No, really, I love it.” She glances over at the open closet. “King… he used to pick out everything for me. It was always short and tight, making me feel like I was…”

“Cheap?” I finish for her, finally picking up where her mind has gone.

She nods her head, and I promise myself that when I get my hands on thatbastard, I’ll tear him apart, limb from limb, and make him slowly bleed out while I do it.

I pull her into me, breathing in her enticing scent. She wraps her arms around me, leaning her head on my chest.

I bask in this moment, letting it melt the cold shards in

my veins with its warmth. She’s the only one who’s ever been able to make me feel this way.

When our little group was formed as kids, we knew there was something missing. We felt it.

But it wasn’t until she came along, did we figure out it was her.

None of us wanted to be anywhere else but by her side, and when she was taken, we fractured, becoming lost while slowly drifting away from one other.

Even with the link trying to keep us together, we never becamewholeagain. Not until we saw her in the Cardinal Three.

Neither Kai nor I feel truly worthy of her love. One of the many psychologists my parents sent me to would say it stems from being abandoned by my birth parents.

But I think it’s down to the environment we were brought up in, and those who surround us throughout it.

My parents only saw me as a power play, a chess piece, and molded me as such. If it were not for meeting Kai, and then the others, I’d still be that lanky boy, lost inside himself and too afraid to step out into the world. And then I would have never met my Siren.

Something I can’t even bear to think about.

My heart thrashes thinking of all the years she’s had to put up with King and his guards. My mind races to all the dark places, thinking about what she’s had to suffer through, and stutters to a stop when I think of her being hurt in a different kind of way.

She told us that no one had hurt her like that, but my mind doesn’t listen, wanting to see the truth in her eyes when she tells me.

“I know you told us no one ever…hurtyou like that, but…” When I don’t continue, she pulls back, looking up at me, waiting for me to finish.

Still so patient with me, she waits while I gather my thoughts. I fix a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

“Did he or anyone ever force…” A tremor works through my body at the thought of someone touching her like that. Of their filthy hands on her—

She takes my hand, squeezing it. The look in her eyes is unyielding as she stares up at me. “No.”

The breath I was holding leaves me at once.

“No one touched me like that. They were either too afraid of King and didn’t realize he didn’t give a shit about me or knew what my ability was and preferred to see if they could break me in another way.”

I snap my jaw shut so quickly I nearly crack it. Her answer did not sooth the beast inside me.

“Who?” My voice is dark, my basilisk wanting to take over. “Tell me who, and they’ll be dealt with.” I’ll hunt each and every one of them down. They’ll never see me coming.

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