Page 104 of The Depraved Prince
“Let me? Poor little Millie. You naive bitch. I’m going to rape you over and over again, suck you dry, and dismember your body, then send it to your boyfriend.”
“Cole… I cared about you! Why? What have I done to you?” I narrow my eyes and grip the knife handle harder, ready to use it.
“Well, one. You should have given me your cherry when I had the chance. But you gave it up to my enemy. Two, you’re back here, and I know you’re planning to leave for Alaska. Once you cross territories, I can’t touch you. I wanted to kill you in front of him, but it looks like I’m going to get to have torturous fun with you for a bit longer. Let me take you home to my mother and show her I got the New Northern King’s little pet under my leash. A Valkyrie.”
I try to run for it, but then he’s in front of me, blocking me, and I halt before I bump into him. I raise my knife, ready to fight for my life, but he grabs my wrist, the same one I broke earlier this year, and twists it until I feel pain.
“Ah!” I scream. “No!” I don’t think it’s broken, but it hurts enough for me to let go of it.
I struggle in his hold, but he doesn’t let up. He pulls my hair to the side while I punch him everywhere I can. His gaze locks onto my neck with a wide smirk, but then it falls when he sees Hayden’s mark.
“He marked you?” he murmurs, his tone full of shock. He loosens his grip, just like he’s trying to process the information. “The Depraved Prince actually fell in love with you?” he scoffs, disgusted. His face turns red like he’s about to rip me apart from envy.
Is that what it means when the teeth marks don’t disappear? Is that a vampire thing?
Still, he holds me tight, and I swear if he could kill me with his murderous gaze, I would be dead. Still, if I can’t kill him with my mortal body, I can wound him with my words.
“Wow, Cole. You’re going to use me to get points with your mother?I think you’re the pathetic one,” I spit out venomously with a forced smile. But my words cut too deep, and my eyes bulge from my skull when I realize how far those words struck his evil spirit. He picks me up faster than I can register or defend myself and throws me to the wall in my living room. I’m mid-air for a second or two before my back hits the fireplace, and I shut my eyelids tight, trying to catch the breath that was forced out of me with his heavy blow. I palm my ribs as I try to regain my strength. Everything burns. I hear his footsteps thud closer to me over the ominous ringing, and with each second, I dread it.
He picks me up by my hair, pulling it so hard I think he’s going to scalp me. He drags me on the floor as I kick, hit Cole’s body, and scream for help, hoping the neighbors can hear me, but the sounds of nature swallow my pleas for survival. He throws me to the couch, climbs on top of me, and pushes his entire body weight on me, crushing me.
He pulls my neck to the side, exposing my unscarred skin, and does what he promised. He sinks his teeth into my flesh and immediately starts to suck my blood out. He tightens his grip on the back of my head like he’s punishing me.
“No!” I try to push against him, but it only makes my situation worse. Cole growls and slaps my face until I see stars. It gives me a whiplash to the point where I swear I can feel my brain convulse and collide within my skull.
“Millie, before you go unconscious, I need you to know something,” he snarls hungrily.
Blackness starts to cloud my vision from how hard he pummeled the side of my head with his hand. I try to breathe, but my lungs have betrayed me and won’t work. All I can do istry to keep fighting when my mind can’t signal my body to move. There’s a disconnect, and I’m going to suffer for it.
His lips brush against my ear, and I feel my blood drip out of my neck.
“I was the one who killed your father,” Cole tells me proudly, and a sinister smile paints his darkened face.
My body runs cold at his confession. My eyes open weakly, and my chin starts to shake as the sobs are caught in my throat.
Cole killed my father.
Cole is my father’s murderer.
Not Hayden.
He reaches for my skirt and pulls on it with his fingers hooked into my panties until the fabric tears.
“I bet I can fuck you better than he can,” he murmurs into my ear chillingly.
“Get your fucking hands off of her!” A deep voice snarls, full of pure lividity and vengeance. That voice. It drowns me in a chemistry I’m addicted to like a drug. But I can’t move, can’t speak or breathe. I can’t run to Hayden or fight Cole off me as he continues to drain me, and I pass out.
37
HAYDEN
One Day Ago
“Where is Millie?My peonies will die soon. I haven’t felt her presence in the house these past few days.Son?” I’m staring at the white peonies my little Bambi cared for when she was still here. I’m in the garden, the moon shining over me and my mother, and we admire the imprint she left on both of us.
Even my mother misses her. She wants her back, too.
She and my father leave for Europe this week, leaving me in charge of our region. I can begin my reign…wifeless. With tensions rising between the North and the South, the council agreed to let me start my reign without a wife for now. They bent the rules for me out of fear. I’ve been on edge, and everyone knows it leaves me unpredictable.
