Page 49 of The Coveted
“Oh, don’t worry, dear Áine. I’ve figured it all out. Daelon was right after all. You’re much better for my plans alive than dead.”
My heart skipped a beat. This didn’t seem like it was good news at all. “How—”
We were interrupted by a man’s gruff voice and the sound of a whimper. Lucius turned from me, moving as quick as a snake on the prowl. I was compelled to follow, trailing just behind him as the aggressive voice rose. We rounded the corner on the left side of the corridor, just as a man struck a woman across her cheekbone, unclasping his hand from her throat. She stumbled back, clutching her face as she raised her other arm.
Before I could react, Lucius flicked his wrist, and the man flew hard against the wall. “Fucking barbaric,” he spat at him. “What are we? Humans?”
The man rose to his knees, his hands in a begging position now. “Please, my King. It won’t happen again. It was she who—” He fell onto his back, writhing and screaming out in pain.
“I don’t care what she did.” Lucius’s lip curled as he made small motions with his outstretched hands. “I think I’ll crush your liver next.”
I looked away, kneeling down next to the woman. “Are you okay?”
She straightened up and adjusted her gown. “I’m fine,” she said curtly. Her energy pulled back, moving around her like a shield. She cocked her head, staring me up and down as if she’d only just noticed me. She visibly relaxed. “Oh.”
“Escort Ms. Violette back to her chambers, please, Simon,” Lucius said.
The guard that let Taryn and me off the hook with our wine heist approached us, but the woman was too busy staring at my dress to notice. “Where—I want—” She stuttered.
“I’ll take you back to your chambers, ma’am,” Simon said, his voice surprisingly tender.
She closed her mouth, lowering her hand from her cheek. She silently followed him, unable to tear her eyes away until they turned the corner. “He’s going to kill him,” I heard her murmur, and I couldn’t tell whether she was pleased with that outcome or not.
I turned back to Lucius, who was still lording over the man’s writhing body. The man was screaming still, but it was silent, as if Lucius had hit a magickal mute button. I didn’t know whether to go or stay, but I was stunned by Lucius’s raw emotion even as he was knee deep in torture. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before from a man supposedly sociopathic. Under the blood curdling anger lay something else, something hidden…
His eyes held a distant look. “I’m surprised he hasn’t died yet. I’ve punctured almost every organ and torn each limb from its connective tissue.” He spoke as if he was discussing what was for dinner tomorrow, but his face was contorted with an emotion I couldn’t quite dissect. If his energy wasn’t so repulsive, I might’ve been able to uncover it.
Lucius snapped his fingers, a sinister grin spreading across his features. After the sickening crunching sound of his chest concaving, the man took his final breath.
“Well.” He wrung his hands out. “I didn’t think my mood could get any better, but here we are.” The flash of vulnerability in his blue eyes was long gone. “I think it’s time for more dancing.” He held out his arm, and I had to scream at myself internally to take it.
It took all of my concentration to be this close to Lucius without letting his energy seep into my perception. Just one taste of it could send me into an energetic panic, where I would become overwhelmed by the negative emotions of everyone in the room. I fortified myself back up again with the collective pleasure, tucking away the torture scene for later examination. There was a lot more to unpack from that interaction than I would’ve guessed.
“You have no idea, do you?” Lucius asked, low to my ear.
I angled my head. “No idea about what?”
Everyone halted as we re-entered the throne room, Lucius leading me to the center of the crowd. The only face I searched for was Daelon’s, and when I found it, it was tense and pale.
Lucius faced me. “You have no idea what this gesture means.”
Christine all but shoved Sebastian off of her at the sight of us, her mouth wide open. Sebastian’s dimpled grin melted. Everyone in the room suddenly dropped to their knees.
“I love that sound,” Lucius sighed. “The sound of loyalty and… submission.”
The sight of more than a hundred people bowing to us was like nothing I’d ever seen. The music boomed, and soon a familiar magick took hold of my body. The King grabbed my waist, his intense blue eyes locking with mine. The soft light from the chandeliers reflected in his golden crown. Then, we danced.
This time, as the realm’s elite knelt still and silent before us, the energy was different. Their collective energy had shifted, and it was intoxicating in an entirely different way. I suddenly didn’t mind that all the attention was on me, and it scared me.
“You feel it too,” he said. “But you’ll never admit it.” He smiled, spinning me away and then back to him. “I suppose you aren’t the worst looking thing the heretics could’ve sent me.”
I nearly snorted in surprise. “Is that supposed to be a compliment?”
He was right, though. I felt it—the attention and devotion of a hundred powerful witches—and all of its invincibility. After these weeks of feeling powerless, forced to cozy up to the witches who killed my coven and to conceal all of the magick that yearned for release, this was an energy I hadn’t known I craved.
“I can see it in your face,” Lucius said, and when he raised a hand to my cheek, I flinched. Anger flitted across his features as he retracted his hand back to my waist. To my surprise, he took a deep breath and smiled coolly. “Wouldn’t you like to be able to use your full power again?”
I looked away, uncomfortable he was able to read me this well. “At what cost?” I had no idea what his new angle was, but I knew it couldn’t be good for me or anyone else in the realm.
