Page 117 of Of Vows and War: Special Edition
“I willneverbe yours. How do you not get it yet? I. Do. Not. Want. You.” I pronounced every word slowly, trying to will it into his thick skull. Why was it that he could not understand my desire to not be anywhere near him? I had made it so abundantly clear.
A soft and almost delicate sob escaped him, but as his hands dashed out to grip my ankles, I realized his hold was anything but frail. Bruises would have surely appeared if this had been real. But no, this was a dream. Sort of. Either way, he was not going to bruise me here. No longer would he control me either.
“I can’t lose another,” he mumbled, still facing down.
“Get off!” I shouted, kicking at him. He groaned as if in pain, though I was not sure if it were more mental or physical. “I will never,everbe with you, Padon.”
Something must have clicked that time, because his back stiffened and his hands smacked the darkness near my feet. Suddenly, his head flung up, face a mask of rage and death. Without realizing it, I began backing away from him, but Padon only continued to follow me. He slowly stood, his steps towards me measured and his eyes ablaze.
“Congratulations, Asher, you have officially pushed me to the edge.” My eyes went wide as his lips stretched into a sneer. Eternity above, he looked moments away from killing me. “If you deny me again then I will gladly—eagerly—destroy your pathetic world and everyone on it. I will steal everything you hold dear, and then I will stealyou.”
Momentarily more furious than terrified, I stopped my retreat.
“I dare you to try,” I seethed. “If you or any of your little minions step foot on Alemthian, then I will rip you apart. I will leave nothing but your bloody entrails as proof that you even existed.”
“Please, you can’t kill me,” he said with a sardonic laugh. My answering smile felt as evil as I did. I was wrath, now. I was anger and retribution and all things vengeance. Around us, there was a sort of shimmery haze building. Padon was losing control. His foothold in my head was slipping.
“Oh yeah?” I asked mockingly, letting my lips rise in what I hoped was a horrific bearing of teeth. My finger rose, poking him hard in the chest. His eyes widened, as if he knew where I was going with what I was about to say. “What if I rip out that pretty, purple seed?”
Padon blanched, his already pale skin gaining a sickly hue. Blowing him a kiss, I flashed him my ring finger, letting the gem face him and willing it to sparkle.
“By the way, I am engaged, fucker.”
And then I thrust out my magic, shattering Padon’s hold on my mind. Suddenly I was jolting up in mine and Bellamy’s bed, no screams escaping me though sweat poured down my skin. Bellamy was already awake, his eyes trained on me from where his head rested on one of his pillows.
“What is wrong?” he asked, his brows pinched together in concern and his blue eyes inviting.
Raising the left half of my lips into a wicked smirk, I answered, “Nothing.”
V
Act V
Fate and Chance
Chapter Forty-Nine
Asher
Yet another wedding loomed.
There was something truly unsettling about waiting for the day to come. While the first marriage had been thrust upon me, this one was an honor. No one forced me to hang the dress in mine and Bellamy’s bathing room, just as I had the hideous golden one back in the palace in The Capital. No one made me organize all of the vials Noe had brought in a similar fashion to how Maybel had a year ago. But I did those things anyway.
I was not sure why, just that I felt like I had to.
When I finally got into bed after pacing for what felt like a lifetime, I twirled the ring on my finger, traced my new tattoo, breathed in a deep pull of air, and closed my eyes. Bellamy wouldnot come tonight. In Eoforhild, it was tradition to spend the night before your wedding without one another. So stupid. But it was fine.
I would be fine.
***
I awoke in a puddle of sweat, screaming as I jolted upwards.
Mia’s shouts of fury. Xavier’s swinging fist. Sterling’s tight grip. They were coming for me. I knew it. I felt it. I saw it. I lived it.
They were coming.
I kicked off the quilt, feeling around in the dark as I tried to find the doors to my chambers.
