Page 92 of Of Vows and War: Special Edition
“I am not ignoring you, I am thinking and…overwhelmed. Time. Please, Bell, just give me some time.” I continued walking down the paths, an odd and faint sound coming from the distance.
“Are you mad at me? Disgusted?” His voice was hesitant, full of nerves and fear that I had somehow not anticipated. Of course he was waiting for me to explode. How often had I pushed him away and refused to listen? If there was anything I had learnedthough, it was that remaining alone in my feelings did nothing to stop them from happening.
So I stopped walking. With slow, measured breaths I turned around and faced Bellamy. He looked so very scared as he approached me; a male walking to the noose. I vowed in that moment never to hide from him again.
“No, I am not mad. Not at you, or Adbeel, or anyone but Mia and Xavier. Maybe you made poor choices or mistakes, but so did I. All of us have,” I soothed, reaching up and grabbing his face. He leaned into the touch, his eyes closing as he sighed in relief. “I love you more than anything, Bellamy. We will figure all of this out together when I feel sane enough to do so.”
Just then, a piercing scream reverberated off the walls of the Pike dungeons. A chill clawed up my spine, fear digging into my bones.
“Sterling!” I shouted as I bolted forward. Bellamy was following, saying something I could not hear beyond the pain that was radiating from the cell just ahead. I pushed on, moving towards the open door of bars before coming to a halt. The scene before us was nothing like what I had anticipated.
The sounds were not coming from Sterling’s cell at all, his likely further down the hall. Two males were inside, one against the wall with his wrists held aloft by thick iron chains, and the other no more than a foot away from him, a bloody blade in his hand and red soaking through his white clothes.
“Four brothers and three sisters, that was who your filthy wife made her leave behind.” The words that Ranbir hissed were jarring. I had never heard him speak in such a way, with malice and vengeance in his tone.
Xavier snarled in response, and I watched as the chunk of skin missing from his cheek healed over. The fae king’s body twitched as blood stopped seeping from wounds I could onlyassume were Ranbir’s thanks for his lost wife. Gods, he was torturing him and then healing him right after.
“You are a waste of space and breath. I would say that this is a spouse for a spouse, but your life is not worth half of what my wife’s was.” And then, without so much as glancing back at Bellamy and I, Ranbir leaned forward and began slicing into Xavier.
He practically dug out Xavier’s flesh, ripping away chunks of skin until he reached what looked like bone.
“Rib cage,” Bellamy whispered into my ear. I dared a peek at him, finding his face stoic. There was an air of indifference to him, like what we were witnessing did not matter to or affect him.
When I looked back towards the pair in front of us, Ranbir had finished slicing and was now using the hilt of the blade to shatter Xavier’s ribs. The king’s screams were surprisingly quiet for the extent of torture he was enduring. Ranbir still did not face us, but I could feel the fury pouring from him just as quickly as Xavier’s blood left the gaping wound in his chest.
“Ranbir, stop!” I surprised myself with the order, though the Healer surprised me even more when he immediately ceased his hacking. Bellamy’s warm hand met my left hip, his thumb stroking my skin through his shirt. “Heal him, please.”
All I could hear was the deep animal-like growl that Ranbir emitted as I approached them. He reached forward and smacked his hand onto Xavier’s cheek, the movement sharp. But the king’s skin began to knit back together, and within minutes Ranbir was panting from the exertion of fixing such a wound.
I gripped Ranbir’s free hand, squeezing it tightly and tugging him away. The Healer followed my lead with slumped shoulders. Once we reached the cell door, I tugged him into a tight embrace. More pain than ever seemed to sit heavy upon him. A lifetime worth of loss so substantial that it was crushing his heart.
“Do not sink to their level. Do not let them make you into something you are not,” I whispered to him, pushing onto my toes and pulling his head down until our foreheads touched. A sob slipped from his lips, and then his arms were wrapping around me too. After a few seconds, he nodded and released me. Not wanting to push my luck, I freed him as well and flicked my head towards the dark corridor. “Go eat something and get some rest. I will handle this, okay?”
No fight existed within Ranbir anymore. He was a shell that had washed up upon the shore, its lovely sea—itshome—lost. Pursing his lips, he dipped his chin and then left, not looking back.
“Thank you, Ash. Thank you so much.” Xavier’s words quickly stoked the flame that constantly burned within me. My fury knew no bounds as I whipped around and faced the pathetic male. Bellamy’s hand snapped out, tugging my arm and forcing my body to collide with his.
“Do you want me to stay or should I give you space to do what you must? Give me an order, Princess,” he breathed against my ear. I shivered, a surprising wave of lust making bumps rise on my skin. When I titled my face up towards his I found the same need mirrored on him. “I am yours to command, now and forever.”
“Stay,” was all I managed to say. I needed to focus. To remind myself that there was purpose to what would come. With a nod in agreement, the prince released my arm and slunk back into the shadows of the corridor. I did not hesitate to storm towards Xavier, my magic swirling inside of me like a storm. Like a reckoning.
“I love you, Asher. Thank you for your grace. I promise that I
will—”
“Grace? That was notgrace,”I seethed. Xavier’s head reared back, smacking against the stone wall. His eyes were wide, thedark depths pleading. I placed my hands on his head, the contact making it easier to tug on his memories. And while I stole every piece of knowledge we might need in the coming days, I continued to speak. “I do not doubt your feeble love for me. I see it—feel it—here in your mind.”
Bellamy had remained back, his presence a siren’s call. He did not come to me, nor did he speak. Instead, he was a silent beast ready to attack. Waiting patiently for that command.
Xavier began to shake as I took and took, not caring for how it might hurt him. No, I was relishing in that pain of his.
“Perhaps you should have loved mebetter,Xavier. Maybe if you had loved five-year-old me enough to not torture me then it would not be too late for you now.” Tears welled in his eyes, one or two escaping with each blink. I continued sifting through memories, moving faster and shattered more. My magic was a careless force as it began to shred him of everything that made him who he was. “I did not stop Ranbir because you finally chose to stand up for me against Mia. Ranbir is too good to lower himself, that is the only reason.”
He moaned in agony as I toyed with the power within him, sparking it to life upon his fingertips. I willed him to burn himself, the flames scorching his skin and making the air smell foul. A single scream was all I allowed him before I took those too, ordering his silence.
“Luckily, I know someone who has no qualms with stooping down to your level. In fact, they exist perpetually in that wicked darkness you reside within.” I smirked as I spoke, hoping he saw the vindication in my gaze.
Freeing him from my wrath, I waited in silence. I knew he would speak. His nature would not allow him to remain quiet—small.
