Page 93 of Of Vows and War: Special Edition
“Will it be you? Do you think yourself strong enough to kill the only father you have ever known?” he challenged with a toneof both fire and ice. I laughed, throwing my head back before shaking it.
“Mia requires all of my vengeance, actually. But,” I added, looking back at Bellamy. He was difficult to see, but I caught the way he tilted his head in that perfect way he always did. “I am told that marriage involves sharing. What is mine is yours and all of that stuff. So I feel it necessary to share the fun with my fiancé.”
Bellamy took his turn to chuckle, his form coming from out of the shadows like a corrupt god. I watched in unabashed glee as he came to us with a devious smile on his face and a crinkle at the corner of his eyes. His dimples did not soften him today. Rather, they made him look all the more dangerous. When he stopped at my side, he leaned forward, baring his teeth.
“I want you to know that what is about to happen is not punishment for what you did to me, but for having the audacity to do even worse to Asher.”
And then Bellamy sprung.
I did not flinch when the prince used his black fire to slowly cut through each of the king’s limbs.
I did not cry when the son slowly dug out his father’s beating heart.
I did not mourn when the body of the male who raised me burned to ash.
As Bellamy stood, his body drenched in gore, I latched onto his face and brought our lips together. We stood there and sealed our freedom with a kiss.
***
Sterling was bloody and bruised, his body sprawled out on a small cot in a cell that felt like it was ages away from Xavier’s. I would kill Bellamy for putting the boy in there if I werenot desperately clinging to him as proof of his existence, of our freedom and safety. My poor fiancé could not even relieve himself in privacy earlier.
“Sterling!” I shouted, ripping the keys from the wall across his cell and running to unlock the door. The prince jolted awake, his head flinging up as if in a panic. “I am so sorry, let me get you out of there right away!”
“Why are you so eager to help him, Ash?” Bellamy’s question was soft, as if he knew he were nearing an edge but was unsure as to how close he might be to falling. His body was still covered in his father’s blood, and both of us shook with the heaviness of the day’s emotions. “I understand that you became acquainted after realizing what had happened, but why is he suddenly so important to you?”
“Bell, he was being tortured beneath the palace the entire time. He is just as much a victim as I am—more so, really—and he deserves better than this,” I declared before ripping open the door and rushing towards Sterling.
He sat up, a weak smile on his face as he opened his arms to me.
I welcomed the embrace, tucking his head into my shoulder and whispering, “Everything is going to be okay. I am going to get you home just like I promised.”
One of the softest cries I had ever heard met my ears. Tears crawled down my cheeks at the sound of Sterling breaking. Though he did not remember what had been done to him, the trauma must have still been there. Like Lara. Even after I stole her painful memories, she still seemed to exist in a perpetual state of moroseness.
“We will find out how to get your memories back too. Maybe this is some kind of magic we have yet to understand. I will work on it, okay?” He nodded against my skin, still holding me tightly as I bent down before him.
I could feel Bellamy’s gaze on me—us. I knew he was jealous, the taste of it there in the air. For the first time since I had been taken, my magic felt full and free. It was all too easy for the thoughts of everyone in Pike to swarm me now. I took a moment to appraise my mental shields. Maybe it was time for something new. Something better.
As I lifted Sterling to a standing position and tucked his arm around my shoulders, I crafted a new gate, one that sparkled black and silver, the golden lock and red chains bright in my mind.
“Portaling will be easier,” Bellamy insisted, grabbing both of us before I could argue. Sterling cried out as the shadows forced us through time and space, tugging and ripping us apart until we appeared in the startlingly white space that was the infirmary.
“I think I might be sick,” Sterling muttered. Bellamy let out a devious chuckle, to which I responded with an elbow straight into his gut. He keeled over with a grunt that left me smiling.
“Look, now both of you might be sick. How exciting that for once it is not me!” I cheered, slapping both of them firmly on the back before looking towards Ranbir. He smirked, making the hairs that had fallen from the knot atop his head twitch where they framed his face. He was as handsome as ever, his white clothes clean once more. His calm stature and strong jaw were met with a newfound fullness to him. As if he had begun to heal perhaps. Maybe he had needed to hurt Xavier, to find vengeance in something, in order to move forward. Still, I was glad I had not let him continue.
“Life was quite dull without you,” he joked, pushing himself to stand. “You gave me a scare earlier.” We both knew he did not mean the moment in the dungeons.
Xavier was taken care of, we will not speak about any of it again.
My voice in his mind had his eyes closing, a brief nod all he offered me in response before he looked at me once more.
“I know,” I said aloud, closing the space and pulling him into a hug. He laughed, but returned the gesture. “I am so sorry. The things they did…well, it is better left unsaid. Regardless, thank you, as always, for bringing me back and saving me from my reckless self.”
“An honor. Always.” I could hear it in his thoughts, his returned thanks for doing the same for him. With a smile, I let him go.
“Now that the sappiness is out of the way, I need you to look over Sterling if you are well enough. It seems someone,” I paused, looking over my shoulder at Bellamy. He stood straight once more, glaring at Sterling from the corner of his eyes. “Has attacked him.”
Bellamy’s gaze flicked my way momentarily, his chin rising as if daring me to chastise him. Not even a full day of being my fiancé and already he was challenging me.
