Page 36 of Eclipse of Fate
“I suppose you are going to have to learn to trust him, or at very least deal with him. He’s not going anywhere, Dax. I won’t allow it.” I swallow hard, scoffing as I stand to dress.
“He keeps his hands off of you.”
“Dax.”
“I mean it, Raelle. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will not watch another man touch my mate.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Damn right, it’s not.” I stride over to her, wrap my hand around her neck, and tilt her head up so she looks deep into my eyes. Her heart rate elevates under my palm. “My hands are the only hands to touch you again. I’ve never been a possessive man, Raelle. But I’ve also never felt the way I do about anyone other than you. I will kill for you. I will raise armies to fight for you and destroy the realm to lay the crown at your feet if I have to.” Fire lights in her eyes, and instead of pushing back against me, she reaches out, grabs a fist full of my hair, and wrenches my head toward her. Slamming my lips to hers, she takes control.
“I was hoping you would say just that, Dax. Because I plan to claim what is mine. What is ours.”
“Ours.” I speak the word with my lips still pressed to hers, and she arches into my grip. “Regardless of the baggage you’ve brought to our relationship.” She laughs, smacking me, and the sound brings my anger to level as I just revel in the beauty of having her in my arms again.
Chapter thirty-one
Striking my hand throughmy hair, I flop into the chair, waiting for my dinner to be brought to my room. I don’t want to dine with the idiots in this castle tonight. The run in the woods helped with my frustrations, but only to take the edge off. I need to find out what is going on with Thames and her bullshit. Thundering footsteps pull my attention from the amber liquid I’ve lost myself in, and I turn my head to the door as it’s nearly yanked from the hinges. Two soldiers burst through the entryway with a look of bewilderment plastered on their faces and their shoulders stiffened.
“What the fuck do you think you’re—doing…” My words halt and die in my throat as the next person struts intothe room, stealing the breath from my lungs. My heart falls to my feet, and all the blood leaves my body with it.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?” His voice echoes through the room and my head as I sit frozen, gawking at him. The crystal tumbler slips from my fingers from pure shock at the moment. The shattering glass breaks my daze, and I look past him as Thames along with two other guards storm in next.
“You—you’re,” I shake my head and lick my lips. My mouth is suddenly too dry even to swallow. I rub my hand down my face.I’m fucking drunk. This is not real. It can’t be.
“You have failed so many times; I’ve lost count, and now? Now you have put my entire plan in jeopardy! Everything I’ve done, and you’ve gone and just let him fucking go!” He’s closer now, his breath coming out in puffs in my face. It feels so real, like I could reach out and touch him, but it’s just an illusion because the man that is standing before me is dead.
“This is pointless. You’ll never be as good as Dax.” He looks down on me where I fell into the dirt again. “Get. Up.” His teeth grind as he nearly spits the words. I lick my lips, tasting the crusty salt and blood that is dried there. We’ve been at this hours after Dax left. The training ended just before the sunset, yet he has me continue well after the moon has been bright in the sky.
“I—can’t do it.”
“You don’t have a fucking choice! Get up, Cano!” He kicks me in the ribs, the bones cracking, and takes my breath as my face falls into the dirt. Finding a renewed sense of self-preservation, I shuffle to my feet slowly. My blade scrapes along the dirt as I do. Pulling it out in front of me, I am ready for the steel to come down again as we move through the motions of the exercise. Only it doesn’t come down. My feet are swept from under me, and my exhausted bodyfalls hard, causing dust to plume around me. He looks down at me, disgust dripping from his eyes, and he spits in my face.
Lowering my chin in failure, he says nothing more, but shakes his head before he makes me watch as he turns his back to me and walks from the training ring and rounds the corner, leaving my line of sight. I don’t wipe his mockery from my face until he is well out of view, and when I do, I wipe the tears away too.
“Look at you… Everything was handed to you. Every last thing you needed served on a fucking silver platter, and what did you do? You fucking dropped it.” His words snap my attention back into the present. The furrow in my brow deepens as I watch the scene in front of me unfold. Thames stands stoic with her hood hiding her features, as usual, her arms crossed over her chest.
“Imbecile.” She shakes her head.
“You’re dead.” The words come out in a whisper, and the moment I speak them, his hand comes jutting toward my face so fast that I have no time to react. Pain blooms as the back of it whips my head to the side with the ferocity of his strike. My mouth falls open, and the copper tang of my blood fills my mouth, bringing me back to almost every memory I have of the man who stands in front of me.
“Does it feel like I’m dead, son?” Complete and utter shock rolls over me. My body vibrates as my wolf tries to take over my Fae form. My emotions wild, causing me to lose control. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how this is happening. Every self assurance I’ve believed is ripped from underneath me as Soren Croix stands in front of me, seething just as he did every day of my life when he was alive. The realization is taking too long to sink in. Too many thoughts and too many things snapping into place about everything I’ve done with my life since his death.
“I was going to give you everything. We were going to rule this kingdom, and now you fucked everything up. Dax is gone. You couldn’t even keep a prisoner locked up without failing. Now he knows too much. Tell me, why I don’t kill you myself right now? Rid myself of your abysmal existence?” His words rush me like a tidal wave, and all of his hate for me is washed away as I hear the roaring in my ears fromwhathe said without his threats.
“What do you mean Dax is gone?” My gaze snaps around the room, looking for the guard I left in charge while I was gone. I’m on my feet, pushing past my father, before I can even gather all of my thoughts. “FLYNN!” I bellow his name as I storm the corridor. I can hear my father and Thames spitting curses and insults my way, but the wall of fury blocks it all out as my vision narrows. “FLYNN!” My throat rips with the power I expel his name from it. When I find the bastard, I’m going to rip his fucking head from his body.
When the rush of my blood falls away from my ears and I realize I am standing in the cold, empty dungeon that recently housed Dax for the last few weeks, I feel as though every drop has left my body. “He was just here. Everything was lining up.” I shake my head as I say the words under my breath. Complete disbelief of everything that has just come to light is making my head swim.
“Your guard is gone, and so is your chance at doing this.” I turn toward my father’s voice. He stands with his arms folded across his chest, looking down his nose at me, just as he has so many times. I stand a foot taller than him, but he still finds a way to look down on me. Even when he is meant to be dead, he looks down on me.
“Come here, boy.” My father’s voice is low and saccharine as he calls me to him. It causes the hair on the back of my neck to rise, but I walk over to him quickly, doing as he says to avoid reprimand. He’sbeen in a better mood recently. He’s happy that I surpassed Dax in our studies of arcane potions.
I stand tall as I approach him, and he smiles wickedly, increasing the tension in my shoulders. Something is off. I don’t know what to expect, but one thing is for sure, I can never let myself trust him. He’s taught me well—trust is for fools. No one is going to look out for you like you will look out for yourself.
“I spoke with Miles today. He’s concerned with some behavior you’ve been displaying… Do you want to tell me about what happened today?” My eyes slowly move up to meet his, and what I see there is terrifying. The only thing I can think of is when Miles reprimanded me for kicking Dax when he was down, but he spoke to me afterward and seemed pleased with my apology.
“I—I’m not sure.” I stumble over my words and grit my teeth because I know how much my father loathes it when I do.
