Page 245 of The Lands Defying
Gods, she has never been more beautiful.
I nod.
I smirk as a scream follows.
Sixty Nine
Rhea
My chest heaves as I look down at what’s left of my cousin. He’s barely recognizable as Runa tears into him, ripping him apart bit by bit, even though he’s long since been dead.
He soon lost a lot of blood when his cock was torn from him and shoved down his throat, one of Darius’s idea, and I relished in his whimpers of pain as his wide eyes looked at me, begged me to end it.
How the tables turned in his final moments.
I watch on now, somewhat detached. He hurt me, violated me, raped my mouth over and over…and I think I feel…nothing.
That still happened to me, I cannot change it. But one monster is dead, and others are still roaming. Is that why I feel nothing? No relief, no joy. Of course I’m glad he is dead, and I’m still here, alive and left with the scars of what was once done to me.
Hidden or seen.
“Little wolf?”
I know Darius is talking to me, his hands are on my body, trying to get me to relax I think. I hear the worry in his tone, and I can tell he’s thinking that maybe he shouldn’t have done thisfor me, brought me one of my monsters, but I’m so grateful to him that he did, even in this state I am in.
He made sure my cousin couldn’t escape me, made sure to place him at my feet and let me decide what I wanted to do. He didn’t do it for me, didn’t choose for me, he left it to me.
I blink, trying to get myself out of this numbness. I don’t know why I can’t respond, why I can’t move or tear my eyes away from the mutilated, dead body.
It’s like I’m not even here.
I just…am.
“Rhea,” Darius tries again, running the back of his fingers down the side of my face. “Come back to me.” His power goes around my waist, and I feel its coolness sinking into me, feel its reassurance and comfort, feel him.
My darkness.
“Good girl. Keep feeling me.” He bends and presses soft kisses to my lips, uncaring of the blood that I’m sure is there. “I’m here.” He is.
He’s always there, has been since he took me to his keep. He’s my soulmate, just mine—all mine, and he wants me more than anything, even knowing what has happened to me.
I cannot let monsters taint it, I refuse to have something else taken away from me because of them.
Darius rubs his nose against mine, something I realize he does a lot, and I think it’s how he shows his affection for me, his softer side, as much as Darius can show me.
But it’s only ever with me, and that makes me feel…like I’m his everything. Like I know him.
Maybe that side of him is from the boy who has a mother and sister, before they were taken away from him and left him cold.
Maybe I’m his warmth, and everyone needs warmth, so he needs me.
“Vihnarn.” That rumbling tone, along with his dominance that washes over me, snaps me out of it and I growl at the audacity of him trying to use that on me, but it’s only playful.
I let loose my own dominance, letting him know that doesn’t work on me and he smiles, inhaling deeply as I blink up at him.
“There you are,” he whispers. “My beautiful, little, wolf.”
My eyes go to his chest as he wraps me up in his arms, and my body instantly loses its tension as he runs his fingers through my hair, detangling it the best he can. I relax into him on a sigh, my own arms wrapping around him as I inhale his scent.
