Page 50 of Break Her Heart
He sat draped in a high-backed velvet chair, one leg crossed over the other, lounging like he belonged to every dark corner of the room. A perfectly tailored coat of deep charcoal clung to his tall frame, the sharp lines of his shoulders softened only slightly by the luxurious fabric. A high collar framed his pale throat, and dark crimson threading marked subtle patterns along the cuffs. The crown rested on his white-blonde hair like it had always been there, glinting in the candlelight like it had fused with him.
His dark eyes tracked my every movement, unreadable but alert, and his mouth curled into that same infuriating smile. I thought he used to piss me off, but nothing compared to how mad he made me now.
Watching. Always fucking watching.
The nightmare I had the night before hadn’t helped anything. I hated him and yet I had to relive another one of his kills through the eyes of his victim. But it wasn’t simple this time. He had changed the way he toyed with his prey before the kill. Because he had…eatenbefore he fed. His mouth was all over me—not me, the woman’s body I was trapped in—and I felt every sensation that came with it.
Gods! Yesterday, I had finally felt nothing but rage when I saw him and then I shut my eyes andthathappened.
Jane pulled a dress from the armoire, the soft thud of the door closing snapping me out of my spiraling thoughts. After helping me into the dress, I finally tore my gaze from August and turned to face the mirror. It was beautiful, elegant and expertly tailored, but it itched at the seams and clung too tightly at the ribs. It made me miss the dresses my mother used to sew, soft and simple, stitched with care and familiarity. I wished I still had one. Just one. Something made for me out of love, not obligation.
I stilled when August stood and walked to his armoire, his movements unhurried but certain. My breath caught when he returned with the same crown he’d placed on my head at our wedding.
Yesterday hadn’t felt real. It had played out like some grotesque performance, staged for the bloodthirsty creatures lining the castle walls. But now, with the crown gleaming in his hands again, the weight of it all sank into my chest like a stone.
He stepped behind me and gently lowered it onto my head once more. It wasn’tjusta spectacle yesterday.
August, the Joveryn King.
And me… the JoverynQueen.
He leaned in next to me and stared at me through the mirror, his breath brushing the curve of my ear.
“You have to look the part, don’t you think?”
I hated the way he made me feel. And yet, when he leaned in, his breath ghosting over my skin, I didn’t flinch. Because a part of me—one I hated—wanted him to do more than whisper.
I reached up, running my hand across the cold, sharp jewels. They glinted under the flickering candlelight like blood frozen in time.
“I knew my Winnie liked nice things.”
I ripped my hands away. I was not his.
He didn’t react. Just turned and grabbed a cloak, his movements smooth and practiced. Then he held it out for me. A silent gesture that made my skin crawl. His hands were so close to me.
Too close.
As we stepped to the castle doors, Halston stood at the end of a dark hall.
“Where are you going?” he asked, folding his arms across his chest.
“To town,” August answered, bored.
“No. You can’t. Carrow—”
“Carrow isn’t here. I’m going to spend these few months how I want to spend them. If you try to stop me, I will throw you out in the sun. Got it?”
The threat was calm, even, and absolute.
I made note of how Halston’s expression faltered, how quickly his demeanor shifted. When we made it through this, he would be the first one to go.
The cold bit at my skin the second I stepped outside. After days spent inside the castle’s dim corridors and candlelit halls, the snow-glared brightness forced my eyes to squint against it. The sun was blinding, making the ice-crusted ground shimmer like a field of diamonds. I tugged my cloak tighter around me, my fingers already numb, and blinked through the dazzlinglight, disoriented by how alive the world looked compared to the lifeless chill of the castle.
A new man, I guessed since the old one could burn in the sun now, helped us into the carriage, smiling like a fool. As if the threat of vampires didn’t exist behind every corner.
Inside the carriage, I sat as far from August as the space allowed. Plush cushions lined the bench seats, but the air inside felt just as cold as it did outside. My breath fogged in front of me, and the windows were already beginning to frost at the corners. He didn’t seem to care about the distance I put between us. He just looked out the window with a half-lidded gaze, like it was any other day. Like he hadn’t watched me be stripped and dressed like a doll.
I studied him in the silence. His jaw was tense, the vein in his neck pulsing lightly with each second that passed. Every now and then, his fingers tapped against his knee—a rhythm that betrayed how tightly he was holding himself together.
