Page 102 of The Shadow Fae Rhapsody
My heart lurches in panic the moment I see them in that small room. Svenn in chains with a boiling cauldron hanging over his head.
She draws closer to him, planting her hand on his chest. The disgust is apparent on his face. I feel like vomiting.
“Will you make love to me for your freedom?” she croons seductively. The curse bearer smooths her hand on his abdomen.
Anger burns like wildfire in my veins. I want to scream at her for touching what is mine. I want to claw her face into shreds.
Svenn grits his teeth at her touch. I feel a lick of dread crawling up my spine for what is about to happen next.
“I swear I’ll let you go,” she promises, gliding her hand higher up his chest like it’s her given right. “You’ll finally have your eternal rest.”
Liar.
I look at the kindle of hope in Svenn’s eyes and my heart shatters.
She’s lying, Svenn. She’s lying. She’s lying.
But that glint I see in his gaze suddenly burns into rage. In a fraction of a second, he grabs the Vulture’s wrist and crushes it.
“Damn you, vampire,” she curses. Her upper lip curls back as she shrieks from the pain. Horror and shock blends on her face when she looks at the wrath of the stars flaring in his face. The quick turn of event surprises me as well. Before the Vulture can utter her order, Svenn buries his hand inside his chest and rips out his own heart.
I watch in horror as his body slumps to the ground.
Wait what?
It all happens in less than a complete heartbeat. I take a shuddering breath, my brain failing to process what I see fast enough.
Dozens of similar scenes flash before me where the curse bearers make more attempts on him. They all had the same endings, only different kind of deaths where he took his life. The terrifying sight has my nausea rising. I cover my eyes with my hands to look away from the pain and suffering he endured, but it’s no use. The events keep playing in my head and I have to witness every horror.
“I’ve never fucked any of them.” Svenn’s hoarse whisper brings me back to the present. “I killed myself over and over before they could touch me. Is that what you were worried about—”
My heart is beating so fast I feel lightheaded. Emotion clogs my throat and my world blacks out.
“Rhianelle!”
I’m drifting in the darkness. But I can’t escape the horrifying images of his deaths. They are carved at the back of my eyes. It’s so unfair he had to go through that… A person can go mad from that kind of torture.
“Nel!” I feel Svenn calling for me.
I peel my eyes open and meet his gaze, his eyes soft as they look at me. I would have fallen to the cold floor if not for his powerful arm around my waist.
Concern etches into the lines of his handsome face. “Little fawn, what’s wrong?”
The tide of sorrow drowns me. I can’t stop the tears from shedding down my eyes. “Svenn, what you showed me is so much worse. I didn’t know. I didn’t know. I didn’t know.”I scrub my face with my shaky hands. I don’t want him to feel like he needs to comfort me, but I can’t stop crying. Not when my heart is cracked and splintered.
Svenn holds himself very still as he stares at me. He visibly swallows and continues, “Soon they gave up any attempt of taking me and learned I was better off as a weapon than a toy.”
A small pause. “So they went after my brother.”
The sheer agony in that voice makes me want to wrap my arms around him. “One day Bas saw what they tried to do to me, saw that I’d rather rip my own throat out than let them touch me, and he snapped. That’s how we finally got rid of her.”
He leans forward and I bury my face in the crook of his neck. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
“Is this why you were afraid to touch me?” He presses with another question.
I barely manage a nod.
“It was a long time ago,” he mutters against my temple. “Touch me, Nel.”
