Page 278 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
Her eyes went wide, and she tried to lurch back. But he was faster because she was too weak right now. His fingers clamped around her throat, keeping her close.
“I did not think I could be more disappointed in you,” he snarled into her ear. “Yet you continue to prove me wrong at every turn. Tell me how, after fucking decades, this is how you treat me, Eviana?”
But she couldn’t speak because he was squeezing her throat. Then she couldn’t speak as the door opened and Corbin and Lange were shoved into the room by two of the three servants that were here, one of whom was an Arius Legacy.
No!
“Tell me,” Valter said, twisting so he stood behind her now. He tugged her back into his chest, adjusting his grip on her neck. “Tell me why a seven-year-oldchildis more loyal to me than my godsdamn Source.”
Corbin and Lange were staring at her wide-eyed, clearly not knowing what to do or say.
Then she was trying to scream around that grip on her throat as shadows sprang forward and wrapped around the males. They both cried out in agony, those shadows biting and twisting and coiling. They fell to their knees, items in the room being thrown about as Lange fought back with his wind. Corbin shifted, but the magic didn’t care. It wrapped around the feline as much as it did Lange. Strangling and drawing blood.
No! No, no, no!
She could do nothing. They were here because of her. They’d come for her. To help her. And now they would be dead because of her.
It had been decades since she’d felt anything, but now she felt guilt and regret. She wished she’d never met them. Nevercoerced them. Never dragged them with her on this pointless quest to do what? Find her daughter just to watch her slowly become what she was?
Those were tears on her face, and she thrashed against Valter’s hold. He only tightened his grip on her throat, murmuring in her ear how she had caused this. This was her fault. She was the reason they were being tortured.
As if she didn’t already know those truths.
“What are you doing?”
Valter stilled at the small, horrified voice. His grip on Eviana’s throat loosened the smallest amount, and she turned her head to find Priya standing just inside the door. If her voice was horrified, it was nothing compared to the look on her small face as she took in a scene no child should ever have to see.
“These Fae are here to hurt you, Priya,” Valter ground out. “I am protecting you. Just like I promised I always would.”
Her turquoise eyes bounced from Valter to the Fae to Eviana and back, fear pouring off her.
“Leave, Priya,” Valter said, his voice getting firmer. Gruffer. “Let me handle this. Go with Benson.” Snapping at the Arius guard, he added, “Where the fuck is Annis?”
“I don’t want to go back to Annis,” Priya said, backing away as Benson approached her.
“Sometimes we don’t get to choose what we want to do,” Valter gritted out, losing all semblance of patience. “Go with Benson. Now!”
“Don’t touch her!” Eviana gasped, Valter’s grip loosening more as his attention was split between her, Priya, and keeping Lange and Corbin tied down with his shadows.
Lange had stopped fighting back, instead using his magic to get air to himself and Corbin as Valter’s shadows squeezed tighter. Blood marred them everywhere, that magic burning and branding.
“I will restore your obedience if it is the last thing I do,” Valter snarled, his hand leaving her throat and grabbing her hair. He yanked her back, throwing her into the bookshelf behind the desk, and she crumpled to the floor. Too weak to fight back. Too drained from these godsdamn bands.
“Stop! Let me go!” Priya was crying,screaming, and Eviana grabbed onto the desk to pull herself back to her feet.
Benson was wrestling with Priya, and the girl was fighting back with everything she had. Kicking and biting. She was a fighter, Eviana would give her that, but she didn’t stand a chance against an Arius Legacy.
Valter was stalking across the room, a dagger in hand as he approached Lange first.
“Get her out of here, Benson!” he roared.
No child should have to see this, but a part of Eviana was glad. She recognized that made her a horrible person. She also recognized it was why she should never have been a mother, but seeing the truth of the male she was so enamored with? It would mark her. She would always remember this. Always be wary to trust again, and she should be. Whoever she deemed worthy of her trust needed to earn it.
“Son of a bitch!” Benson barked, and Eviana looked over to see her teeth deep in his hand. He released her, throwing her away from him, and she hit the ground hard.
“Priya!” Eviana cried, and it hurt. Fuck, did it hurt. She had to have broken a rib when Valter threw her into the bookshelf.
Then it was Benson being thrown across the room, light and dark lifting him off his feet and pinning him to the wall. Tessa stormed in, power rolling off her with a hand raised to keep Benson in place. Theon, Axel, and Luka stalked in behind her, the three of them looking like walking death.
