Page 85 of Happily Ever Crowned (Underworld Royals 1)

His breath on my mouth.

Before, I’d let him touch me because it was my duty, but he no longer possessed a hold over me.

I loathed him.

“Get off me,” I demanded, trying to shove him away.

But he held me with ease, my power useless against him, and slid his hand up into my hair, where he picked something from the strands.

He grinned as he held it before my eyes.

A spider web.

Oh, Lucifer.

It must have been from the tunnels.

“I think I have every right to touch you, Valora,” he said, his voice lethally quiet. “You’re my wife. I own you. And I think it’s about time I showed you what happens to people who forget their place.”

I didn’t have time to answer as he snatched my hand and hauled me from my bedroom.

Adrik, I whispered in my head, knowing it was futile.

Because I knew where we were heading.

And it without a doubt involved Adrik.

Our secrets were about to be revealed to the entire kingdom.

I wanted to throw Necros away from me. To burn this palace to the ground. But I needed to find Adrik first.

“Necros.” I struggled against my husband as he dragged me toward the throne room with his hand around my throat.

“You’ve completely lost your place,” he sighed, noting my choice of using his name rather than his formal address.

“Necros,” I spat again.

He curled his fist in response, blocking off my airway.

I tried to dig my bare feet into the ground, but they skated over the smooth marbled floors. My vision began to blacken as he threw me inside the throne room, causing me to land hard against the ground. I coughed, my throat burning as I inhaled greedily. Tears streamed down my face, eliciting even more hatred from my chest.

A hatred that expanded into concern and horror as I found Adrik’s unconscious form a few steps away.

Blood smeared over his forehead where a gunshot wound indented his skull.

Dead.

He was gone.

I was too late.

“What have you done?” My anger fueled my veins, sending me to my feet and directly into Necros’s chest. My tiny fists bashed hard at his torso, but he pushed me away from him like I was nothing.

To him, I supposed I was.

I landed harshly again on the floor and skidded across it.

“I can smell him on you,” Necros growled. “It’s disgusting.”

---