Page 86 of Happily Ever Crowned (Underworld Royals 1)

I couldn’t help the hysterical laugh that bubbled from my lips. “You gave me to him, Necros. So of course you smell him on me. You asked him to rape me!”

“Yes, I did. But that’s not what happened, is it? My whore of a wife enjoyed it. Didn’t you?”

“Can you blame me?” I retorted, fury getting the best of my tongue. “He at least knows how to touch a woman. You’re just a sick excuse for your gender, too consumed with yourself to think of anyone else. And your cock leaves a lot to be desired.”

Necros laughed, his amusement harsh, and bent to rip the fabric of my bodice with his fist. His gaze dropped to the bites on my breasts, his smile falling. “Whore.”

“Weapon,” I corrected, my skin going up in flames.

Necros’s fist slammed into my face, sending my skull into the marble below. I swore the stone cracked. Or maybe that was my head.

My power curled inside me, hiding, waiting.

“What has he told you?” he demanded. “Why’s he really here? Because I know it’s not just to fuck my whore of a wife.” Necros leaned over me and cuffed his hands around my throat. He pushed me back until I hit Adrik’s body, my hand falling into the blood that had flowed from his body onto the floor.

“He’s a man; why would he talk to me?” I wheezed, playing into his own games. “Squeeze harder, husband. Why don’t you kill me?” I taunted him because I knew he couldn’t murder me until he’d taken my powers. Unfortunately for him, that would never happen. They belonged to Adrik.

Which meant Adrik was still alive, just healing. The bullet wound was a temporary measure.

Necros clasped his hand tighter, making my chest burn from the lack of oxygen.

Dark specks dotted my vision.

Valora? a warm voice whispered, groggy with sleep.

Adrik. I smiled, which only enraged my husband further.

What’s happening? Adrik asked. I can’t move.

They shot you. Necros knows about us. He’s after your secrets.

Secrets? he repeated, a hint of confused exhaustion in his mind’s voice.

Who you are and why you’re here.

Necros shook me, his words a rumble I refused to hear. Not with the bliss of Adrik’s voice in my head.

I need to wake up, Adrik said.

No. Stay asleep. Rest for as long as you can. Trust me this time.

Valora? he asked as if he couldn’t hear me. And maybe he couldn’t over the roaring beast above me.

Play dead, Adrik. Trust me.

With those parting words, I shut him out of my mind and kicked out against my husband. I hit him in the most painful place for a man—between his thighs. He crumpled to the ground, releasing my neck. I gasped fresh air into my lungs once more and tried to scramble away.

Only to be surrounded by guards.

I recognized one of them as the man who’d bowed to me in the garden yesterday. His face was covered in bruises, no doubt a punishment for his betrayal. The man was lucky to still be alive.

“Take a seat on the throne, Your Majesty,” he said flatly. “The king hasn’t finished his discussion yet.”

I laughed with a choked sound and shook my head. “Never,” I rasped.

The guard knelt, his eyes meeting mine with some sort of secret question. “Please,” he breathed, the word for my ears alone. Then he glanced over his shoulder to where Necros had pulled a knife out of an intricately woven box.

I recognized the blade immediately.

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