Page 75 of Kiss of a Hellish Prince

Vivi was gone.

It was my fault.

I should have been here.

I should have protected her.

Sif took her because of me.

I couldn’t hold myself up under the weight of the guilt and shame. Murmur lowered me gently to the floor. In an instant, Rune was in front of me. He took me from Murmur and wrapped his arms around me. He was warm and comforting, but I didn’t deserve to be comforted.

“You are okay, Tori. I have you. Murmur took a bit too much of your anger. You need to give yourself a moment to rebalance.” He placed a kiss on my forehead.

I wanted to shy away from his touch, but I just didn’t have the energy to move. “What do we do?”

When I looked up at Rune, his eyes were focused, cold. His lips were pressed together in a thin line, the muscles in his jaw clenching.

“We are going to get her back. Then Sif is going to answer for what she did.” His voice was low and steady, resolved. He looked up and started barking orders at Murmur to track her phone, get a license plate number off the van, and put out an APB. He wanted everyone available on this.

Everyone.

Even Kylie. She was going to help bring Vivi back safely and bring her daughter in, or she would end up right next to her while dealing with the consequences.

“What can I do?” I asked.

He helped me to my feet. “I need you to go up to your room, take a shower, get some food and some rest.”

“I want to help,” I demanded.

“I know you do, but Murmur and I have this. We need to get to work. I need to focus on finding Vivi, so I need to know you are safe and taking care of yourself.” Rune pulled me into a tight embrace. “We will find your baby sister, and when we do, she is going to need you at your best. Okay?”

* * *

I felt numb. I just nodded and left the tiny room. I meant to head to my bedroom, I think.

Instead, I dropped onto the floor in the middle of a hallway and stared at the carpeted floor.

A few minutes later, Sarah dropped down beside me and wrapped her arms around me.

“They’ll get her back,” she said.

I didn’t respond.

“Fuck, Murmur took a lot out of you. Tori, can you hear me?”

I nodded, my eyes focused on one spot but not really seeing anything.

“Tori, you need to snap the fuck out of this.” Sarah shook me.

I didn’t move. I barely felt my body swaying.

But I did feel the sharp pain as Sarah’s hand slammed across my face.

She slapped me.

The fucking bitch slapped me.

“What the hell?” I couldn’t believe she slapped me. I cupped my cheek. My face was hot where she’d hit me.

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