Page 98 of Kiss of a Hellish Prince

“No!” I screamed. “Don’t shoot!”

“Tori, move!” Ulric ordered. “That man is the terrorist responsible for the Goblin Market bombing.”

“The fuck I am!” Arik yelled, still holding Rune by the throat in one hand and gently cradling Vivi in the other.

It didn’t escape my notice that he shielded Vivi from the guns with both his and Rune’s body.

“He was being held prisoner downstairs,” I said. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, and a cold sweat ran down my back. My shoulder still throbbed. “I’m not saying I know what happened, but you can at least question him instead of just killing him.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Arik said under his breath.

“I don’t really know you,” I snapped back, harsher than I intended.

“You know,” Darrius interrupted, his gun still pointed at my father. “It never really sat right with me.”

“Me either,” Ulric said. “But we’re still taking you into custody.”

“Fine,” Arik said.

“Great. Now can you put my son down?” Ulric barked.

“Can you tell your son to keep his fucking hands off my daughter?”

“He has several times. It doesn’t work,” Darrius deadpanned, making Murmur chuckle as he walked around his father and moved towards Arik.

“Give me the little one,” Murmur said, reaching out for Vivi.“Let’s get her out of the line of fire and have her looked over by a medic and maybe get all that tape off her. Yeah?”

Arik looked at him for a moment, then to me. When I nodded, he let Murmur take Vivi, and then he dropped Rune like a ton of bricks.

Darrius put his gun away and then placed handcuffs on Arik.

“Sif is in a locked room two floors down,” I said, panting. I was suddenly finding it hard to breathe. “Kylie is running the Folkvang. You should find evidence in the offices, I think.”

“Tori, are you okay?” Rune moved in front of me again. He reached out to touch me but didn’t, like he didn’t know where it was safe. I think it was the first time he really saw all of me and the blood that was covering my body. “What happened to you?”

“Sif, then Kylie. Beat up, cut, and stabbed,” I said between pants. The room started spinning around me.

Rune called out my name at the same time as Arik.

The last thing I saw was the floor rushing up to meet my head before it all went dark.

27

Everything Hurts and I’m Dying

Voices shouted and argued with each other. I couldn’t make out what they were saying. A loud beeping sound sped up, silencing all the voices for a moment. I didn’t know what it was.

The only thing I was sure of was pain. Everything hurt. I was being rocked back and forth. The movements were steady and gentle, but they still hurt.

The voices started again, this time louder, angrier. I still couldn’t tell what they were saying. Then one voice rang out louder than the rest.

“Don’t let that fucking monster touch her.” It sounded like it could be Rune, but it was more an angry roar promising violence than a yell.

Before I could be sure, the world faded around me again.

* * *

A shock of pain stabbed through my temples when I opened my eyes to the dim light around me. My mouth was painfully dry, my entire body ached, and there was a dull throbbing in the back of my head. It took several minutes to open my eyes fully. Even then, my vision didn’t focus right away.

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