Page 8 of Veil of Monsters

I nod in agreement before I start to tell him everything I know about the Rift, from when I first saw it to the stories I’ve been told that I was born there. Eventually, when I’ve told him everything, he’s silent. He watches over his city like he can see the enemy destroying this amazing place. “So, the goddess, she came from that world, cursed them to make her own? Why would she do that?”

“I’m unsure,” I tell him truthfully. “I suppose no one will ever know unless they can ask her, and I don’t think it’s possible to just ask the goddess.”

“In Junepit City, it’s said she speaks to fae who worship within her temple under her sword statue,” he informs me. I’ve heard that rumor too, but I doubt it’s real.

“I wonder if that sword is nothing more than a myth.”

He moves closer to me like he can’t help it. Thank the goddess, I can’t help it either, as I want him closer. He turns my cheek so I’m looking at him. “Tell me what dark magic you used to lure me to you. I sense no mate bond between us. You’re a liar and yet I’m here.”

His truth hurts, digging deep into my chest. I was once scared of a mating bond, and I wanted to run from the thought, but now it’s all I want. He is all I want. The sea god must have muted our mating bond somehow, to make this all the more painful. To make him not trust me. Fucking bastard.

“I’m here, addicted to thoughts of you. I want you closer. I want to be inside you, fucking you over and over.” He leans over me on the bench.

“Kiss me and find out what you want, Emerson. I’m yours. Now and always.”

“No,” he growls, his lips inches away from me. Both of us are like magnets, drawn to each other. That will never change. “I will not be lured in by whatever dark magic you have—”

I kiss him and he growls against my lips, his body tensing. I wrap my arms around his neck, pushing my body against his. If I can’t have him remember me, I will have him lust after me, because I need him. That was something we always had between us. Maybe some part of him might remember. Maybe. Either way, I don’t care. He kisses me savagely, roughly. He’s rougher than he has been before with me. A needy sound escapes my throat as his features ripple against my skin, his mortal side changing into the monster. Horns stretching out of his thick head of hair, his lips becoming rougher pressed against mine, his hands clawing deep into my back where he must be able to feel the roughness of my scars. Something about kissing him like this makes me want him even more. Emerson was gentle with me, but now he won’t be. I like it. “Do you even want me like this?”

His growl sends shivers down my spine. “Yes.” He groans, kissing down my jaw. “I want you. In any form. You’re not a monster to me.” I arch my neck, throwing my head back to let him kiss me more. I gasp as his teeth sink deep into my neck, my sharp intake of air soon turning into a moan. Unbelievable pleasure shatters through my body. His hand slides under my leathers, feeling how wet I am.

“You’re addictive, fae.” It doesn’t sound like a compliment, but I’m too far gone in pleasure to care. His hand slips down, and his fingers, while sharp, never cut me as he begins to play with my clit. I whimper—the mixture of the bite and his fingers is too much. Within seconds, I’m crying out his name and tightening on nothing, pleasure flooding every inch of my body until I can’t think of anything but him. I reach for his own leather trousers, the belt holding them up, but he grabs my hands and tugs them above my head. “You taste better than anyone. How are you doing this to me?”

I hate how confused he is. He pushes me away, stepping back from the bench. “Emerson. I love you, don’t—”

He flies off into the bright sunlight, and the wordleaveis sour on my tongue. I know it’s not his fault, but the truth is, him flying away from me hurts more than I thought it would.

ChapterFive

PRINCESS NERELYTH MIST

Time seems to slow until there is only him and me. Time is cruel when it never ends, when pain becomes a comfort just to remind me that I can feel something real. The sea is wild, untamed, and alive, but me? I am no longer the sea. I am a rock, which the waves beat upon. He is the wave, and I can only cry when the tide comes in.

I always thought that the worst times in my life were in the years I lived with my father after my mother died. He beat me too. But not like this. Louie takes pleasure in everything, in every cry that spills from my lips, and sometimes his eyes linger for so long on me that I fear what he might do next. It makes me think he wants more than just to physically hurt me. He wants to demolish my soul. I don’t remember joy. I don’t remember much other than pain. It could be weeks, or years, or even hours since I’ve been locked down here, and I wouldn’t know either way.

Sometimes I think he’s wondering what else he can do to me, and the thought terrifies me, more than the unnatural dark pits of his eyes. His eyes might remind others of the night, but the night sky is beautiful. His are nothing but death. I crawl up off the wet tiled floors, my bones aching and my mouth dry, my lips cracked but coated with my blood, nonetheless. I’m deep within the sea palace, where he keeps me like a pet. I don’t hear or see anybody else. The world could be dead for all I know. There’s nothing but the sound of running water, the howling of the wind outside the palace, and the occasional squeal of a water mouse.

The sound of my own blood dripping from my nose onto the ground makes me jump. My powers don’t work anymore, and I miss them. It’s like an ache that I can’t feel but I know is there. Louie, or whatever creature he is now, wrapped steel cuffs around both my wrists, infused with some kind of magic to stop my powers from working at all. My beautiful voice… it’s near gone. I’ve screamed so much. It’s barely working when I talk, let alone attempt to sing and call up the siren power I was born with. I don’t think I could sing a song even if I tried. Not with my powers locked away like they are. I’m weak and powerless, just how he wants me.

I pull my knees up to my chest and rest my head on them. The simple touch is relaxing, and my own skin gives me comfort I so desperately need to feel alive. All I can think about is escaping. I know Calliophe won’t be able to come for me, not when Louie has me, and I don’t know if she got out of the sea test. She could be dead for all I know. Part of me knows she’ll try to help me. She is my sister, and yet I hope she doesn’t come. I can’t see her die. I know she’ll do everything in her power to try to help me. I just hope it doesn’t get her killed. There’s no point in us both dying, because I damn well know that I’m going to die at the end of this. I won’t escape him.

His heavy boots pound on the stone outside, splashing the puddles of sea water, and I flinch. My body reacts without my mind, cowering into the corner as the footsteps get closer and closer until he stands outside the bars of my dungeon. Of my hell. He pushes the door open with a flash of his power, grey shadows spinning around the bars, bowing to his control.

For someone who aged so quickly, he’s got an incredible amount of strength over his powers. I don’t understand his magic, but the crown on his head never seems to leave. I wonder whether that has something to do with it, the crown somehow helping his magic. No one learns this quickly. It makes me want to grab it and throw it across the room to smash it to pieces.

He walks in like the world should crawl for him, and he sits on the floor next to me. He is too close. His knee and arm are pressing into mine, so I’m forced to feel how cold his skin is. He is invading my space. It’s not bad enough to torture me, but this is more than just bruises and blood. He always does this. He’s always too close. Even when he spends ages throwing me around this room, beating me, hurting me just for the fun of it. But now it’s more than that. He wants me to suffer in other ways, and I want to die before he can do that. I want to die if he does. His eyes linger on my bare legs too long, and I wish I had something to cover them up. They have stripped me of my leather clothes and pushed me into a short sea blue princess gown that does nothing to shake the chill of this room off.

“Are you cold?” he asks, his eyes running back up to my face after looking over my body. “No,” I bite. I shouldn’t taunt him. I should just give up.

He laughs, resting his head back on the stone. “Be nice, Nerelyth. I’ve come here to tell you a secret. This castle and royal family are full of them, apparently.”

When I don’t respond to him, he leans into my shoulder, and my blood feels like it freezes into ice, making me unable to move. I think of my friends. I think of my family. I think of anything. Anything other than where I am. But it doesn’t work. He still smells like rot, like something dying, and there’s nothing I can do but breathe it in as he leans too close again, his lips inches from my ear. For a moment, I’m reminded of sweet Felix and his lips inches from my ear too, and how very different it was. How I wanted him closer. But now I don’t know where he is. What Louie has done to him. Part of me doesn’t want to know. I don’t think Felix is getting out of here alive, and the thought of him dying… No, I can’t think like that. Louie might be beating him to death, but I need to pretend he isn’t.

Felix will survive. He always survives. He’s a Wyern. They’re strong, amazing, brilliant people. I hate the fact that I ever thought they were monsters at all. The real monster is sitting right next to me with the face of a god. Calli was always right about him, even when she didn’t want to admit it to anyone. Louie is long gone, and whatever this thing is, it just wears his name and skin.

He doesn’t move away from me. Instead, he drifts a finger slowly down my arm, and all I can feel is rippling disgust rolling about in my stomach. If I had eaten anything lately, I’d throw it up all over him. The disgust must be clear on my face, but instead of hating me, he seems to like it. “Your mother had so many secrets. She didn’t take the most important to her grave though. Want to know it?”

This time I turn my head towards him, falling for the bait. Stupid. Fear lodges in my throat when I fully look at him. I rasp, “W-what about her?”

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