Page 35 of Dark & Dreadful Brutes

Tears stung my eyes as the doors swung shut behind them.

I slowly sank to my knees as water rolled down my cheeks. My hands caught fire, but I ignored the flames as they rested on my thighs.

I thought Ravv actually liked me. I let him touch me.

Veil, I should’ve known.

I squeezed my eyes shut and let the tears fall.

Most people just wanted to trap me so my fire couldn’t hurt them. Because he hadn’t trapped me, I had been lured into trusting him.

I’d been so stupid.

But he’d let me believe it.

He’d never told me the truth, or let me know what he intended.

The tears fell as my sadness morphed into anger.

Ravv was a king. He should’ve made that clear from the beginning, and he should’ve told me why he was capturing me. He should’ve known better than to tell me he’d saved me when he knew he’d only abducted me to protect his own ass.

He'd said all that shit and touched me when he knew none of it was real for him. The bastard had used me in more ways than one.

And now, he was going to pay for it.

Maybe not that night, or the next night, or the next…

But he would pay.

Because I would do every damn thing I could to piss him off.

The ache returned in my arm—a sure sign that the king had gone further from me than our bond wanted him to.

I shoved my way into his mind, and could’ve sworn I felt him wince at the sudden invasion as I hissed into his mind, “If you go far enough to cause me pain while this bond is in place, I will spend every moment we’re connected and every ounce of my energy melting your ice castle to the ground.”

He didn’t reply, but the ache in my arm faded soon after I made the threat.

I wiped angrily at the wetness on my face as a few minutes passed.

That bastard didn’t get the pleasure of making me cry.

The next time he saw me, I’d be colder to him than a damn ice fae.

A knock on the door dragged me to my feet, but the door swung open without waiting for an answer. Another fae woman’s head peeked in immediately. “Laeli?” she checked.

“Yep.” I crossed the room, hoping she couldn’t see the evidence of my tears. My hands were still burning, which wasn’t ideal, but I’d survive.

She was definitely fae, though she was smaller than some of the others I’d seen and at least a few inches shorter. Her skin was pale, her eyes glowed a bright shade of aqua, and her hair was white-blonde, streaked with strands the same color as her eyes. She flashed me a grin, her gaze lingering on my burning hands. “I’m Eisley. You’re human?”

“Unfortunately.”

“Elwynne asked me to bring you a dress. She said you need to keep her involvement from Ravv, and I couldn’t resist something that might piss off one of the kings.” She winked at me, and thankfully set the folded dress on the floor instead of trying to give it to me. Then she slipped out, leaving the doors swinging behind her.

I heaved a sigh, and spent a few minutes trying to figure out how to lock the door before I finally got it in place.

Though I wanted nothing more than to climb into the comfortable-looking bed off to my side, I wasn’t willing to risk waking up in a bonfire.

So, I left the dress on the floor and made my way to the pool in the corner of the room. I eyed it as I approached. I hadn’t bathed in a tub in more than a decade, but it certainly wasn’t a tub. It was more like a tiny pond, though the sides seemed to be made out of stone instead of the wood the rest of the castle boasted.

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