Page 113 of His Darkest Desire

And it was happening all over again with Vex. She’d allowed her heart to get involved only for it to break again. But this time, it was much, much worse. His freedom relied upon the thing she couldn’t give him. Because of her, Vex and the wisps would remain trapped here. They’d remain cursed.

“I’ve doomed you all,” Kinsley said with a sob.

Echo made a soft, sorrowful sound, and rubbed against Kinsley’s arm. “No share of the blame is yours. The queen laid her curse upon the magus long before you first drew breath.”

Kinsley hiccupped again and took a few more swallows of wine. As she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, she set the bottle down harder than she’d intended, nearly knocking it over. She hurriedly righted it, holding it down firmly as though it would topple the moment she released it.

“The queen is a bitch.” Kinsley tentatively let go of the bottle and wrinkled her nose. “A mega bitch, and I hope she gets cursed with… I don’t know, the worst thing ever. An endlessly itchy butthole or something.”

The wisp tilted their little head. “Is that the worst fate a mortal might suffer?”

“Probably not, but it still sucks.” Groaning, Kinsley covered her eyes before another hiccup escaped her. “Why does it have to be so bright in here?”

“It is not bright. The tree shades this place from the morning sun.”

“I know.” She sighed before lowering her hand and looking at Echo. “I am worth it, though. I’m done thinking I’m not. I’m tired of feeling lesser. I… I’m not a baby making machine. I’m not defined by what people want from me. I’m a person with my own feelings, my own wants, my own dreams.”

Sitting back in her chair, Kinsley grabbed the wine bottle by the neck and took another draft. “I came here to get away from all that. To put it all behind me, start a new life, and…find myself. And Liam…he’s a fucking asshole. I refuse to settle for someone who doesn’t want me for me. I deserve better. I deserve to be loved.”

“You deserve everything,” Vex said.

Kinsley started, clutching the bottle against her chest, and swung her wide-eyed gaze toward his voice.

Vex stood mere feet away with Shade and Flare floating behind him. He was a vision of dark sensuality—long black hair, glowing red eyes, tempting, sculpted lips, claw-tipped fingers, powerful, batlike wings… He wore only a pair of dark trousers, leaving his lean, toned torso bare. Kinsley found herself fighting a wild, insistent urge to lick him.

But then she remembered everything anew. Remembered the silence that had followed her confession, a silence so thick that it had strangled her.

She remembered how he’d left her.

Kinsley scowled. “I didn’t invite you to my pity party.”

“I’ve no need for an invitation. This is my home.”

She flattened a hand on the table to help herself stand. “So I’ll leave.”

With a growl, Vex closed the distance between them until he loomed over her. “You shall do no such thing.”

Kinsley plopped back down onto her seat with a pout, still hugging the bottle to her chest.

At a glance from Vex, the wisps reluctantly retreated from the room.

“I bade you remain in the bedchamber, yet you left. Now I ask that you remain here so I may speak with you.”

“You didn’t bid me, you yelled at me.” She took another drink and blushed when an involuntary hiccup followed. “And since when do I ever listen to you anyway?”

The corner of Vex’s lip quirked. “You do not.”

“I don’t want to talk to you.”

His smile faded. Kinsley hated how much it hurt to see that expression disappear.

“You need but hearken to my words,” he said.

“Didn’t we just establish that I don’t listen?”

He glanced at the wine bottle, brow furrowing. “You’re drunk.”

“I’m not drunk. I’m just a little tipsy. But I plan to get very, very drunk.”

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