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“No!” Ziran wailed.
“Then what? What other plan is there, Ziran? You’re not even supposed to be here. Do you plan to leave me behind now that you’ve discovered his secrets?” I asked.
“No, never! I’m on a quest–” I cut him off.
“Bullshit,” I said, calling him on his bluff. “You know, I thought long and hard in your absences and read as much as possible. The crown princes of the Elohime throne do receive a quest. But your quest involving me? I doubt it.”
“So what? Do you think I’m a fraud? That I do not have royal blood?” he all but roared.
“No, I think that’s all true. It has to be now, or you’re crazier than Gotham. But you’re using excuses to be with me. You were sent to search for some treasure. No, I think you were sent to kill him.”
“You’re right. And to slay a beast,” Ziran said, no longer denying the truth as his gaze pierced straight to my soul. “Yet I found you, and now I can’t live without you by my side.”
“But I can’t go with you,” I whispered.
“I don’t know what to do,” he admitted, looking defeated, which was unlike him. “I don’t know if they’ll accept you. I barely know if I can break Gotham’s curse. His evil magic is ancient, maybe as old as my great-great-grandfather. Magic even the High Court couldn’t cure without the king’s aid.”
“Who would want to waste such power on a quarterblood,” I said, finishing the sentence I knew he refused to speak.
“I’ll force them to,” Ziran said.
“But that means helping me at least survive the journey, right? We’re going in circles. Let’s drop this for tonight,” I asked, but he shook his head no, grabbing my wrist.
My nails dug into Ziran’s hand, and finally, he released, “Gotham is dead. Or, well, the version you knew is anyway.”
There were more riddles, but I’d decipher them another time. Right now, all that mattered was that Ziran and I figured out what to do next.
“You know many things, but many impractical things. Not things that will help you survive beyond these walls. And I have all this useless spellwork but can’t craft one to break Gotham’s curse,” my alpha lamented.
“Then teach me,” I said, reaching for him. “Useful things for our life beyond these walls.”
“I want you to wipe away the stain he’s left on my body. But I can’t.”
Ziran turned his face away, and his rejection cut more profound than any sword when it shouldn’t. We were still practically strangers, but he was the only lifeline I could reach for in this inescapable black abyss that was my captivity.
“Why?” I whispered against Ziran’s cheek, determined to get him to look at me.
I kept toying with him, raining kisses down his face until I reached the nape of his neck.
Finally, his grip tightened on my waist. I inhaled deeply, his rich, woodsy scent flooding my senses as he guided me to the bed. Ziran’s body pressed me against my sheets, flooding the air with his alpha aroma.
Shuddering, I gripped the base of his neck as we stared at each other, and our gazes held.
“You play with fire but know I’ll consume you whole,” he gritted out, his cock straining against my stomach.
He looked down at me like a hungry anima, feasting on my naked body, and I loved it. I wanted him. It felt like a fitting parting to stain Gotham’s sacred lair with my lover’s seed one last time and spit on his grave.
“Then destroy me. Burn me down and reshape me in your image. Melt me down if you must, and take me with you. Please, I’m begging you, Ziran. If you’re truly my alpha, you won’t allow me to spend another minute in this tyrant’s tower.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
ZIRAN
Apart of me knew, deep down inside, I was making a mistake. I was being driven mad, helpless, and clinging to the only hope I had, which was in Rei's arms. I knew that, yet I couldn’t stop myself from closing the distance between us, pressing a chaste kiss to his trembling lips before devouring him, just as that monster had shed its skin and allowed it to be devoured by my mate’s hair.
Hope and a fiery heat blossomed in my heart as we parted, lips a mere inch apart, staring into each other's eyes. Rei seemed delighted but confused all the same, waiting for further instruction if the inquisitive tilt of his head was any indication.
I should’ve been the one guiding my omega, teaching him how to please and accept pleasure. But I stumbled, frozen in place, unsure of what to do next. Sex should’ve been the last thing on my mind, which still raced with images of the immoral, rotten beast Rei called Gotham, who had shed his skin on the forest floor, saying he had sold his soul to it.
