We land back in her room, and I’m shaking. My arms are still around her, my skin slick with blood. Her wide eyes look up at me like I’ve just walked out of a nightmare.
“Why did you give my soul back? She asks, voice barely above a breath. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
I don’t answer, instead, I place her down on the bed gently. The second her body is out of my grasp, my anger resurfaces tenfold.
“Why did you go to the Uppers without me?” I snarl.
“I didn’t know they?—”
“I should break Aran’s fucking neck,” I interrupt, pacing up and down the room.
“No—don’t. He helped me,” Daisy stutters, stumbling over her words.
I whirl on her, eyes blazing, but quickly look away before I do something I’ll regret. I can’t look at her, not like this. They set this up. They planned this. The Drekkar attack wasn’t random. No creature that massive, that brutal, just manages to wander that far inside my borders. They sent it. They waited until I was distracted, then grabbed her. My lip curls as a snarl forces its way out of my throat.
She watches me, trembling. “When can I go home?”
My eyes turn to her, my breath catching for half a second. She’s splatted in my blood. The sight of her skin streaked in crimson, my crimson, does something ugly to me. I love seeing the women I fucked marked in my blood, but seeing her this way? Fuck.
“Go shower,” I snap, “you’re covered in my blood.” I turn my gaze from her. “The healers will bring the rest of your medicine and I’ll have Aran take you home in a few hours.”
I exit the room, slamming the door behind me on a growl.
In my chambers, I tear the ruined clothes from my body and storm into the obsidian and marble tiled shower. The water burns as I turn the temperature up to the highest it can possibly go. I plant my palms against the cool stone, letting the heat sting down my back, watching the blood and grime wash away down the drain. I slap my hands against the wall, then pound the sides of my fists against them.
It's not enough. It’s never, ever enough. I rear back my arm, driving my fist into the wall once. Then again and again, until my knuckles bleed and my breath comes in broken snarls.
She’s leaving. Good. She doesn’t belong here, she never did. Not seeing her again will be a good thing. Yet for someinexplicable reason, the thought of never seeing those godsdamn ocean eyes again has my ribs feeling like they’re splintering open.
I return hours later,buzzing with irritation.
“Aran’s busy,” I mutter as I stride into the guest chamber. “I’m taking you.”
She opens her mouth, but I lift her into my arms before she can even form a word and teleport us back to her realm. We land in the middle of Daisy’s apartment. It’s dim, quiet, smelling faintly of lavender and familiarity. Her medicine lands with a quiet thunk on the table seconds after we arrive.
“You will not see me again, Daisy,” I say flatly
She blinks in surprise. “But… what if I want to?”
Her voice is too soft, too raw. It sounds like a plea, like a wish, like she believes there’s something in me that makes me worth her time. I force myself to look at her, really look. The way her hair’s fallen loose around her face, a piece curling against her cheek. Without thinking, without meaning to, I brush it gently behind her ear. My fingers skim her skin in a moment that’s too intimate. I instantly snap the thread, my jaw locking. I step back sharply, arms falling to my sides.
“And why the fuck would you want that, little flower?” I sneer, forcing ice into my voice.
She flushes, embarrassed by her own honesty. “I… I don’t know.”
The blush rises up her throat, and gods help me, I like it. I take two long strides away, trying to put as much space between us as I can without tearing open the walls.
“You will not see me again,” I growl. “Get your fucking self together, and don’t try kill yourself again. Just get on with your life, Daisy.”
She flinches, tears lining her eyes. “Why are you so hot and cold with me? I don’t understand.”
I take a slow, deliberate inhale and rake my eyes over her—not with lust, or tenderness, but with forced disdain. “There is nothing to understand,” I say, venom lacing every syllable. “You are a pathetic, weak little mortal, who has been nothing but an inconvenience to me since your wretched father sold your soul to me like it was trash. You were so beneath me, I gave it back. I do not want you in my life, my realm, not even in the fucking depths of Hell.”
I watch her expression crumble as I tear her down with words I know will scar. Not because they’re true, but because if I don’t burn the bridge between us, I feel as though I may never stop crossing it. I don’t give her another chance to reply as I vanish straight back to my chamber, leaving her behind forever.
I lean against the wall, breathing hard. The taste of my cruelty is bitter in my mouth. Good, I tell myself. But my hands are shaking from an emotion I’m struggling to place. And when I lay down in my large, cold bed, the broken way she looked at me is the only thing I see as I close my eyes. And I fucking hate myself for it.
Chapter 17
