I watched as realization dawned, and saw the moment his fearforme turned to angeratme.
Chapter Forty-Two
Monster
MAGNOLIA
Dahes’ laugh hit every nerve in my body.
Suns, I hated him, hated me. I wanted to disappear. I wanted to vanish from this room and crumble just like my bleeding heart.
I knew what Hael was doing—he was going through every single interaction we had together, his mind trying to decipher if it was all fake.
But it wasn’t fake. It was real to me.
Dahes’ hand tightened around my ribs, and my breath hitched.
Shit.
Numb, Magnolia. Be numb. Stop thinking?—
“Let’s go,” Dahes ordered, his voice crawling, before going into my head.“Follow me.”
He rose from the throne, forcing me to stand with him. His hand moved from my ribs to the small of my back as he gently ushered me down the dais steps.
Together.
Hael watched every move, his eyes tracking us, as I willingly followed Dahes.
I wasn’t in chains. I didn’t have sentries pulling me anymore.
My heart cinched inward when I realized the sentries were dragging Hael behind us. I winced as his chains kept scraping against the white stone.
Breathe. One. Two. Three. Four. Exhale.
I tried not to think, tried to build up my walls again, but it was impossible. I could feel Hael’s eyes burning into my back, his anger from my betrayal palpable.
I focused on my feet, keeping my head down as I padded through the ominous halls.
Blood trailed behind me, dripping onto the stone, the back of my thigh burning with each step I took, but I barely noticed. I tried not to think about the fact that Hael was trailing even more.
It wasn’t until I felt the dips beneath my feet and saw the blood filling the crevices of the cracks that I realized we were in the dungeons. The floor down here was rough, the stone not smoothed over like the rest of the castle.
Shit—
Breathe. One. Two. Three. Four. Exhale.
The air was colder down here, more dry and stale than the rest of the castle. There wasn’t a lick of moisture collecting on the walls, and I knew it was intentional. Dahes kept his prisoners starved. He used it as a manipulation tactic.
He also kept it dark.
Three sentries were carrying torches, but it only cast a soft glow onto the path in front of us.
We stopped in front of a cell, barricaded by iron bars. Dahes waved his hand and the lock opened on thin air.
The groaning of the metal grated my nerves, settling in my core. Was he putting us in a cell?—
“Are you finally owning up to your word and going to let us go?” a soft feminine voice asked.
