But I refused to believe it, my hand acting on its own as I reached for his face. Blood swirled around my wrist, a mixture of comfort and threat, like it wasn’t sure itself. When my fingers finally brushed against his cheek, I began breathing again. It was as if I had been forced under water all this time and I had finally broken through the surface.
But Malakai’s hand curled into a fist, his eyes locked on mine.
“You can’t break me,” he said quietly, but the words weren’t aimed at me.
The King’s smile sharpened. “Oh, I don’t need to. I only have to wait.”
He turned his back on both of us, as if the game was already won. “Desire always does the rest.”
CHAPTER
33
I woke to the sound of chains.
The room was dark, the air heavy with damp stone and thick mist. I couldn’t move. My wrists ached, metal biting into skin already rubbed raw and each breath drew in dust and iron. When I finally lifted my head, I saw him.
Malakai was chained against the opposite wall.
The iron cuffs glowed faintly, a strange magic sealing him, each pulse dimming the crimson veins beneath his skin. His jacket was gone, his shirt torn open where the chains crossed his chest, the marks of the fight still carved into him. He looked both alive and fading, breathing hard, but not from weakness. From maintaining control.
The room was bare, nothing but cold stone and the chains to keep us from reaching each other. Where were we? By the faint shadows swirling along the floor I assumed we were still in some part of the castle.
“Well,” a voice drawled. “You both look comfortable.”
The Demon King stood right inside the doorway, arms folded, his expression carved with amusement. The torchesflared to life at his gesture, their light throwing deeper shadows across the walls.
“I do admire symmetry,” he said, glancing between us. “Two halves of the same mistake.”
“Let her go,” Malakai rasped, his voice raw but steady.
The King’s smile was slow. “You make demands as though you’re in a position to bargain.”
He turned to me. “He’s been very disciplined, you know. Not even a flicker of hunger since you fainted. Though, I can feel it gnawing at him.” His gaze slid back to Malakai. “You can smell it, can’t you? Her blood? The way it hums through the air between you?”
Malakai didn’t move, but his eyes darkened, pupils razor thin. “You said you would let her go.”
“I did let her go, from my power’s grasp,” the King hummed, thoughtful. “Let’s see how long that control of yours lasts.”
He stepped closer to me, and before I could shrink away, his hand traced along my cheek, mock tenderness.
“A test,” he murmured. “A little reminder that you are, after all, mortal.”
I tried to jerk back, but the chains held. His clawed fingertip drew a thin line along my neck. Shallow, precise. The blood welled up immediately, warm and slow.
I bit back a whimper as the metallic scent filled the room.
Malakai’s head jerked up.
The air shifted. His breath quickened, fangs pressing against his lower lip as if he was forcing them to stay hidden. The crimson glow returned to his eyes, too bright, too sharp.
The King stepped back, watching him with delight. “Beautiful,” he murmured. “So close to losing it already. Tell me, son, how many breaths before you snap? Ten? Twenty?”
“Stop it,” I said through clenched teeth.
He ignored me. “You see, little flame, hunger is the only truth. No matter what noble things he whispers to you, in the end he’ll drink. They all do.”
Malakai strained against his chains, muscles taut, the sound of metal grinding echoing through the chamber.
