I blinked the snow free, my limbs too heavy to lift. He stood above me, a golden menace boring into me.
If only I had the energy to sweep his legs out from under him.
He lifted an eyebrow at me, his cocky expression full Hal, the one he wore whenever he won a card game he forced me to play.
I missed that guy.
“You’re not him,” I muttered, pangs of sadness hammering into my soul.
The prick crouched over me. “Poor Paris. Do you miss your friend?” He reached down, touching my cheek with the back of his warm hand.
I shivered, recalling Hal’s soothing caress. Then recoiled, sick to the pit of my stomach.
“Get…get away from me,” I warned.
He slapped me, upping the pounding in my head. “Would you like to speak to him? Fuck him again, even? It could be arranged, although I don’t like the idea of it.” He retched mockingly. “Sorry, but my tastes are of a higher standard than some lowly elf.”
Yeah, that’s it. Laugh, you piece of shit.
“Like…like Silvanus?” I bit out.
His hollering ceased, his fury practically dripping from his face. “Watch your mouth.”
Ha! “Touch…touched a nerve?”
He grabbed my face, squeezing until my lips pouted. “There’s no nerve to be touched. The vampire king is a lesser being. A means to an end, nothing more than a lovesick fool now yearning for you.”
My brain lurched with all sorts of emotions, none coming to the surface to dominate.
Apart from one little thought.
Yearning?
“I see it,” he waffled on. “I smell it. He’s falling like he fell for me.”
Falling? In what? Love? Oh, please. Things would never gothatfar.
He released my face, grabbing me by the hair and tugging hard. “I won’t allow it.”
“Jealous…” I rasped.
He spat in my face, his anger as bitter as the damn wind. “Oh, you’re so clever, aren’t you? Trying to goad me into, what? Escaping? You’re going nowhere until you draw your last breath, permanently. And I’m going to enjoy every single experiment until you do.” Cue more laughter. “How about I use your mage lover to shit in your face? How humiliating that would be while I pull your intestines from your belly?”
Vile scum!
Man, I wanted to rip his disgusting energy out of my friend. Tear it apart, throw it out there into the gaping wilderness of the mountain range.
He punched me in the nose. It broke, blood spurting, forcing spots of color to swim across my vision.
What a prick.
“No one is coming for you,” he seethed. “It’s just us now, so do the right thing and die. And make sure you take Caer with you.”
A damn shame she couldn’t step in somehow. I tried to sing, but the words wouldn’t come.
He lowered his face, releasing rancid breath at me. “What’s in there, Paris? What’s keeping you alive? I know it can’t be Caer.”
“Her walls are strong, though vulnerable,” he added. “And I feel it when I probe those cracks.” He grinned. “All walls can come down if you kick them hard enough.”
