A crack resounded around me as I landed, and I screamed in pain when my right wing caught the fall, snapping hollow bone and breaking some of my longer primary feathers. I had little time to regain my breath before I was followed, shielding my face with my arm as a large form came tumbling down after me. Bits of rock and dirt rained down before I heard the stones maneuver back into place, sealing the hole as if it had never been.
I peeked over my arm to find the cursed man staring down at me. He didn’t touch me, not my skin at least, as his arms were locked at the sides of my head and his legs straddled my hips, pinning my gown to the stone floor. He gulped in heaving breaths, furious and baring his teeth as if the transition from Beast to man was a grueling task.
This close, I was fascinated by the receding fangs and the spiraled horns on his head disappearing back into his bloody, golden hair. He was wounded. Teeth marks littered his skin—circles of red along his neck and chest where his shirt draped in tatters, reforming over his chest as the blood-crusted fur disappeared. His eyes closed and he grimaced in pain, collapsing beside me.
“This,” he heaved, “is when I tell you I told you so.”
I huffed, rising and wincing. “You did not tell me ofthat,” I muttered, gesturing to the bite marks across his neck.
“You shouldn’t have been in the western corridor,” he snapped, sitting up with me, his eyes darting over my bruised skin.
“You should have warned me better!”
“You should have accepted it’s forbidden for a good reason!”
Shaking my head and adjusting my frozen and torn sleeves, Irose on shaky legs. “Why would I listen to a man who dragged me down here in the first place?”
He bolted to his feet and followed as I began gathering my dignity, refusing to limp, walking through the pain of my broken wing and frozen feet.
“Then you should have listened to thegolden fucking doorblocking your way!”
I hissed a mocking laugh. “I can assure you what I’mnotlistening to is a lecture fromyou.”
His hand wrapped around my arm as he turned me to face him. “Oh, you are, Goddess. You’re going to listen to every last word I have to say if you’re planning to survive down here.”
My mouth parted in shock, and I stared at my upper arm where his hand wrapped around it. “You dare put your hands on a Goddess?”
He squeezed, pulling me closer, leaning in where I could hear the rough chords of his voice clearly. “I do. I dare. What do you think you could do to me that’s worse than the curse you already bestowed, hmm? What could you do that’s more punishment than the fate I’m just waiting for you to deliver?”
I yanked my arm out of his grasp. “And what fate is that?”
His icy glare was just as sharp as mine, tearing into me with his answer. “My death, Goddess. And your freedom.”
CHAPTER 13
Arthur
Reshina’sscathing glare twisted to confusion. “Your death, my freedom? What in Revelry are you talking about?”
I huffed a short laugh. “You don’t remember the conditions that can break this curse?”
“Of course, I do. Your captive must love you as both man and Beast, saying so with true feeling. Something your mother failed to do for your father, apparently.”
“No, she didn’t love him.”
“Or,” she continued, “You must die of old age, as I assume your father did, at which point your curse will pass onto your son.”
“I don’t have a son. Nor can I have children. I made sure of it.”
She glanced at my groin then back to my eyes. “You’ve maimed yourself?”
“Hardly. It’s a simple procedure that guarantees I won’t be passing this curse on.”
She folded her arms, cusping each of her elbows. The stance was regal, reminding me that this woman was used to having power over everyone she met. “I’m not lingering in this forsakenplace until you wither and die, Arthur. And I certainly won’t be saying the former, so the sooner you get me an audience with?—”
“I don’t have to die of old age for this curse to break, Reshina.”
Her eyes twitched as she narrowed them. “You actually want me to kill you?”
