Page 44 of Hated By the Gargoyle

Because she would go back and not return.

She would leave me, and I would be alone again in this terrible world, my wife too far away to reach. I would be alone again.

I could not allow that to happen.

The anger rose, craving destruction. I gave into it. I always gave into it. Because it was easy and because I knew no other way. It was what I was bred to do. My kings, the lords of hell and all the creatures in it, had created me to destroy. To kill. I was the best at it. I surpassed my brothers in strength and brutality.

And I was drowning in it.

Finally, the jaw snapped shut, and then there was nothing but darkness.

I lifted the stone that served as our tabletop and threw it with a roar. It shattered against the far end of our den, breaking into hundreds of pieces that fell into our water and stirred the pool angrily.

I whirled towards Lucero and she cried out, scrambling away from me.

“You fear me now?” I growled, still approaching, knowing that my mind was not aligned with my body in this moment. I was propelled by a different force, and I could not stop it from basking in rage. “You think I would harm you, wife?”

“Qanek, you’re scaring me.”

I loomed over her. “You will not leave me. You vowed to stay by my side, and so you will. Even if I have to chain you to my fucking walls to do it.”

She gasped and started to step backwards, but I did not let her go.

I would never let her go.

“Qanek, you can’t…”

“I can.”

Then I summoned the magic inside me, weaving and turning it into chains that wrapped around her wrists, the other end stuck to the wall of our den.

Lucero stared down at it with shock, tugging at the bindings. “Qanek, this isn’t funny.”

I stepped away. My heart was beating far too fast, my chest rising and falling. That lump in my throat grew, and I felt like I was losing air. Losing breath.

Losing her.

And I could not let it happen.

I could not let my wife leave me.

She was too precious. And I did not deserve her, still she had binded herself to me. She was mine and she could not leave me. She could not leave me alone. She could not. I would not allow it.

I shook my head as the thoughts overtook me. Everything became a blur. I did not know what this was. This disorientation. As though I’d been struck upon the head.

“Qanek, let me go right now! You can’t chain me to the wall!” I stumbled backwards, my wings hitting the wall. Bits of stone crumbled atop of me. I could no longer breathe. I could not take in the air. I knew nothing beyond her words. Beyond the sensation the thought of her leaving caused. It overtook everything inside me. Every possible scenario, every feeling felt too heightened.

I had only ever felt this way in battle.

Everything was too much.

It was too much and I had nowhere to put it, to lay these sensations. They overflowed from my body until I was trembling, the growls in my chest growing louder.

“Qanek, let me go!”

You cannot leave me. You cannot leave me. You cannot leave me.

“You belong to me!” I screamed, gripping my hair in my claws and pulling until I felt the strands yank from my scalp.