Page 35 of Elysian

‘No.’ Cassiel’s voice entered my mind.

Egan’s tongue plunged into my mouth.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Egan

He kissed me with desperate force.

And I was numb. I did not know what to do with my hands; they hovered over his wrists.

“I will kill you.” Cassiel’s threat sent chills down my spine.

I went rigid, yet Egan behaved as if Cassiel had not spoken. His hand settled on my waist and slid down to my hip, gripping and squeezing. He pulled back slightly, and it allowed me a moment to breathe. My mind struggled to catch up.

‘Stop.’

Cassiel’s order reached through my mind, rousing a wave of guilt. Still, I could not move. Some vengeful piece inside my stomach reveled in the pain echoing in his tone.

‘Amara,’ he growled.

Egan tilted my chin higher, kissing me harder. Cassiel and his orders. His dratted orders!

‘He will die a gruesome death if you continue.’ That should have been enough to stop me, but it roused the resentment that had taken root. I placed my hands on Egan’s forearms, clenching the velvet fabric of his uniform. ‘I vow it.’

Cassiel stopped speaking.

Still, Egan did not stop coaxing my tongue to life. My insides turned over and over as if a spoon scooped them about.

Cassiel watched.

I squeezed Egan’s sleeves and pulled back. Cassiel’s gaze weighed on my shoulders. Kissing Egan felt so . . . different from Cassiel’s kisses. Warm and nice. They did not cause the tumultuous emotions that threatened to suffocate me.

This is what my first kiss with my husband should have been like. Instead, I had received Lord Cassiel Draven. A hungry, possessive Warlord.

“I am sorry,” Egan murmured against my lips. “I could not take you with me. I left you in there.” He shook his head, releasing my face. “What father did to your back.” He cut off with a choked sound.

“You allowed it.”

Egan’s head snapped up to look over my head. “I did not.”

“You could have stopped it,” Cassiel challenged.

“I had no knowledge of it.”

“And if you had?” I whirled, prepared to face Cassiel’s anger, but he stood closer to the wall within the shadows. I could only make out his massive frame. “What would you have done?”

“I would have stopped it⁠—”

“Then take her from here. You can stop the next beating. The harm that will come next.”

Egan sputtered. “I would⁠—”

“You would, were you not a coward?” Cassiel drawled.

“Enough,” I bit out. Cassiel only mocked him.

Egan clasped my arm, turning me away from Cassiel. He took my hand in both of his.