AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She made her way back to the south wing, holding her tears at bay. Not caring who saw her as she walked. She’d been so happy just minutes ago. He’d left without a word, leaving her feeling used and dirty.
Soft light filtered into the room through three tall arched windows. Faye trudged past them, her begrudging steps leading her to the bathroom. Faye closed the door and let her towel drop to the floor.
She turned the shower on and sat in the spray. Hot water sluiced over the back of her neck and shoulders. Faye hugged her shins, lowering her head to her knees. Her tears fell, hot and silent, as she hugged her legs tighter.
“Bitch?”
Faye stared at a tile beside her, letting the tears fall from her unblinking eyes. She didn’t fight the misery threatening to consume her. Didn’t respond to the knock at the door. Didn’t acknowledge her sister as she stepped into the bathroom.
Sparrow opened the glass door and crouched into Faye’s vision. “Hey, are you— What happened?”
Faye met her sister’s gaze, and her tears somehow came harder.
“It’s okay, you’re okay,” Sparrow said, getting to her feet and awkwardly stepping over her. Her sister sat down and wrapped her in her arms, pulling her close. Sparrow rocked her, resting her cheek on the top of her head as she stroked her back.
“Did he hurt you?” Faye vaguely registered the viciousness in her sister’s voice.
Yes! No.She squeezed her eyes shut, clinging to Sparrow’s arm. Her voice came out a broken plea, “What’s wrong with me?”
“Nothing is wrong with you,” Sparrow said against her hair.
“He’s fated to me,” Faye sobbed.I feel it.“Why am I not enough?”
“Oh, honey,” Sparrow said, squeezing her tighter. “You are more than enough. This is that shadowy fuck’s damage, not yours.”
Sparrow held her as she cried. Therewassomething wrong with her. Some integral piece she was lacking. Faye knew it. Rune knew it. Even fate knew and carved away so much from her because of it.
“Did he say something to you? I’m about to stab his bitch ass.”
Faye took a shuttering breath. “We were intimate,” she said blinking through the hot rush of tears. “Then he left.”
“You blew him, and he left?” Acid dripped from Sparrow’s words, a burning promise of pain.
Faye shook her head. “I didn’t touch him,” she whispered. She didn’t understand. He yearned for her. She saw it stirring in his dark gaze. He came to her. Pleaded at her door. Went to his knees— for her. Then he abandoned her without a word.
“Fuck him. Fate tied you to an idiot. If he doesn’t appreciate you, it’s his loss, not yours.”
Faye leaned on her sister in silence, muttering, “I wish I didn’t care.”Or want him. Or see him when I thought about the life I wanted.Faye exhaled and so much more left her as she said, “He’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life.”
Sparrow snorted. “No, bitch. I won’t let him. I guarantee you his ass is haunted by you.” Faye remained silent as her tears slipped down her nose, lost within the misted spray of the shower. The hot water washing over her did not drown out the feel of him. The way his hands carefully left a trail of his embrace. She wanted it gone. Needed it stripped clean. Cast away his touch and abandonment. Her sister squeezed her, holding her through her silence and misery.
“I know he’s thinking about you right now. You consume his every waking moment.”
Chapter thirty-nine
Runematerializedinhisfather’s crystalline palace. The vast hall stretching before him, it’s arching walls raising into a vaulted ceiling, constructed more like a chapel than a throne room. Large crystals lined either side of the hall, encapsulating the unfortunate beings who garnered his father’s wrath.
They stood as eternal sentries, broken in mind and body, condemned as ornaments his father used to decorate his palace. Time stretched past them, holding no meaning. Those encased were unable to die and return to the Darkness.
Rune’s image flickered several times, and he bared his fangs. His head whipped to the side as he demanded, “Cease this!”
Return to her!The Ra’Voshnik roared, raising through his mind, fighting for dominion of his body.
Fury roiled through Rune. “You brought her to my bed. Desecrated what I would offer my queen!”
She is our queen.
“She is not my queen!” Rune bellowed as the crystal beneath him cracked, splintering from him in every direction. The cracks deepened, widening as they split the walls of the throne room.
