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“Shut your mouth,” Pax seethed. “I’ll decide your fate soon enough.” He turned toward the sorceress who refused to look at her. “You’ll get the remainder of your payment once this is finished.”
Aura thrashed harder as Pax carried her out the open door and into the gardens. “You can’t take me away from here, you fool! I’ll fall asleep! I have a spell on me!”
“I wanted you awake for this, but perhaps that will make my plan all the better,” Pax grunted, holding her tighter. Around the garden, a few of the servants lay on the ground in their own sleeping states.
As Pax brought her through the gate, another sharp invisible prick pierced her finger. But this time also her heart, her lungs,everywhere. Aura struggled for breaths, to find the air she desperately needed. Never before had it been like this, to where she couldn’t breathe. Her body turned limp in the prince’s arms, and her eyes fell shut.
Aura was vaguely aware of her body moving, being carried, the air on her skin, but it seemed like ages before she could open her eyes. And when she did, darkness surrounded her. Water sloshed against her flesh, the prince’s arms no longer confining her. She was beneath the surface, and she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t swim.
Her lungs tightened, the burning sensation in her chest becoming unbearable. Her eyes slowly closed once more, and she felt herself drifting away, dying. Yet she remained there, in her watery grave.
Aura finally peeled her lids open, the same scene unfolding as she struggled to breathe. Without a doubt, she knew that this was meant to be her eternity. One in which she would die over and over again so Sorcha could live.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Rush
The chains bit into Rush’s arms, the pain dull but welcomed. It meant whatever the sorceress had done to him was wearing off. The Starnight soldiers stood around him, sneering as he laid on his side.
A blond bearded man spit on the ground beside Rush. “I don’t see what’s so special about him.”
“He’s probably got a huge cock,” another said.
“I bet it’s minuscule, but no one’s brave enough to speak the truth,” the blond soldier replied.
Rush allowed them to talk, to insult him, as he methodically worked feeling back into his limbs. While they were worried about his manhood, they wouldn’t be concerned with the rest of him. His dragon hummed inside him like a second pulse. The beast tried to break free of the spell, clawing and growling, raging and waiting.
The snap of a twig sounded, the first sign of someone approaching, followed by the crashing of heavy, unconcerned boots. The soldiers around Rush straightened, their taunts silenced. Rush lifted his head, hoping they were too distracted to notice how much movement he’d regained in his body.
A shadow emerged from the trees and a thought struck him. If Astor abandoned Aura to make sure this meeting went according to plan, Rush would lock the hawk in a cage then murder him. Pax wanted Aura—she was the priority at this moment.
A figure appeared, one much too short to be the hawk shifter. Rush squinted through the darkness and froze as he made out Pax carrying Aura over his shoulder, her arms hanging limply down his back. Rush’s heart thumped painfully in his chest at the sight of her. Aura in this asshole’s clutches. The man who’dmurderedSorcha. Defenseless. Had the fucker knocked her out, or was it Rush’s fault she was this way, that his spell came into effect once she was off palace grounds? It didn’t matter—Pax would die, would be shredded apart, left for his dragon to consume, for touching her. And the sorceress—where the fuck was that bitch?
“Put her down, bastard!” he roared and strained against the chains holding him.
Pax’s eyes danced with amusement. “You’re in no position to tell me what to do withmybetrothed.”
Not yet. Butsoon. His dragon became more present by the moment, and it wouldn’t be long before the spell shattered beneath his claws. Rush flexed his muscles, testing his strength.
“What do you think, men?” Pax sauntered to where Rush lay on the ground and stopped. “Should I humor the King of Sin?”
Harsh chuckles rose up from the soldiers, booming off the trees while Pax grinned down at Rush.
“Follow me,” he ordered his men. “Bring him.”
The men hoisted Rush by his upper arms. His feet dragged in the mud as they followed their damn prince through the woods. Rush forced himself to take steady breaths, to focus on regaining full movement of his body so he could destroy them all.
“Just up here,” Pax announced.
A bolt of realization struck Rush then. He’d picked this meeting place for how close they were to the lake. So after the torture began, he could drag the prince to the lake and shove him down into the same waters that Sorcha had been murdered in. Over and over, he would’ve pushed him into the water before torturing him more. The trees thinned as they walked, giving way to the shore. His breathing became erratic then. His pulse thundered through him and his skin felt hot when they approached the water, stopping at the edge. The lake was still, almost glasslike. It once held an alluring appeal. Plentiful fish, picturesque mountains in the distance, fragrant blossoming trees.
But all of that was overshadowed by death.
“Fuck you,” Rush seethed. The men shoved him down onto his knees. “I will tear you apart, you fucking bastard!”
“You want me to put the bitch down?” Pax cooed, seemingly unbothered by Rush’s threats. “All right, then.”
It took a moment too long for Rush to understand what was amusing about the prince’s request. Aura slid from Pax’s shoulder straight into the lake. Water splashed onto Rush’s side as her body slipped beneath the surface. Seconds passed, and Rush couldn’t stop from imagining the future.Hisfuture. Cold, dark, and bleak.Lifeless.
