“In my defense, I was left unsupervised.”
I stride past him, looking down the hallway. It is an absolute mess. Paintings and tapestries are torn from the walls. The cell door hangs at a weird angle, the top hinges completely torn away. All four guards lay strewn in pools of their own blood, limbs and heads at unnatural angles. No, he was not left unsupervised.
Thorne drapes himself against the study’s doorway. His posture is infuriating, as if he didn’t just go into a bloody rampage across my tower.
“I don’t know who you think you are!” I stride towards him and jab a finger into his chest. His hand darts up and snatches my wrist, yanking my hand back so fast I gasp. Violet eyes meet mine, paralyzing me. I gape as he leans forward, his face just inches from mine. There’s something about him I didn’t notice when we arrested him. Something that isn’t human.
“Clearly you don’t,” His voice is a soft purr that sends shivers down my spine. “Or else you wouldn’t have tried to confine me to that wretched little cell. You would have stationed more than poorly trained palace guards to keep me. Your master must have no more use for you if he sent you after someone like me.”
Suddenly, I’m being dragged inside the study. He grasps my hair in an iron grip, pulling me across the room. My heart pounds violently in my chest and I drag my nails down his arm, but he doesn’t even react. I almost scream for the guards, but they’re all dead. It’s just me. Alone with this demon.
The breath rushes from my lungs when he throws me against the desk, papers scattering to the floor as I catch myself barely against the edge. His strength is terrifying, unnatural. I don’t understand why I would be tasked with capturing this monster, and with only a few soldiers. It’s out of my skill set. I must have done something to disappoint the King. Something bad enough that he would send me to my death.
Thorne seats himself casually on the other side of the desk. He looks elegant and lethal, draped in all black, eyes deadly and hypnotizing. Not a single hair is out of place. You wouldn’t ever think he just brutally murdered four people.
He leans back, watching me. “You will write a letter to your King. Make him think I’m dead and dealt with.”
I lower myself into the desk’s chair, trying to control my shaking. “I can’t do that. It would be treason to lie to the King. He always learns the truth. And then he’ll come after me.”
Thorne smirks. “Again with underestimating me. Let your guards be a testament to what I can and will do to you.”
My breath hitches in my chest, imagining the awful things he’s capable of. But it can’t be worse than the King. If I commit treason, he will drag me home. He’ll torture my family publicly before executing me. If I’m killed performing one of his duties, my family will be rewarded the rest of the wages I would have earned. The decision is simple.
I shake my head, and Thorne’s eyes widen in disbelief. “If you knew him, you would just kill me and be done with it.”
Thorne watches me, his eyes calculating. His voice is soft when he says, “It is a shame to waste something so pretty.”
I fly back, head cracking hard against the ground as he flies over the desk. My vision darkens as he crouches over me. His hands feel gentle, cradling my head in his palms like a lover. The last thing I see are his eyes, violent and beautiful. Fiery with an anger that calls to me. Full of a pain that reaches into my soul.
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