Page 159

“We’re okay,” Daemon says softly. She smiles and turns to her sister.

“It’s so good to see you,” Brenna says as they hug.

“Mated to Maz?” Freya asks her sister with a grin.

“Yeah,” Brenna says with a soft smile.

“Do you want to go shower now or wait until everyone leaves?” Kael asks me.

“If I go upstairs and shower, I’m staying up there. It’s best I just wait so we can talk to everyone,” I say with a heavy sigh.

“You okay?” he asks, cupping my face with both of his hands. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m just tired,” I say. “Loss of adrenaline, maybe.”

“You were using a lot of magia for an extended period,” Dad says. “It’s draining.”

“Draining like…” Daemon starts to ask.

“No, no. Just exhausting,” he answers. “She’s not at risk or anything. She just needs to get something to eat and sleep for a while.”

Daemon sits on the couch and pulls me into his lap. I curl up against his chest and close my eyes as he holds me close. I focus on his breathing rather than being surrounded by people.

Being isolated from everyone for a week has made me anxious to be around others, apparently. I know it will take some time. I need to pull myself out of that mindset of being kidnapped. I am free and they are dead. They are no longer a threat to me. I am the High Witch and the Queen of Grimitara. No one can hurt me again. Not like that, anyway.

Nothing will ever match the abuse Zypher and Morwen put me through. The fact they got my own mates to hurt me like that… I know it was an attempt at making me reject my mates. They thought I was weak-minded and easily susceptible to manipulation. Maybe I was that person for the majority of my life, but the moment I saw the Three Kings for the first time… All of that changed. Even when I feared they would kill me, I knew my life was going to drastically change. I wouldn’t have guessed that I would be so madly in love with these three. I never would have predicted that I would be so comfortable with another being that I would curl up in their lap to rest, knowing I was safe.

The entire week that I was deprived of their comfort was hell. That was the worst part overall, and Zypher knew it. He may have never found his mate, but he sure as hell understood how torturous it would be to not have them close. He knew the worst way to hurt me would be to try and have me turn on them or them turn on me. When things weren’t going the way he wanted, he had a witch force them to rape me.

I struggle to call it rape because it’s not as simple as that. Daemon didn’t rape me. Callum and Kael didn’t rape me. That witch… she did. I won’t even say it’s my mother because the woman I see in my dreams wouldn’t do that. She would burn this world for her daughter, but that witch… Who knows what else she is capable of? With that collar on, she seems to be utterly useless, though.

“Leli is here,” Striker says when he opens the front door. I sit up in Daemon’s lap and see that Kael and Callum are sitting with us.

“Hey,” Leli says.

“Hey,” Dad says. “Everything good?”

“Yeah. Right after you all left, a bunch of people ended up outside. Vash and I decided to see if we could find their bodies. You really fucked them up,” Leli says to me.

“Yeah,” I laugh.

“They were under some metal table with a few chunks of concrete on top of it,” Vash says.

“That fucking table,” I say, rolling my eyes.

“Although I would love to hear everything right now, you four need to do a broadcast,” Leli says.

“Right now?” Daemon asks.

“Yeah. When we found their bodies, everyone automatically assumed you four were found also. Shit will hit the fan if they think their leaders were killed.”

“Fuck,” Kael sighs.

“I should probably put pants on,” I say, and Kael chuckles.

“I’ll go up and get you something to put on,” Leli says to me. “I’d advise you not to look too presentable. You were held hostage for a week and are now going straight to reassure the country that you are safe. That should show.”

“Right,” I say.