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“W-What are you doing h-here? “ he asks.

“Sit,” I say, pointing to his bed. He does as he is told and sits on his cot.

“Lilith… I’m,” he starts.

“Here’s what I’m going to do, Fermin,” I say, interrupting his apology. He’s not sorry. He’s just trying to save his ass. “I’m going to tell you what they did to me. You are going to sit here and listen to what you did to me… To what your betrayal did to me.”

He nods and stays quiet but he looks terrified.

“Zypher and Morwen raped me almost immediately. Brutally, I might add. I learned that with those collars, my magic doesn’t protect me from the pain. I felt every single thrust; every single second of the pain. Every tear that they made in my body as they forced themselves inside of me. Want to know what I saw when they took off my blindfold?”

“What?” he asks quietly.

“My mates. So now their lives were at risk. I was quickly faced with the fact that my mates just saw two men rape me. They had those stupid collars on so they couldn’t do anything to help. They stayed chained to a wall like a stray dog while having to watch Zypher and Morwen rape me. Not only that, but the twenty men he brought in. Do you know what that feels like?”

“N-no. I don’t.”

“Twenty-two men raped me in one day. Then… then Zypher forced me to have an orgasm. This is when things got bad for me,” I say. “You see… I am half-succubus. I emit a warm red light when I have an orgasm. I’m not sure why, but Zypher saw this. I was forced to tell him that I was half demon. His response to this was to chain me up and whip me until I couldn’t move. I was covered in blood and cuts from my neck to my knees. Zypher treated the wounds, but it came at a cost.”

“Lilith…” he starts to say, but I speak over him.

“The entire week was filled with me pretending I wanted to be raped. I made him believe that he had a chance at having me for real, but it didn’t stop him from turning my mates on me. It didn’t stop them from getting a witch to possess their bodies. They made my mates brutally rape me. Past the point of just them holding me down and fucking me. No… no, this was different. They forced them to partially shift. Did you know that without my magic, I am no more protected than a human? That means getting raped by a dragon shifter when he partially shifts leads to what certainly felt like internal damage. It led to Daemon leaving gashes in my sides from his claws. My throat was bruised, and coughing led to more blood. The worst part was we could still mind link. I was able to hear every plea for forgiveness from them. I heard every single time they told me they couldn’t stop. They wanted to stop, and they couldn’t. After, when I was curled in a ball because I was in so much pain, they were sobbing. The three kings were so beside themselves at what they had done that they couldn’t contain their emotions anymore.”

“That’s awful,” he whispers.

“But… Zypher is an idiot and fell for it. He believed that I was going to choose him, so he let down his guard. Now they’re dead, and I’m alive.”

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he says.

“Are you?” I ask. “You didn’t seem too concerned about me when you walked me right into my kidnapping. Why, Fermin? Why did you betray me?”

“I thought you were evil. I was ignorant and let Zypher convince me that everyone was safer if you weren’t allowed to be free. I’m sorry, Lilith.”

“I wanted to free you and your people. That’s all I wanted. I wanted equality and peace for those who had never felt it. I wanted you to feel the peace that I had when I was with my mates. Instead, you led me into getting raped by twenty-five people. The three of them were also assaulted because they didn’t want that either. You caused me so much pain and suffering, Fermin.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. Truly.” Fermin says softly. It’s not until this moment that I realize that he is just as bad as Zypher. He has the same conniving look on his face. He is a narcissistic psychopath. He always was.

“So, what should I do with you?” I ask. “Do I kill you, or have mercy on you?”

“I… I don’t know. I want to make it right,” he says.

“I want to believe you can be redeemed,” I lie. I don’t give a fuck if he can be redeemed or not. By the end of the day, he will be dead, but he doesn’t know that yet.

“I’ve had a lot of time to reflect while I’ve been here,” he says.

“I’m not going to kill you,” I say. “I’m going to talk to the guys so we can figure out a fitting punishment. Okay? I don’t want to be the monster that you think I am.”

“Thank you,” he says. “I promise I won’t let you down again.

“I know you won’t,” I say with a smile. “Someone will come get you after a while so you can come talk to me and the kings. Okay?”

“Okay,” he smiles, looking relieved. Good. He believes me. He thinks that he’s safe.

I stand up and return my chair to its home before locking his cell. Without another word, I go back to my mates. “Ready?” I ask them.

“Yeah,” Kael says slowly. “I didn’t hear any screams, so I assume he is alive?”

“For now,” I say as we walk out of the jail. Outside my family is waiting. “Vash. Can you have Fermin brought to me when we get done with the news conference?”