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“I think this snuck up on me,” I confess. “I haven’t dealt with things that have happened, and I’m always on the cusp of one more crisis.”

“Please don’t make excuses for Cinder,” Ayden says. They’re all in a half circle around me, with Kal looking at Kenzo worriedly. I must look like a basket case. “She has been torturing and hurting people for years, and it’s getting worse. If she’s losing time and cycling into madness, then it’s even more important that she not be on the throne.”

“Sidney, I want more than poison on my person when I go in,” I tell him, meeting his green eyes. He scrubs his short hair as he thinks, his muscles shifting under his clothes.

“I’m strapping a knife to your upper thigh in a harness, but it’ll appear to be a garter if anyone is searching for weapons,” Sidney decides gruffly. “I’ll show you all the ways to kill someone with it. Trust your instincts, Little Love. It’ll keep you alive.”

Relaxing as they take in my concerns, I nod. Except… “If things look bad, I’ll kill myself. I don’t want you to feel guilty because you gave me the knife, Sidney.”

His eyes are filling with devastation, and Gray’s chest starts to heave with anxiety as he holds my hand. “That won’t happen,” Gray promises.

“You don’t know that,” I whisper, the world blurring as my tears well again. “I won’t survive as her perfect little playtoy. I’ll lose myself. I can’t, especially since the Queen’s Advisors post is for life. I had to accept it in front of eight dignitaries of the realm. It’s binding.”

“You were under duress,” Kenzo pipes up. “It is not binding under our laws.”

“Our laws aren’t Cinder’s,” I remind him. “I didn’t mean for things to get so heavy, but I wanted you to know that I won’t allow the King to rape me. Cinder said I wouldn’t enjoy what he has planned, but wouldn’t tell me what, and I keep thinking that he doesn’t have an heir…”

“People are walking down the hill, Kitten. I’m sorry, but we have to keep moving. There’s another cliff further through the trees where we can sit and talk. Come on,” Ayden murmurs. I can hear muffled voices and nod, drying my eyes with my scarf.

Walking, I watch as the craggy rocks open into a large grassy area. There are homes to the left, and it looks like there’s a community just outside of town. People laugh and talk as they greet each other, making me smile. I’m having a hard time shaking off my melancholy.

Sidney wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling me close as we walk. I can feel the scruff of his goatee as he lays his chin by my face. “I love you, Baby,” he says softly. “I want to put a baby inside of you, watch you grow round, and have a family with you. I want you to kill anyone that it takes for that to happen. No more playing it nice.”

I look up, dislodging his chin from against my forehead. “I didn’t realize mass poisoning was playing it nice,” I say, brow raising. No one can hear us as we walk closer to the woods. The snow is starting to fall harder, but it’s gorgeous, so I have no complaints.

“The moment things start to turn for the worst, you bide your time and then let the blood flow,” Sidney growls. “I’ll wash your hair in the shower after I fuck you.”

I shiver, my panties obliterated by his words. “Why is that so hot?” I hiss. “I’m supposed to be a good girl—”

“You’re my Good Girl,” Gray calls out to me with a wink. Kal shakes his head, blushing at the sentiment. Kenzo merely chuckles, adjusting his dick in his pants as he walks. He was very careful not to let me feel it against me when he held me earlier, but I don’t think I’d mind.

“Good and evil are relative,” Ayden tells me, wrapping his arm around my waist. I’m trapped between them now, but it makes me feel curiously safe. Our hips brush against each other as we walk, and I think about his words.

“I’ve always thought that good was good and bad was bad,” I correct him. “Even when I was hacking into people’s accounts and stealing from them so I could leave the realm, I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do. I was desperate.”

“You were going to leave?” Kal asks, surprised.

“My step-sister wanted me to marry someone three times my age, and Forbach has never been very good to me,” I explain. “I had no reason to stay at the time. Cinder figured out that I was going to leave, and arrested me.”

“We never would have met,” Ayden grumbles, kissing my forehead. “I can’t imagine my life without you in it. I’ll be there with you next week, but I’m with Sidney: bite, scream, stab. Do whatever you need to do to stay safe. Gray and I will handle ourselves.”

I nod, even though my mind is imagining all the ways this could go wrong. What the fuck does Charming want with me?

“Okay, you need to stop thinking,” Grayson says with a harsh sigh. “Kal, you’re getting a crash course into our lives, and I’m sure that you’re going to think this is super fucked up, but I need you to make sure no one walks into the woods. No matter what you hear.”

“Grayson,” I hiss. He is not proposing what I think he is, right?

“I’m serious,” Gray complains. “No more worrying, spiraling, or overthinking today. You’re going to run as fast as you can, and we’re going to chase you. I wanted to have you to myself for this one day, but everyone has been edging you today, haven’t they, Dangerous girl?”

I ignore Kal’s ‘what the fuck’ look on his face as I nod. My panties are unbearably wet, and it’s making me uncomfortable as it presses against me, a reminder that I really fucking want this. I need to get out of my head.

“Was this your plan the whole time?” I ask, a nervous giggle releasing as I cover my mouth with my eyes wide. My hands are shaking with nerves and Ayden and Sidney have to feel how much I’m affected by this conversation.

“You’re into this, aren’t you, Pet?” Sidney asks against the shell of my ear. Whimpering, I nod, my breath coming in quick gasps, and my chest starting to heave.

“Yes, Sir,” I whisper submissively.

“Gods, you’re so damn perfect,” Kenzo breathes. “The first time we’re together shouldn’t be like this, but I really want to watch, can I, Mistress?”