Page 32 of All Your Deadly Truths (The Filthy Duet #2)

Xeraphine

“ W e’ve been in bed for a long time,” Kairhyse whispers against my hair, his fingers drawing a line down my bare arm.

Rubbing my nose against his collar, I move up and bury my face into the curve of his neck. I don’t respond. I’ve listened to my own thoughts and heard my voice too much over the past who knows how long. All I want now is silence and his stupid jokes.

“Someone has to find that damn cat of ours,” he continues. “I also need to pick up your princess.”

I freeze; an uneasy tension crawling up my back just as my heart begins to race. An overwhelming sense of worry and restlessness makes my skin crawl. “No, no. W-We can go get her. Together.”

His chest rises with his laugh. “Don’t worry about it, I can?—”

“No…” I cut him off. “Don’t leave, I-I can…”

With a firm grip on my chin, he lifts my head to meet his gaze. “Shh, little demon, you are trembling. What’s wrong?”

That’s right… this isn’t real.

He recalls nothing of my birthday, and the events that happened after. All of this time spent here with him, it has been talking about everything we have already done. When I try to share with him what has happened to me, he just smiles and moves on from the discussion.

I’m unsure if I’m grateful for it or pained.

I want to tell him everything, especially about the baby, to avoid facing the trauma alone.

The only reason I’m ready to speak about it here is because I know this isn’t reality.

There will be no judgment, no facade of comfort.

I won’t see the aura of disgust or the conviction that’s always there—something I’ve always sensed, or felt.

It’s the same with love. I’ve run from the word and avoided expressing my issues for fear of seeing and feeling people’s truths.

All the deadly truths they hide, afraid they’ll tear me apart.

But it’s those very lies they spill that do exactly that.

Everyone does it, and that’s why I’ve bottled everything up, only telling Harper.

She could care less about hurting my feelings.

Kairhyse was that way. I saw the aura he radiated when I told him everything those five had done to me.

It wrapped around me so tightly, it left me petrified.

He does care, and I know that, given time, I could have finally unlocked my gates for him.

I could have allowed him into the heart I swore would remain locked, kept safe away from everyone.

But now, that possibility feels like a lost dream.

Like a life that was never fully mine to hold.

“Xera?” He pulls me from my thoughts. “You love to live in that beautiful head of yours.” The back of his hand draws gently down my cheek.

When our eyes meet, he doesn’t need to tell me, because I can feel that familiar tugging sensation on my chest.

“It will never be enough time…” I quickly pull him to me, crushing our lips together. “Keep me here. Don’t let them bring me back.”

He rolls on top of me, his tongue slipping between my lips and caressing against mine. “Please—” I breathe out. “Please, baby, I beg of you.”

“I’ll see you soon, my love.”

“No, no, no, no. Please, Kai. Just… Just a little longer.”

“Shh, it’s alright. I’ve got you.”

I’m greeted with a sharp, burning pain against my left cheek.

The world around me feels lighter, and the unpleasant taste in my throat—the bitter blend of seaweed and hot sauce—has faded away.

The sharp crack of a slap against my opposite cheek jolts my head to the side, but somehow, my body remains upright. The softness of the cushion beneath me contrasts sharply with the bite of something pressing against my back, and the uncomfortable strain of my bound arms makes me groan.

“She’s up.” Now that I hear the voice, it clicks who the rough hands belong to; Archer. It wasn’t my mother slapping me. Could’ve fooled me, though. Godsdamn, he hit me like he hated me .

Heels click against the hollow floor, and I blink rapidly, trying to bring the world into focus.

I know I’ve been out for at least a few days—my body aches as though I haven’t moved in some time.

No spasms, no violent shakes until my death, just peaceful sleep.

All of it spent with Kairhyse, and that’s the only place I want to go back to.

As Tali comes into view, I roll my head back, releasing a deep, annoyed breath.

“Morning.” My voice is rough, like sandpaper scraping against a chalkboard.

“Such a bad girl, Daughter.” She spreads my legs and comes to sit on her knees between them.

“Such a bitch, Mother.”

Releasing a cough, I try to shift, but my arms are completely bound behind my back.

A sharp, searing pain radiates from the tip of my spine, all the way down to my tail, which I can sense is out.

That means my Amoro has fully consumed me, and what Tali is looking at now is no longer the Mundane version of me, but that of my Demon.

“Leave us,” she barks, and three sets of feet exit the room.

I’ve not had the opportunity to really take in where they have me, but even just a quick scan shows it’s nothing much. What is a room on a boat, anyhow? White walls, wooden accents, blue dressings on the bed, and the brown leather sofa I’m sitting on. That’s about it.

When the door latches closed, she grabs my cheeks and directs me to look at her. “Why are you being so difficult?”

Rolling my eyes, I attempt a smile. “It’s pissing you off.”

“You’ll prolong your torture,” she murmurs, her long, black tongue slipping out of her mouth and crossing the space between us.

After drawing a slow, agonizing line across my cheek, she begins to stand.

She doesn’t go far, and straddles my hips.

“I allowed you to have your fun. Now you will give me what you were brought here to give.”

“Allowed me? Pfft .” I laugh.

“Oh, but I did.” She sits down onto my lap and leans forward. “I may not have known you were out until you came to Eldritch, but between then and when I collected you, I allowed for your little tantrum.”

My nostrils flare. “Tantrum? You sent those assholes to kidnap me. Torture me. Rape me. I wouldn’t classify my actions on taking justice for myself a tantrum .”

She sways her head from side to side, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly. “Semantics. You had a fit. If you had just moved on, I don’t know if I would have ever known you were dug up until I was to come get you in a hundred years. ”

Closing my eyes, I ask, “Why?”

“I’ve already gone over this with?—”

“Why did you have them do that to me? Why not just bury me?”

When I reopen to see her, she has a big smile on her face. “Well, your Amoro hadn’t shown itself, and while I’m not above just killing you, I had to give it the best chance I could to get what I needed.”

I shake my head. “Makes no sense. Why not just ask me to give you what you wanted? I was pliable, a child… I remember I would have done anything for you.”

Her eyebrows drop, and as if ready to say ‘ awe ’, she places a hand onto her chest. The look is disgusting, and I want to tear her skin from her face, cut her lips off, and feed them to Sinnix.

“You would have said no.” Her words are sharp, and before I can even muster a response, she continues, “Someone who lives a life of luxury, untouched by the shadow of a traumatic past or the sting of true discomfort, doesn’t embrace change. They resist it.”

“I didn’t need to be raped to dislike change, Tali.” My words drip with venom, each one sharper than the last, but all it earns me is a soft, dismissive laugh from her.

“Take the Mundane species, shall we? They perceive themselves as superior in every way, even though they are the weakest. Their population is still smaller than the Dylox, yet they sit high atop their peaks, believing themselves rulers. Or so they think. Even though this world is in desperate need of repair, Mundanes have been handed every comfort to maintain that illusion of superiority. Consider the decree, ‘Dylox are to coexist with the Mundanes as long as kept under control by State Rule.’ Sidence, like the rest of the state, is ruled by the Hause’s—each serving a purpose to keep Mundanes in their bubble of comfort.

“They resist change because they don’t see the problem. Threaten their ‘good time’, and that is when war begins.”

She pauses, giving the illusion that I might ask a question, though she knows I won’t. My silence is heavy, laced with disdain, but she doesn’t care. Tali thrives on these moments of control.

“You are the Mundane in this story,” she continues, her eyes piercing mine, unblinking. “If I had come to you and asked you to breed for me, you would have fought me. You would have resisted.”

There is no part of me that thinks otherwise. Even as a teen, I would have been smart enough to laugh at her and run. “Alright, then why the fucking dramatics? Why not just do it yourself since you were going to force it on me anyway?”

She sighs and scoots closer, her hip pressing against mine, the proximity both intrusive and deliberate. Every nerve in my body screams against the closeness, the unnerving tension of her lingering too long in a space that feels far too personal.

I can’t stop myself from glaring at her. Why is she so close? And why does it feel so… sensual?

I clench my jaw, the rigidness in my spine a stark contrast to her relaxed posture. My tail flicks against my bound arms and I wish I knew how to control the thing. I may be able to get out of these restraints with it.

“I was going to be your savior.” My eyes widen in shock. “I’d have come to dig you up, acted like your hero… and then, Xeraphine, you would have seen just how evil this world was.”

Holy shit…

“Those Shifters would have been long dead by then,” she continues, her tone smooth and calculating.

“And I’d have convinced you that the only way to truly avenge what they did to you was to help me usher in a new world.

A world only you could create.” Her lips curl into a chilling smile.

“I’d have made you believe you were the most powerful being alive, destined to become the new Proserpina—the mother of our kind. ”

The twisting knots in my stomach churn violently, nausea rising with each second. Deep down, I know her words hold truth. Tyson’s son had been my hero, the one to pull me from that grave. And I can only imagine after one hundred years what I would have done for Tali.

Oh my Gods…

“Now I have to force breed you, and you are making it so fucking difficult.”

I have no words. In this moment, my mind fractures, the fragile glass I’d painstakingly held together shattering into countless, irreparable pieces. There was no part of my fate that had been safe from her grasp. Destiny, that merciless bitch—I’d carve out her throat myself if I could.

“I’m going to bring them back in here, and they are going to fuck you until we have been successful again.” A tight grip on my hair jerks my head back as she sits higher up on her knees. “But I’m going to join this time.”

The full body vibration my being goes through makes me whimper. “No.”

“Archer is basically your cousin. There is no difference. Our kind has been fucking each other since the dawn of our existence. Belial fucked Proserpina, which was his daughter, to create us.” She runs her tongue along her upper teeth, the double fangs pressing outward.

“I’ve been needing to feast, and I just know feeding from you will be so satisfying. ”

My jaw clenches. “Sick bitch.” My mouth is dry, and utterly devoid of saliva, so I don’t even attempt to spit at her, even if it’s what I desperately want to do.

“You’ll learn that I have ways of torturing you. Don’t want me to be the one to fuck that cunt of yours, Daughter, do as you are told.” My shoulders jerk as her tongue draws across my lips, my head still taunt in her grasp. “Say you understand.”

“I cannot wait to make you suffer, bitch ,” I seethe through clenched teeth.

Her laughter is loud and unrestrained, echoing through the space as she throws her head back with its intensity. The sound sends a chill through me, mocking and cruel.

Her grip on my hair tightens further, and I feel the sharp sting as strands strain against my scalp, threatening to tear free.

A cold, pointed sensation traces across my inner thigh, causing me to attempt to squirm from it, which has me pulling hard on the restraints digging into my arms. The bar holds firm, not giving in any way.

It reminds me that I am helpless here, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

“Oh, my fiery, fierce daughter.” She lets out a loud whistle, before leaning into me. “We’ll see how smart that mouth is when all you’ll be thinking about is how your mother fucked you?—”

I scream so loud my ears pop. It gets caught in my throat nearly immediately and is replaced with a sharp gasp as a piercing pain rushes through me. The point of impact sears at my neck, radiating down my spine like fire crawling under my skin.

She bit me… right where Kairhyse was meant to—right where he was supposed to claim me. The thought alone sends a wave of nausea crashing over me, twisting with anger and ache.

“No…”

I let my head fall back; my gaze fixated on the ceiling as black bleeds into the edges of my vision.

“Cinnamon…”

The sound of footsteps echo around me, but I force myself beyond this room—away from the pain, away from her grip. I separate my mind from my body, retreating into a distant memory.

I’m standing on Kai’s balcony again, the city sprawling beneath me, and it’s his feet I hear instead of those assholes.

I’d pushed him away before, but not now, not in this place. In my mind, I welcome him as he steps behind me, his arms holding me close.

“Is my little demon ready for bed?”

I close my eyes, leaning into his embrace as if I’m someone else .

As if I’m not the girl that was kidnapped at eighteen.

As if I’m not broken and trapped in a twisted nightmare.

Instead, I’m just his—just his girl.

In this moment, I can pretend this world isn’t so evil.

Yes. Tears cascade down my temples as I smile. I’m tired…