Page 114 of Broken Souls

His breaths are hard and fast as he continues, “You will have all the toys at your disposal. And amongst them, there will be a knife.”

I suck in a breath as I lift my gaze to him. A mistake given how fast his eyes lock me in. “A knife?” I whisper, the words falling out before I can stop them.

“I love you, Micha, but if you think you can never forgive me, if you can never love me again like you said, then use the knife on me. Tie me down with the witch’s snare, and when my vampirism activates, then go ahead and cut out my heart because it’ll already be fucking destroyed. These last few days have been hel, but I have held on to the hope that I can fix this. That I can show you how sorry I am for hurting you, so if I can’t – if there is nothing I can ever do in all the years I will be married to you, then go ahead and stab me. But at least let me die knowing you have my last name.”

My breath catches as I stare at him, trapped in the heat of his gaze. His eyes dip to my lips and linger. My chest squeezes tight. He leans his head down ever so slightly, but if he tries to kiss me, I’m going to knee him in the fucking dick.

Because fuck him and his smooth words.

Fuck my body for being addicted to his touch after four months of constantly having it.

And fuck the blood bond the most. Fuck the mixing of our souls where his desires now feed into mine. Where his arousal and need fill me up and make it hard for me to resist him. I’m like a cat in heat where he controls the fucking dial. But though his emotions might be influencing mine, I am a fucking Black. I am stronger than mydesires.

So I lift my chin, giving him that tiny bit of hope that I will give in to him.

Then I say, “Fuck you.”

His head jerks back. Pain flares in his eyes. He stares at me for a moment longer, and then he’s gone.

Fucking.

Asshole.

Thirty-Nine

HER

I yank open the door to the gym, completely pissed. I’m mad at Varius for having tortured me, then tricked me into accepting his proposal before I’m ready. I’m mad at myself forwantingto get married to him tomorrow. I’m mad and I’m happy and I’m mad that I’m happy and I’m just –Ugh!I’m all over the fucking place.

A sudden craving for mint ice cream hits me, and I turn towards the kitchen. I haven’t eaten much in the past week due to being too upset, but now all that hunger hits me with force. My stomach growling, I pass through the archway connecting the kitchen to the living room, then freeze.

Khalid’s girl is standing at the fridge, with her back to me as she looks inside.

We are alone.

My blood chills, my anger becoming cold.

Khalid is thousands of miles away, and he doesn’t have any alexandrite with him. He won’t be able to kill me before I can kill her. I might not have any magic anymore, but I am a trained assassin, and she is nothing more than a human.

I stalk up to her. My footsteps are utterly quiet. I toy with the idea of pulling out a knife as I get closer. It’ll only take one precise thrust to end her life. But I need to be smart about this. I need to make it look like an accident.

Humans trip over all the time...If her head connects just so with the counter, Khalid will suspect another traitor in the house, but he won’t know it’s me. I can grab her by her hair, yank her head back, and then slam her temple into the counter.

My fingers itch with the need to release my anger and jealousy out on her, but she turns before I make it halfway through the room.Dammit.

She jumps when she sees me, dropping the eggs she took out of the fridge. A sharp gasp leaves her, and I curse inside my head. Although I can still easily kill her with her facing me, if she struggles or screams at all, it’ll be a lot harder for me to make it look like an accident.

“Crap. Sorry. Let me clean this.” She rushes over to the sink to grab a sponge, then kneels down to clean up the mess. “But then do you want an omelette?” she asks with a small smile in my direction. “Sau isn’t cooking today as she is planning everything for the wedding, so I was going to make everyone some lunch –”

“Fuck you, you fucking whore,” I growl.

She pales, her entire body freezing.

I step towards her, fire burning inside my fingers.“Do you seriously think you get to talk to me after you fucked my husband?”

She flinches and ducks her head. “I’m sorry, but I could not leave Khalid to face Talon on his own.”

“He would’ve been fine. He’s the fucking reaper.”