Page 217 of Claimed By Fangs and Darkness

68

EVIE

“No,” I mumbled from down the end of a long tunnel, carried in Aster’s arms.

We were so close to the back gate—the freedom that continued to taunt me and slip from my grasp. But it wasn’t freedom that awaited me on the back of that fiery, winged creature. It was another cage.

I’d been flooded with venom, my anger and power diluted by an artificial surge of pleasure.

“You are no better than him.”

Aster halted. He set me down. I watched his hand lift, and I smiled. Point proven.

“You were going to leave without me?” Juliette stepped out from behind a tree, wrists shackled, her familiar whine much more bearable under the haze of venom.

I stumbled, losing my balance as the world tilted. My ass hit the earth.

“Kitten, thank the gods,” Aster said. He lowered his hand, but his anger soon fell back into place as her words landed. “Youleftme,”he snapped. He glared at her. “Tell me you didn’t defile yourself with the vermin. Tell me you aren’t ruined.”

“Excellent blame-shifting maneuver,” I slurred.

Juliette and Aster both glared at me now.

“You were,” she said, choking on a sob. “You were going to leave me behind and marry Evie. You were going to replace me like I never meant anything to you at all.”

Her tears were a flood I recognized. In the haze of blood loss, venom, and depletion, I saw my inner child reflected in Juliette.

She was looking for the love of a mother—perfect, unconditional love—and Aster’s grooming and abuse would never come close.

“You said we were written in the stars,” Juliette said, sinking to her knees. “You said we were forever.” She reached for his feet, but Aster stepped back. She gasped. “I tried everything. I gave you all of me. Why was I never enough for you? What is missing inside me?”

Aster went cold, not a touch of sympathy in his eyes as his gaze flickered between the two of us. He merely appeared impatient.

I tried to conjure shadow, but it was more like sputters of dark goo that left my palms.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Aster roared at me. “Not a drop. Or you will regret it.”

His own palms glowed with defensive magick, a subtle ripple of fluid energy.

“It’s not you.” I smiled sadly at Juliette. “And it’s not me.” I pointed at Aster with a trembling finger. “He was born with a hole inside him that can never be satisfied.”

Aster’s face twisted with rage. Juliette struggled for air through her hysterical sobs.

Aster reached for a dagger.

I shook my head with a laugh. “Hurting me won’t fill the void either, but you’re welcome to try.” I lifted my chin. “Your existence will only have meaning when you die.”

Aster took a step toward me, his handsomeness destroyed by cruelty spilling through his every crack. I refused to see him as a white knight—and now he knew I never would. There was nothing more damaging to a narcissist than seeing them for who they truly were, and not for who they wanted you to see.

Behind Aster, a streak of shadow shot through the trees.

A sound left my lips that was unavoidable.

Kylo.

He was a dark god, a being that didn’t belong in this realm. His shadows scorched the earth. His black hair was gently tousled, his sharp jaw trembling. He locked his gaze on Aster’s weapon.

He came for me.