Page 31

CHAPTER 31

BOWEN

“A uria,” I warned through gritted teeth, using all my restraint not to lift her off that piece of shit’s lap and cut his leg clean off where she was perched atop it.

“She’s only having fun,” Perkins dismissed, waving a swollen hand in the air.

Crass, the sick fuck that he was, grinned. “Maybe we’ll get a show after all.”

My teeth ground together to the point they might break. “Careful, Crass.” I wouldn’t hesitate to gut him where he sat.

“Raise,” Nemin continued, ignoring my warning as he tossed three vials of magic in the center of the table. The group of them got away with too much as it was, and now he was displaying her on his lap like some sort of spectacle, like he fucking owned her.

No one fucking owned her.

Crass set his cards face-up, followed by Lander and Auria doing the same.

Auria’s confident smile among the tension in the room did nothing to ease the need to get her the fuck out of here. “By the looks of it, I think I’ve won, boys.”

Nemin gave the slightest shake of his head, and my fists clenched. “Sorry, pretty one.” He laid his cards on the table. “Looks like I’ve got a full house, which beats out your flush.” His lips tilted into a heinous grin as his hand tugged roughly at the fabric of Auria’s dress. “Time to strip.”

I shoved off the wall, my restraint hanging on by a fucking thread. “No one’s fucking stripping.”

Perkins, the cocky fuck that he was, took his cigar out from his thin lips. “It’s her bet. She loses, she pays up. Those are the rules.”

I had rules of my own, and I’d enforce them all the same.

“It’s not fucking happening,” I gritted out.

Crass stood, his chair scraping against the floorboards as he faced me. “You her keeper?”

“Auria is not taking a single piece of clothing off.” The promise of death laced itself in my words.

She was a shiny prize in a room full of criminals—did she really think things wouldn’t go south?

“It’s the rules of the game,” Nemin drawled, repeating what Perkins had already said. It only proved how little brain cells that head of his contained.

“What’s her fiancé got to say about it?” Perkins asked, nodding in Lander’s direction.

Lander was the perfect picture of a bundle of nerves. He hadn’t won, and I was well aware he already owed a debt. He ignored Perkins, but Nemin wasn’t going to let it slide as he sat forward in his chair, his chest pressing up against Auria’s shoulder. She tried to lean away, but Nemin’s grip on her dress only tightened. Pure rage coursed through the haze in the air, emanating off me like a perfume.

“Real quiet now, huh, Bular?” Nemin said.

Auria, the confident woman that she was, said, “Leave him alone.” The stern hold she tried to keep on her voice would have made me proud if it wasn’t for the risk she was taking speaking out against them. “This is my loss, not his.”

Crass stepped a foot in Auria’s direction, towering over her in Nemin’s lap. “Then pay up.”

My teeth ground together, and I swore one cracked. I should have stepped in by now, but Auria tried to hold her own, and I wanted to see her succeed. I wouldn’t let them put a damn hand on her, though.

She shoved Nemin’s hand off her waist and he reluctantly let go, allowing her to stand. She was a few inches shorter than Crass, but still, she leveled his gaze. “Fine.”

Her eyes found mine, the green constellations warring with regret, shame, and uncertainty. She couldn’t get a read on me, on what I would do if she took that damn dress off. Her hand came up, a finger sliding under the strap, all while she didn’t dare look away from me. She wouldn’t do it. She wanted me to stop her, but I was fucking lost in her gaze.

Impatient, Nemin grabbed her dress from behind and yanked, the fabric tearing at her breast. A gasp slipped from her as she attempted to wrench herself from his grasp. I moved without thought, instantly calling to my magic and filling their lungs with the thick smoke that hung in the air. I robbed them of all oxygen, and as the inability to breathe hit Nemin right as he reached for Auria again, his eyes went bloodshot. His mouth opened like a fish out of water as he struggled for air, and a choke escaped him as he staggered forward. On the other side of Auria, Crass did the same.

Perkins’s eyes were wide where he sat while Lander held on to the edge of the table like it might keep him alive.

“You boys never listen,” I tsked, disappointment and barely contained rage dripping in my tone. The hold on my control was slipping, all because of her . “It’s a shame, really. But there’s only so many chances I give out.” And with Auria, they had zero.

Crass gripped the edge of a chair and it fell back, toppling with him to the ground.

Perkins shot up from his seat while Lander finally moved, albeit slowly, going to Auria’s side. She clutched her dress to hold it up where it’d torn right above her breast. The top of her corset was exposed, and it only lit the match inside me that much brighter.

“What’s happening to them?” Auria asked, panic in her voice as her eyes darted around the room.

“Let them go,” Perkins demanded, his chin jiggling as he spoke.

I watched as Crass writhed on the ground, grabbing for his throat as the smoke burned his lungs. “Give the prince his bets back.” The last thing Auria needed was her fiancé having a target on his back due to his gambling addiction. Deadwood always made certain that debts were paid, and the citizens didn’t care if they had to get their hands dirty to get them.

Nemin’s hand wrapped around Auria’s wrist from behind, and she yanked away as he gasped for air with wide eyes. The dark, oily wisps snaked in through his nostrils and ears, slithering into his eye sockets as my veins pulsed heavily, my power coursing through me like a welcome embrace.

“Bowen!” Perkins boomed, his face beat red.

“I don’t have many rules, Perkins, and yet, you’ve broken almost all of them,” I said. “Not once, not twice, but multiple times now. How can I trust you’ll change? That your pathetic hounds will quit engaging in games like these?”

Nemin used the table to hold himself up, leaning his weight into the dark oak.

Lander reached for Auria’s hand, and she pulled it back like she’d been burned. The smoke called to me, wanting to infect him, too, but I held it back. I shook my head against the feral rage that threatened to overcome my senses. He was her fiancé. He wouldn’t harm her.

“Auria, we need to get out of here,” Lander begged. Between losing the game and the chaos ensuing, he was frantic.

“No.” Her eyes darted between Crass and Nemin where they struggled for air, suffocating under my wrath. “You go. I’ll find you.”

He shook his head. “I’m not leaving without you.”

Tendrils of smoke whirled around Lander, itching to bite, as Auria said, confidence lacing her words, “He won’t hurt me.”

My head tilted slightly. She trusted me. Interesting.

“You’re so certain?” Lander asked warily.

She nodded, her dress slipping from her grip unknowingly.

Without hesitation, Lander gathered his coin and magic vials off the table, then darted out of the room, careful not to brush me as he slipped past.

“She offered her clothes. We didn’t force her to do anything,” Perkins defended, and I almost laughed.

Auria carefully stepped around Crass’s body on the ground, his face a deep shade of purple now. I regarded Perkins with sheer boredom, the smoke of his forgotten cigar dancing in a frenzied manner all around him.

“She didn’t seem very willing to strip, did she?” I asked.

Perkins shook his head, the lantern light glinting off his bald spot. “We won’t make her. We won’t, right, boys?” He looked to the two men in desperation, but they were in no position to respond.

I didn’t give a shit. “Not the first time, Perkins.”

“Why punish for it now?” he asked, the tremor in his voice practically calling to the smoke as it begged to take him, too.

“Don’t kill them,” Auria pleaded, finally speaking up.

My eyes shot to hers as I flexed my fists. She was closer now, but clearly wary to be by my side. Her defense of these pathetic men intrigued me as much as it fueled my rage. She didn’t know what they would’ve made her do had I not shown up.

Suddenly, fear shone bright in her expression, and I fucking hated it. “Please,” she whispered.

“I can’t do that.” Yet no apology rang in my tone.

“You can.”

She overestimated my sense of control, as I was finding out all too well I lost it in her presence.

On the floor, Crass had stopped moving, his skin turning a light shade of gray. By the looks of it, Nemin was shortly behind.

Like a switch, those green eyes of hers turned something in me, sending cracks through the stone of my mind. If she wanted them alive, I’d spare them. If she wanted them to rot, I’d wilt their corpses where they laid. She’d made her choice, and in that, I’d honor her.

Tendrils of dark smoke seeped from their bodies, dissipating in the air as Crass gulped down oxygen, his skin turning a deep red. Nemin choked on a cough, clouds of gray rushing from his parted lips.

I paid them no mind. It wouldn’t have deflated me in the slightest if they’d died in that moment, but Auria had wanted otherwise.

Stealing one last look at her, I said, “Come with me.”

She hesitated, debating if it was wise to accompany me. I wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t. She knew I was dangerous. But as I opened the door, to my relief, she followed.

* * *

The late afternoon sun beat into my skin, but it was a welcome reprieve from the musty room I’d found Auria in. She stuck out like a sore thumb in Deadwood, catching the eye of everyone, whether man or woman. Unfortunately, that included Perkins and the men he had hooked under his finger. He was big into gambling, recruiting people to win big and give him a portion. Claimed he was some sort of manager. Truthfully, I didn’t give a shit what he did as long as he abided by the rules set in place. I wasn’t a strict leader by any means, but a town full of outlaws couldn’t get away with everything. They involved a woman without her consent? I’d drop them dead where they stood. Auria was the only reason the three of them still breathed.

Deadwood was a home to some, and a hiding spot to others. For Auria’s group, it was a temporary stop. Yet somehow, she’d managed to immerse herself in places she shouldn’t be in a matter of a few days, between the caves and now the gambling den. If I had to take a guess on the latter, Lander had had something to do with it. His bad habits were going to get her killed, and I wondered if that was his goal.

“Where are we going?” Auria asked, struggling to catch up as she held her dress to her chest.

I’d wanted to kill Nemin for touching her. For eliciting that scared look on her face. To tear him apart as the smoke infected his lungs, stealing all the oxygen from his body, suffocating him slowly, agonizingly, as it streamed through his veins to blacken his heart. But Auria had spoken up. She hadn’t been afraid of me, though it was clear she knew I was the one causing their pain. No, she’d defended them after the pig had torn her dress. After they’d wanted her naked in a room full of men. After Nemin had perched her on his knee like a fucking trophy.

Betting or not, a woman always had a way out, and they hadn’t given her one.

I didn’t judge anyone based on their hobbies, but that look in Auria’s eyes had said it all. She hadn’t wanted to get that deep into the game. She had wanted the thrill, to do something she hadn’t been allowed to do her entire life, but she didn’t need to strip in front of sick men in order to find that.

“Bowen,” she spoke up, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I slowed my pace, shoving away the rage that fueled every step. She was the only thing stopping me from going back in there and ripping their heads from their bodies and taking pleasure in watching the blood seep from their arteries. “I want to show you something.”

She hopped on one foot, attempting to slip on one of her boots. I internally cursed as I stopped to let her put them on. My jaw ached as I surveyed the space around us, making sure no one was copping a look at her exposed corset. To the bystanders’ credit, no one dared glance this way. They valued their ability to keep their eyes in their sockets.

She straightened, brushing hair from her face before her hand went back to her dress to hold it in place. The move only put her red-tinged cheeks on display. “Show me what?”

“You’ll see.”

She huffed. “What a broad answer.”

“You don’t want to come, Princess, just say so. I’ll walk you home right now.”

“It’s not that. I just—” She shook her head, like she was finally processing what had happened in the gambling den. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Do what?” I asked, tilting my head. I wanted her to say the words.

Her lips pursed together. “You know.”

“I don’t think so.” I was messing with her, but fuck, it was the only thing getting my mind off the impulse to turn around and obliterate them.

“You didn’t have to hurt them for me. I put myself in that situation,” she blurted, like even saying the words left a bad taste in her mouth.

I stepped toward her, causing her to grip the top of her dress tighter. “You would have rather stripped naked for them?”

Her throat worked on a swallow as her eyes fell to the ground. “No. But you could have been nicer.”

I couldn’t help it. I chuckled, the act sounding a little insane. “You think they were showing you that same respect? Being nice?”

Her gaze hardened as she held back her answer. But she didn’t have to. I saw her response clear in her gaze. The look alone fueled my desire to rip their eyes from their heads.

Fuck, I wanted to hurt them a hundred times over again. This feral response to seeing her like that… It was uncontrollable.

I took another step so there was barely any space between us, my silhouette casting a shadow over her. She looked up at the same time I grabbed the thin fabric of her gown.

“Tell me, was he nice when he tore your clothing? Exposed you in a room full of men that would have done anything to see you completely bare, had I not shown up?”

“Bowen,” she whispered, the word barely audible with her silent plea to make me stop.

I didn’t realize my knuckles had turned pure white from how hard I gripped her dress. I needed to get some of this out.

I let the fabric go and turned, continuing in the direction of the forest.

Her footsteps quickly followed. “Where are you taking me?” she asked again. The slight waver in her voice made me stop in my tracks, my fists clenched. I didn’t want her scared.

“To the woods,” I answered.

“What’s in the woods?”

I looked over my shoulder to find her staring at my back, the town behind her. Her beauty was a shining light in this drab place. “An explanation.”

She hesitated, not moving any closer, and I fucking hated the sight of her standing there looking so defeated.

“I will not hurt you, Auria. That much I can assure you.”

“Why not?”

My brows furrowed.

“You may have protected me, but how do I know you don’t want the pleasure of killing me yourself? Everyone else in this world seems to want to, so what makes you any different?”

Turning on my heel, I closed the distance between us until the hand holding her dress brushed my chest. “If I wanted to hurt you, you’d have bled the moment I saw you in your pretty little castle. If I wanted you dead, you’d be six feet under. Does that answer your question?”

She gave the barest tilt of her chin before stepping around me to continue in the direction we were headed. I easily caught up to her, walking alongside her. Our boots crunched in the dry leaves as we entered the tree line.

“You have magic,” Auria said, stepping over a rock.

“Yes.”

“Lander lied, then,” she surmised. “He said we don’t have magic.”

I let out a sigh. She knew less than I thought, which only made me want to direct my indignation toward her father. “If what your father has told you is true, then why does he use you for yours? Why not anyone else in Amosite?”

Her steps faltered. “No one else can do what I can. At least, that’s what he’s told me. When did you figure it out?”

“I put the pieces together after our first dinner when he practically controlled you like one of his aimless guards.” The memory of that night alone grated every inch of my being, sending my power thrashing through my body like a caged animal.

“Like his very own puppet,” she murmured.

My gaze shot to hers. “You are not a puppet.”

She shook her head, adjusting her grip on her dress. “Sometimes, I don’t know.”

“No, Princess. You’re not. You’re much, much more than what you may believe.”

She was silent a moment, the only sound the leaves crunching under our feet. The last time we had been in the woods together, aside from heading back from the caves, I’d killed three men who had threatened to harm her, and I’d been so close to doing it again today. I should have.

Above the trees, massive wings cast a shadow over the land before a rush of air hit us, signaling Vulcan’s looming presence. He was listening.

“If you’re insinuating humans don’t have magic themselves, then how do you explain what you can do?” she asked.

I stuck a hand in the pocket of my pants, palming a vial of fire magic. Taking it out, I twirled it in my fingers, bringing Auria’s attention to it.

“Vials don’t count,” she said.

I rounded a tree that looked to be decaying, stopping at its base. Auria stopped a few feet behind me, and when I called to the magic, lighting a branch on fire, Auria gasped, staggering back.

“What are you doing?” she shrieked.

“Showing you what you want to know.” Once a proper fire was started, using the bark as fuel as it climbed over the tree, I pocketed the amber vial, sending a silent appreciation for its use.

The flames licked at the dead leaves, eating its way up the branch toward the trunk as it spread. Once the entire tree was enveloped in fire, I let my magic unleash itself as it’d been longing to do since I’d forced it out of the men’s bodies in the den. The familiar feeling of crackling energy built in my veins as they visibly darkened, the tips of my fingers tingling.

“Bowen,” Auria said hesitantly.

The smoke sprouting from the tips of the flames swirled as it heeded to me, sensing my power and bowing to my command. In a flash, the smoke turned on its creator and enveloped the fire, snuffing it out as it cut off all its oxygen. The flames suffocated under the barrage of smoke, and all that was left was the swirling fog and charred tree.

The smoke moved wildly as it waited for my direction, and I let it have control as I faced Auria. Her eyes were wide as she took in the state of the tree, then her gaze moved to me. She stepped back, her boot snapping a stick and causing her to flinch. I hadn’t held back in my display, and the charm we all wore so easily had dropped, revealing the points of my ears.

Her brows pulled together. “You can control fire?”

I shook my head. “Try again.”

A tendril of smoke floated over to her, stroking the side of her cheek. She looked down to find it skirting across her skin, down her neck, over her shoulder, and coasting along her arm.

So soft , my smoke purred, a whisper in my mind meant to antagonize me. It only spoke up when it pleased, more grating on my nerves than Vulcan typically was. All the voices in my head had an opinion, but we rarely ever agreed on anything, making for a chaotic mess if I ever dropped the reins.

“Smoke,” she breathed. “A-are you fae?”

Satisfaction curled inside me, along with the need to make her understand what this meant, in order for her not to fear me. Though, by the look of it, intrigue lit her eyes. She wasn’t scared. She was enticed.

The smoke ran across her fingers as another thread ghosted over her collarbone. I watched as it moved on its own accord, exploring her.

If only you could touch her like I can , it taunted. Comfort her like me .

My jaw ground together as the tendril slowed, going to her hand that held her dress. I watched with rapt attention as it twirled itself around her fingers, almost like it wanted to help what she was ashamed of. I let it, holding back the jealousy that arose with its ability to go to her right now.

I cleared my throat, cutting my magic off. It instantly evaporated into the air, disappearing completely. “I am.”

“Are you all fae?” she asked, and the way she took a small step back didn’t sit right with me. I had been reading her all wrong. Perhaps the fear was entwined deep with her curiosity.

Looking up through the branches, the sky was turning an orange hue, the rings setting somewhere on the horizon, along with the sun. “That’s a question for another time, I’m afraid.”

“Why not now?” Disappointment and frustration laced her tone. A lifetime of questions gone unanswered or responded to with empty lies, and here I was, dismissing her like all the rest. But unless she wanted to be a hungry wolf’s dinner, we needed to head back.

“There are dangerous creatures out here,” I answered. “Ones that hunt at night.” But that didn’t mean their threat ceased in the day. They just typically prowled deeper into the forest when the sun was up, taking to the darker parts of the woods.

“Aside from you?” she asked.

I should’ve expected that retort.

I stepped toward her, mere feet separating us now. “Contrary to what you may think, I’m not the monster.”

She pulled her dress higher. “You could’ve fooled me.”

“I’ve tricked a lot of people, Auria, but you are not one on that list.”

“What makes me so different, then? Or are you lying?”

I shook my head, diminishing another foot between us. “I wouldn’t lie to you.”

“Deceive me, then,” she said.

Another step, and my eyes caught on the rise of her chest, my senses focusing in on the pounding of her heart. In an instant, my charm rounded out the points of my ears for her benefit. “It’s time to go.”

She held her ground as the shadow of Vulcan’s wings flashed over us again. He wasn’t going to let us fall prey to a bunch of wolves.

I closed the distance, only inches separating us now. “If danger gets you going, Princess, all you have to do is say it, and I’ll make some.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “That’s not why I’m standing here.”

I leaned into her space, causing her to step back once more. Her back hit the tree behind her, and she dropped her dress, exposing her corset. It took all I had in me not to look at the material. Without thinking, my hand came up to wrap around her throat, pinning her to the tree. I didn’t apply any pressure, though. Her breath hitched, and my pants were suddenly all too tight.

“If I had to guess, I’d think you like this, Princess,” I murmured.

Her nostrils flared as she tilted her chin higher, almost leaning into my grip.

My devious little thing.

My opposite hand came up to her cheek, my finger trailing over her blushing cheekbone, down to her bee-stung lips. “Do you like my hand around your fragile little throat?”

Her pulse jumped against my palm encircling her throat, blood pumping through me just as fast. To hell with me being dangerous. She was a temptation too sweet for the predator inside me to stay away.

My finger pulled on her lower lip, the flesh bouncing back as I moved my hand to the tree behind her so I could lean in further. Tilting my head, I inhaled her scent, my nose brushing her neck right above my thumb. Daring to get even closer, I let my lips trail over her pulse, reveling in the speed in which her heart beat for me.

“No,” she managed to get out, but I could practically taste the lie as it slid off her tongue so effortlessly. A lifetime of them, and she was a pro.

I pulled back just enough to look her in the eye. “Keep telling yourself that. Maybe one of us will believe it one day.” I dropped my hold on her, gathering all logical thought in order to take a step back from her. Anyone else, and I wouldn’t have cared, but Auria was the daughter of my enemy. I couldn’t go there with her. “Go or stay. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

I left her standing there, her back still pressed against the tree, and headed back toward town. All the while, I could practically hear Vulcan chuckling in the sky.

She’d be my fucking downfall if I let her get close.

I’d lose everything I’d worked so long to build.

But suddenly, deep in the crevices of my mind, it seemed worth the risk.