Page 72 of Monsters Wear Crowns (Crowned Monsters Duet #1)

ADELA

My eyes fluttered open, dry and aching, the world around me swimming in a hazy blur. My head throbbed–deep, pulsing pain behind my eyes like something trying to claw its way out. I coughed, the sound cracked and hollow in my throat, and looked down.

Still restrained.

The leather cuffs bit into my wrists, too familiar now. I didn’t bother fighting them anymore. They knew exactly who I was. Knew how dangerous I could be, so they kept me drugged, barely conscious, a shadow of the woman I’d been.

My body felt like it didn’t belong to me anymore. It was hollowed out by exhaustion, bruised by hands I couldn’t always see, wrecked by whatever chemicals they fed me to keep me quiet, pliant, obedient. And still, I hadn’t given in.

I hadn’t left this gilded prison in… days?

Weeks? I didn’t even know. The bedroom was lavish in that cruel, mocking way with its gold-framed mirrors, silk sheets, and a chandelier.

But it was a cage. Nothing more than a beautifully wrapped hell.

The windows were sealed, and the walls were too pristine, like a hotel trying to forget it was also a prison.

But I hadn’t forgotten.

Especially not with the cruel weight of my wedding ring still circling my finger. They left it there on purpose– he left it there. Said it was a reminder. That I’d never see Rafe again. That everything I once had, once was, now belonged to someone else.

It should’ve broken me.

Instead, it kept me alive.

Because every time I felt the cool metal against my skin, I remembered the heat in Rafe’s eyes when he slid it onto my finger. I remembered his voice when he promised I’d never be alone again.

And I remembered the tattoo. A small mark was inked on my left wrist–an obsidian crown no bigger than a coin.

We’d gotten them together. Rafe’s sat along the inside of his right wrist, the hand that held mine.

For power. For love. For us, he had said, brushing his lips against my skin as the needle buzzed.

I clung to it now like a lifeline. Because I knew he was coming. Rafe would burn the fucking world down to find me. He would hunt through every city, slaughter every man, and tear through every door until he had me back in his arms.

And when he did… God help the one who took me. Because they didn’t just steal a woman.

They declared war on a fucking king.