Page 99 of Paramour of Sin

I couldn’t.

Wake up,I told myself.Wake up now.Because this had to be a nightmare. A result of Lord Zebulon telling me what would happen if I betrayed him, perhaps? I couldn’t say.But I’m not her. I’m not Amarella.

My mouth gaped open and closed as I tried desperately to catch a breath. Lord Zebulon must have realized I couldn’t answer him, because he relented just enough for me to finally suck in a thankful lungful of air.

“It’s me!” I squeaked out. “I’m Gwen!”

Lord Zebulon laughed, a cold, cruel sound that he’d never directed at me before. “Like hell you are. I can sense demonic auras, Amarella. Iknowit’s you. I can fucking feel you all over the damn room. Now where the hell is Guinevere?”

His fingers bruised my skin. Tears ran freely down my cheeks now, partly from the pain and not being able to breathe, and partly from fear.

“My lord,” I gasped, flinching as he realigned his grip. “It’s me. Guinevere. I swea—”

He cut off my air supply again, bruised my tendons, and strangled me like I meant nothing to him.

Zane spoke up, his voice hard. “I know where the silver weapons are. We could torture the information out of her.”

Lord Zebulon considered that for a moment, the first sign of life returning to his features. Zane shifted, his feet padding across the floor as he left.

Lord Zebulon must have nodded. Or maybe Zane had just read it off his body language.

Because he wants to torture me.

No, not me.Amarella.

He’d been so lost to a fit of rage upon awaking that he hadn’t taken a moment to think through our situation.Amarella is a trickster,I wanted to tell him.How could she be here? How could I be her?I wanted to shout at him, making him see reason.

But as his cold eyes returned to me, I knew he was nowhere near that point in his thought process to see beyond his fury.

Amarella had betrayed him.

Then she’d faked her death.

And now… now he thought Iwasher.

He wasn’t going to take a minute to fully evaluate the situation. He was lost to his fury.

This is real,I realized with a pang.Oh, Demons, this is really happening.

“She’s not worthy of torture,” he decided as Zane returned.

“And you’re sure it’s Amarella,” Zane asked softly.

Zebulon growled, the sound piercing my heart. “Are you fucking questioning me?” Rage unlike any I’d ever felt poured off him, heightened by Zane’s reaction.

“Of course not, my lord,” Zane replied. And I heard the confidence in his voice, the words another stab to my chest.

They really can’t sense me.My world turned upside down in an instant.Lord Zebulon’s going to… he’s going to kill me.

I had no recourse except to try to get him to listen to me.

Which meant dislodging his hands from my throat and putting some distance between us. I had to make him think this through, to make him see reason beyond the hatred.

Think, Guinevere. Think!

I sat up abruptly, which pressed my neck even tighter into his palms. But it also surprised him, and I took advantage of the momentary lapse. Using my body weight, I rolled right off the bed, dragging Lord Zebulon with me.

I landed on top of him, and his hands fell away from my neck as all the air whooshed out of his lungs upon hitting the floor. I lurched away from him before he could grab me again and held up a hand.