Page 80 of Seduced By Darkness

Vi’s shoulders straighten and she clearly forces herself to meet my stare, but nothing has changed. She looks as if she’s steeling herself.

She looks at me as if I’m a monster.

What in the Underworld has Adaia done to her?

“Yes,” she whispers, and swallows hard. “I… I want peace.”

“Vi?” I don’t understand. There’s no spell that could have hardened her heart against me. Adaia swore she wouldn’t turn her heart to ice. She swore.

Drawing her hood over her dark hair Iskvien glides toward me like a queen walking toward her doom. It’s what I’ve been dreaming of all these months, and yet the tension in my gut knots tight.

This isn’t a dream.

This isn’t my wife, the woman I fell in love with.

This is… some sort of nightmare, conjured out of Adaia’s cruelty and malice.

“Vi, you’re finally here.” I capture her cold hands. “You’re—"

Vi wrenches her fingers from mine. “Get your hands off me, you monster. I may be forced into this little bargain between you and my mother, but that doesn’t mean I won’t fight you at every moment.”

Monster.

This cannot be happening. The world reels around me.

“What did you do to her?” I demand of Adaia.

“A little wedding gift, Your Highness.” Adaia smirks. “I was remiss in providing one last time.”

“You swore you would not—”

“Hurt her, kill her, turn her heart to ice, or deny her the ability to tell you she loves you,” Adaia says with a sneer. “And I haven’t. Perhaps she has finally opened her eyes to the truth?”

“Mother.” Vi looks between us. She shakes her head as if she can hear something we can’t. “What is going on?”

“You are to be given as tribute to the Prince of Evernight for three months in order to uphold a treaty,” Adaia says. “As always, Asturia honors its word.”

You fucking bitch.

“Vi.” I reach for her again. “Vi, come here. What has she done to you? What’s wrong? Tell me and I’ll fix it.”

“Don’t touch me!”

“Vi, you’re my wife. We were married at last year’s Queensmoot. You’re my wife. I love you.”

“Your wife?” Her eyes go wide. But it’s the sudden surge of lightning I see in her dark irises that makes my breath catch. Magic breaking. I swear I’ve seen something like that before…. In Unseelie.

“Vi?”

She moans and staggers to the side, pressing her fingers to her temple. “Stop it. I don’t want to do this. Mother.” She digs her nails into her hair. “Mother, make it stop. It’s hurting. It’s hurting. Please don’t make me do this.”

“What’s hurting?” I try to touch her again, but she lashes out, staggering back.

And then her eyes roll back in her head—

I catch her as she falls, cradling her against my chest. Blood drips from her nose and she groans, her eyes fluttering as they roll up in her head.

“Thalia!”