Page 17 of The Faebound Trials (Mates and Madness: The Phantom Prince and The Bloodweaver #1)

No. No. No. No. No. No.

No. I cannot let you kill another man. Doing so would break the cycle.

It would stop me from being whole again.

No.

I cannot let you ruin this for us . For me.

Hands trembling from immense pain clouding my thoughts, I pull the darkness that could once make kingdoms fall, force kings on their knees submitting to my power, and every creature bowing beneath my feet.

The ends of my darkness leash the neck of the drowning mortal, heaving and choking in his mangled state as she leaves him torn apart.

Pride swells in my chest but I cannot let him die in her hands.

I will have to start again if he ever dies.

I have to be the one pulling the threads to finish her work.

The mortal struggles, writhing in pain, his skin is falling off his face, a beautiful mangled mess.

I saw what he did to her before, how he kicked her like an animal. Rage fills my insides, staining it even darker as it burns through my soul.

The most cruel thing I can give him is to make him believe there is still hope.

I’ll let him try, I’ll let him fight the leash pulling his neck down deeper into the abyss.

And when hope fills his heart, that’s when I’ll snap his neck.

Now.

I hear bones rattling when I command the shadows to take his soul.

Sweet melody fills my ears as I made sure he dies from my hands and not from her delicate ones.