Page 97 of Throne of Fire
My heart stutters traitorously thinking of Keira and me ten years ago. A sweet secret romance before her father torched it all.
"Trying to buy your way out of justice with your own flesh and blood?" I sneer. "How predictably despicable." I turn to my men. “Bring Keira to me.”
She too is locked away, but in another area of the house. I haven’t actually seen her since we invaded and took control. I’ve let my men deal with her because I want to hate her just like I hate her parents. I worry those sweet memories might make me forget my hate.
Minutes later, the guard returns with Keira. My breath catches as I take my first look at her in ten years. Fuck. She’s even more beautiful than I remember. Time has only enhanced her features. Her blonde hair falls in soft waves past her shoulders, and those familiar gray eyes meet mine. But they’re unreadable.
Just as I feared, my body responds instinctively to her presence, desire coursing through me even as bitterness and hate twist in my gut. She was a Kean then, and she's a Kean now, daughter of the man who murdered my parents.
She holds herself with careful composure, but I catch the slight tremor in her hands as she clasps them in front of her.
I step closer to her, focusing on my hate and need to make them all pay. "Your mother offers you to me like chattel.I wonder, would you willingly sacrifice yourself to save your family?"
She arches a brow. “You need a cow, Mr. Ifrinn?”
Electricity fires through me at the defiance in her eyes. I find it exciting, but I keep my expression cold and calculating.
“I don’t.”
“But you need a wife,” her mother says. “You know how much more respect married men receive.”
I shrug. “Maybe, but why would I marry the daughter of the man I just defeated? It looks weak.”
“Those who still respect Hampton will be forced to respect you since he approves of the match.”
Hampton growls at his wife. “I never said?—”
“Let your wife finish, Hampton,” I snap at him. I don’t really care what she says. I just like reminding him of his place.
“And you’ll have a Kean under your thumb. Isn’t that what you want, Mr. Ifrinn? To humiliate us?”
Rage, sharp and fierce, slices through me that she’d hand Keira over as something for me to take my revenge out on. At the same time, I can’t deny an attraction to the idea. Of having a Kean suffer every day the way I’ve suffered for the last 3,650 days.
"Marriage. A true union between our families." I let my gaze travel over Keira deliberately. "You'll be mine in every way. No conditions, no escape clause. Your complete surrender in exchange for your family's lives."
Mrs. Kean makes a small sound of triumph, but I ignore her. My focus stays locked on Keira as I continue, "Your parents will live, though imprisoned. But you…" I step closer, close enough to catch the familiar scent of jasmine. "You belong to me. For me to do whatever I want, whenever I want."
“Not imprisoned,” Mrs. Kean says. “In exchange for our freedom.”
I laugh. “That’s not happening. Not anytime soon. But I won’t kill you.” I turn back to Keira. “What do you say?”
Keira lifts her chin, gray eyes blazing with defiance. "And if I refuse?"
"Then I destroy everything. All of you. Even that kid you’ve got hidden somewhere in the house.”
Keira’s breath hitches and her expression goes from insolence to panic. It feeds my satisfaction for revenge.
I lean toward, my voice dropping lower. "That’s right. I know there’s a child somewhere in this house. I know you’re the one hiding her. If you?—”
“I’ll do it. I’ll marry you, Phoenix.”
An unexpected rush of emotions crashes through me. Triumph, desire, and something darker I don't want to name. This woman who once meant everything to me will now be mine again. But not like before. This time, it's a calculated move in my revenge.
I grip her chin between my thumb and forefinger. Her pulse races beneath my touch. Without warning, I claim her mouth with mine, kissing her hard enough to bruise. She gasps against my lips, and for a moment, I'm transported back to those stolen moments in the garden, when our love felt pure and possible.
But this isn't that innocent time. This kiss is about possession, about power, about marking what's mine. Her fingers dig into my shoulders, probably to make me stop, but I don’t. The familiar taste of her, the soft press of her body against mine, makes me feel even more powerful. The Kean empire will now be truly mine, sealed with this union.
But as the kiss continues, I wonder if I'm the one being conquered. The passion between us burns as hot as ever, threatening to consume everything in its path. Including my carefully laid plans for revenge.