Page 41 of Wrathful King

My heart cracking my ribs with each beat, I pushed the metal door open and faced my worst nightmare.

Reina’s blonde curls were stained with blood. Bruises—black, blue, and purple—covered every visible inch of her skin. Her blue sapphires, unseeing, connected with mine.

The world came to a stop and I almost fell to my knees.

I’d failed her so fucking bad.

15

REINA

Acrack stretched across the center of the ceiling. Some days it looked longer and it took up the entire room. Other days it barely took up a quarter of it.

I’d started to associate it with the state of my mind.

Some days I was more lucid, hopeful even. And others, my body shook from craving that needle and the relief it brought. But above all else, what was rotting me from the inside was not being able to distinguish reality from tricks my head played.

The heat in the air had my skin glistening with sweat, yet the last prick of the poison had me shivering from the inside out. A drop of sweat trickled from my brow and I let it roll down my cheek like it was a tear.

It wasn’t though. There were none left.

Purple bruises covered the length of my body, the worst being in the crooks of my arms where my veins had collapsed. I was in hell, but I had never felt safer—that was, until the haze cleared and the need for another hit became an agonizing itch I couldn’t scratch.

Perez Cortes controlled it all. He could grant me relief, hell… or death. Still, I prayed for the latter. Nobody would be saving me. I started to believe I was beyond salvation.

The silence of my prison was interrupted by the sounds of bullets, machine guns, shouts, and explosions. I didn’t so much as flinch, certain my mind was taunting me. And anyway, I hoped this place would burst into flames, and I no longer cared if I went up with it.

“Pretend you’re dead,” I whispered to myself, although I couldn’t hear my voice over the voices in my head and screams in the air.

A door cracked open and a shape appeared, stealing my attention. My fingers reached for it, sweeping my hand through the air—left, then right—unable to touch it. I craved a human touch; I’d never been alone for so long. I missed my sister, my friends, Grandma… I even missed our cramped apartment.No—I couldn’t let myself go there. I had to tamp down those memories, they did nothing for me here.

Another creak.

The faint light poured into my corner of darkness. I drew my eyes open and toward the doorway where a man stood, clad in all black.

Slowly, my gaze trailed up the tall frame until I reached his face. Something flickered over his face, nudging at my drug-induced fog, but I couldn’t grasp it.

“Reina.”

The softness of his voice sent an alert through me. I scooted further into the corner, ready to fight. The man with obsidian eyes pushed the door aside and walked into the small room, past the dirty mattress.

It’s a trick.“Don’t fall for it,” I whispered.

I watched him approach me and lower to his haunches with an expression that had me wanting to lash out.

His hand reached for me, and before he could touch me, I snatched his palm and bit into it savagely.

A grunted “fuck” tore from his throat.

Panic and the need to fight awoke my senses, right alongside a citrusy scent. I ignored it and shoved at the towering figure, but his footing was too stable, his frame too strong.

“Reina, it’s me,” he hissed as I kept clawing at him. “Amon.”

I let out a raw scream at the cruel trickery. It was Perez’s cruelty. I knew it. He’d found a new way to toy with me.

“What’s going on, and what thefuckis that smell?” Another voice filtered from behind him and I stilled. I blinked my eyes, my tongue sweeping over my dry, cracked lips. A flicker of light hair came behind the dark man, his eyes darting around. “Jesus fucking Christ.”

Every fiber in me froze. I blinked again.They’re still here. It took several deep breaths for hope to set in. Panting, I looked down, noting that my hands were covered in blood. As was my filthy nightgown.