Page 48 of His Stolen Queen
I glared at Acheron. Why was he still here? "Listen—"
"Yeah, stay here with your precious Acheron, you fucking slut."
I gasped again and spun around. "David, I know you're pissed, but—"
"Watch your fucking mouth," Acheron roared. His voice seemed to rumble through the small hallway. "You treat her with respect, or I'll rip your head clean off." His voice had grown deep, as if an echoed speaker had been placed under it. His eyes darkened, and for once I didn't bother to decipher how or why.
"Whoa! Whoa! Acheron, it's okay. He's rightfully upset."
"I do not care. You do not ever let a mere human disrespect you like that. You are worth ten of him."
Oh, Christ, this really wasn't helping. I turned back and found the hall empty. David had left.
"Let me go," I demanded as Acheron grasped my hand. I tried to shake him off, but he was freakishly strong.
"It is not safe!"
I glared at him. "What are you talking about?"
"Sir." My body jumped at Von's sudden interruption. "We need you urgently. He has been spotted."
I didn't know whohewas, but I used Acheron's distraction to take off and follow after my husband.
Chapter 18
Alice
David hadn't come home.
I paced our kitchen as I dialed his number again. I'd already left two frantically worried and apologetic messages, plus the numerous texts. Where was he? We didn’t take our car to the party because we planned on taking advantage of the free drinks on offer. His car was still in the driveway, so he hadn't stopped by.
There were a few friends he could've gone to, but none I knew well enough to have their number. And even if I did, what would I say? "Have you seen my husband? He's very upset because he's just found out that I cheated on him."
There were his parents and sister, of course, but I wasn't particularly close with them, despite being their foster kid for a brief time. They'd always been distantly polite with me; upset that I'd dragged their son and brother away from home. His sister had even told me that she used to hate me because David had been so obviously in love with me. They assumed I knewand was purposely leading him on. I suspected they still held this opinion.
So, no, I didn't want to ring them yet.
I ran an agitated hand through my hair as I checked my phone again for the hundredth time. Tears blurred my vision as I remembered the look of devastated betrayal on David's face. I hated to think of him out there somewhere, hurt and angry, questioning everything in the face of my confession—a confession that he wouldn't have been confronted with yet, if not for David putting two and two together.
How was it possible that I'd been saying Acheron's name in my sleep…foryears? I wanted to believe that it was a coincidence, but David was right—it was an unusual name for where we lived. And the fact that my dreams had ramped up around the time Acheron came into my life, was that another coincidence? Not to mention that the only memories I had left of my dreams were vivid blue eyes…the same shade and shape that Acheron Angelou had.
I rubbed at my forehead, unable to figure out what was going on. How could this be? It almost felt…supernatural. And the scary thing was that it didn't feel that unbelievable. A lot of strange shit had been happening to me since I was a teen. The daydreams that seemed real, the feeling that something or someone was watching me. The sensation that something in my life was missing.
I pushed the troubling thoughts out of my head. I couldn't think of any of that right now. Not when David was out there, doing and thinking god knows what. I finally sat down at the kitchen table, staring at my phone with red-rimmed and swollen eyes, willing it to ring.
My head jerked up when I heard the creak of our front door opening. Relief flooded me, and with my heart pounding withnerves, I immediately rose to greet David. Thank God he was finally home.
"David?" I softly called out.
My brow furrowed as his footsteps grew closer. His movements sounded heavy and slow, almost dragging against our floorboards.
"D-David?" An acrid taste filled the air, and the tiny hairs on my arms stood in alarm. My heart jumped to my throat, and a forewarning stabbed me, just as a figure came into view.
I gasped and fell back, my hip crashing hard against the corner of the table.
Red eyes.
That was the first thing I saw. His eyes were blood red. Not the sclera, but his irises. It stood sharply against the white of his eyes. He had long, white hair and a face so pale it almost matched his hair color. He smiled and his teeth…oh god…his teeth. They were—
