Page 184 of A Kingdom of Wild and Power
‘Did you ever love her?’
Hagan stilled.
For a moment he did not understand what she meant. Eris noticed the hesitation immediately. With an impatient roll of her eyes, she clarified, ‘Alina Acheron.’
‘No,’ Hagan said coldly. ‘I loved the idea of hurting her. For everything she represented.’
‘But you did love Ash, didn’t you?’ Eris’ pale fingers slid around his wrist—the same hand that still gripped her throat—and tightened gently, as though she were the one holding him in place. ‘Your sisters couldn’t love you,’ she continued softly. ‘But he did. Like a brother.’
Her smile widened.
‘And you hated him for it. Because you were certain that once he discovered what you truly were, he would despise you too. But he didn’t, did he? He kept loving you. Protecting you.’
Her eyes gleamed.
‘And that made you hate him even more. Because he proved you wrong. He forced you to be wrong.’
The memories struck him all at once.
Years of buried pain crashed through him like a breaking storm, and Hagan roared in her face, his grip tightening around her throat. But Eris did not struggle. She did not plead.
She simply lay there, drinking in his fury as though it were nectar.
His pain delighted her.
It fed her.
Hagan forced himself to breathe.
He could not allow weakness, not again. He had once been weak, once allowed himself to care for a fire prince who had broken him in ways he had never truly healed from.
Eris was right about one thing.
His family had never known how to love, not even his mother, who had abandoned him to the world without a second thought.
But Ash had.
His sworn enemy. A son of the very House that haddestroyed the witches. And yet he had been the only soul who had ever truly loved him.
Now Ylva reminded him too much of Ash, and of that past life he had tried so desperately to bury. He could not allow a foolish valkyrian to ruin everything he had built.
Hagan released Eris at last and stepped back, his chest rising and falling with harsh, uneven breaths. He expected the goddess to rise and leave him there with his anger, but she did not. Instead, Eris slowly sat up and watched him, her purple eyes alight with a strange, unreadable brightness.
After a moment she rose to her feet.
Unhurriedly, she crossed the space between them. Her hands moved to his clothes, tugging them from him piece by piece before pushing him backwards onto the bed.
‘You can take your frustration out on me,’ she said before claiming his mouth in a kiss.
And Hagan did.
He was rough with her, careless in his urgency, not even bothering to remove her dress. He lifted her easily and forced her down onto her knees upon the mattress, gripping her hips as he entered her from behind. His movements were hard and merciless, driven by the fury still burning through his veins.
When she began to tremble beneath him, when her breath broke and he sensed she was close to coming, he stopped.
The pause drew a sharp sound from her, something between a whine and a snarl.
Hagan listened to it with cold satisfaction, knowing full well he was playing with something dangerous… and enjoying every second of it.
