Page 30 of Not Another Happily Ever After

“So keep this safe,” he says. “Whatever you do. Understand?”

My head shakes, not because I don’t understand, but because I do. “What of you, brother? Why stay?” My mind loops around the offer Father had once made him. One that would have promised him freedom.

That’s when I see it. The way his gaze lingers toward the shadowed hall that leads toward the castle’s caverns.

“Ella?” I whisper.

His heart stutters beneath my cheek, spurred by the very mention of her name. “I’m going to get her back.”

I tilt my head on his chest, utterly useless as I watch the pain build in his eyes. If only the fates had seen fit to switch our places. He’d be allowed to marry Ella. Thoren would be left to rot in her place. And maybe, just maybe, Gally would still be alive.

I cling to my brother. To the ludicrous fantasy that such things like right and wrong, sorrow and joy, could come in equal measure. To the belief that if my brother and I hold each other just a little longer, squeeze a little tighter, we won’t have to say goodbye. And for a moment, I almost fool myself into believing it. Until the large doors of the chancellery swing open, and I am once again thrown at the foot of my fate.

Chapter

11

I pray she never bears witness to the things

I am capable of imagining on her behalf.

Thoren steps into the checkered hall with far more vigor than I had hoped to see. His nose is fixed on the high-beamed ceilings as he scratches the exposed skin beneath his ruby red cufflinks.

For a split second, I think I’ve gone unnoticed. My slender figure is tucked closely behind Xander, hidden in the dim light of a half-lit sconce. And like the fool I am, I step away from the safety of my brother’s shadow, right into the prince’s reach.

Before the scream can erupt from my lips, his hands are on me, pinning me to the cold damp walls.

“You get off on making me jealous, don’t you, Beastie?”

My pulse hammers in my ears as fear gives way to anger. “There is nothing I enjoy when it comes to you,Thoren,” I bite out. But all I have to sink my teeth into is the bitter taste of regret, as Thoren’s surprise is a short lived victory.

With a crooked smile, he fists the crest hanging loose around my neck, pulling me taut until I can feel the heat of his breath on my lips. I try to fold mine in, but with his other hand, he tugs my bottom lip free. His chest rises and falls as I tremble beneath his touch.

“God, I love it when you misuse that pretty little mouth of yours.” He breathes out, dragging the tip of his nose along my tear-stained cheek. “Now, I get to remind you of its purpose.” I seal my eyes shut, tensing in preparation for the pain I know is soon to follow, for the moment his teeth sink into the fat flesh of my lip, hard enough to draw blood.“Your pain is my pleasure. And these lips were created to please.”I wince at the memory of his words as they bleed into existence.

“Get your hands off of her, you demented fuck,” Xander seethes, but his warning only drives the prince closer, until his hot breath is on the shell of my ear.

“Tell that sackless brother of yours to back off, or the feisty little surprise I bought for you loses more than just her memories.” I shake my head, looking to Xander for a way out when I notice he hasn’t raised a hand. Or drawn his blade. The only time he’s ever held back from a fight was with Father, when Ella…

I draw in a breath at the very same time Thoren’s lips quirk into a grin.She’sthe surprise.

“You bought?—”

The prince smothers my question beneath his palm, the metal of his spider ring cold against my lips. “Ah, ah, ah.” He shushes me, half amused. “That’s our little secret.”

I peer past the prince’s shoulder, watching the torment unfold across my brother’s features. The look in his eyes, one I’ve seen before, is pure murder.

I don’t have much time before he loses his restraint, but I need to know. “Tell me why, and I’ll agree to keep it.”

Thoren’s mouth twists into a wicked sneer, my family’s pain little more than a consolation prize in his wicked games. “Let’s just call it insurance.”

“If this is because of what you saw in the hall, I promise it isn’t necessary. I’m not going to run.”

Thoren lets out a bitter laugh. “As if you could. We both know I’d hunt you down before your feet left the castle grounds.”

“Charming!” My brother’s voice cracks against the crumbling walls at my back. The vibrations send a few dislodged pebbles to the ground.

My eyes blow wide as a heavy piece of stone barely misses our heads.