Page 131 of Their Rejected Queen

Cool pain slices up my arm as I slide the chain from my wrist in a practiced movement. It feels as if I’ve done it a hundred times, but I have no memory of using the whip Arwan had given me outside of that first episode in the training yard.

I wait.

The darkness exudes from the corner of the room until it engulfs half of it. I remain completely still on the bed now with my whip in my hand.

“Don’t move,” I warn Sofia as I pitch my voice low. She suppresses a whimper from behind me as the darkness slowly envelops us.

Still, I wait.

Sofia dutifully obeys, remaining as still as she presumably can. Her shivers run over my wet skin, and the drop in temperature makes my hairs stand on end.

My nostrils flare as I take in the faint scent of blood.

There you are.

Pain lances up my left arm as I tap into Arwan’s powers. Speed rolls through my limbs as I wrap the whip around a revenant that’s peering right at me.

It thinks I can’t see it.

Why is it so still? Why isn’t it sinking its gruesome teeth into me? Instead, it stares into my eyes as if looking for an entryway.

Creepy.

Its red eyes bulge as the golden whip finishes wrapping around it, then slices cleanly through it like butter.

Don’t underestimate me again, I think, surprising myself with a confidence I am not used to feeling.

What exactly happened to me in my dreams?

There’s one more revenant lurking through the room. This one is more cautious after witnessing its comrade sliced at the neck, so I wait as it retreats to the door.

Oh, it wants to run?

“Stay,” I whisper to Sofia, but the darkness swallows my order. Still, I can’t let this creature get away. Hatred fills me from the inside as deep-seated memories of my brother’s cruelty and the injustice of all I had experienced in my life demands that I correct this wrong.

The revenant has something to do with this. I just can’t remember why.

It tries to run, but a dark shadow blocks its pathway as the door is obliterated into a thousand splinters.

I hurl the whip, eviscerating the creature with a diagonal slash that sends the room blasting into a flash of light.

When the darkness fades and my strength seems to sap out of my limbs, I stare up at a very pleased-looking Arwan.

His lips curl in a seductive smile as he untangles the whip from my grip. It transforms back into a gold chain at his touch. “Hello, little queen. I’m glad to see you remember your training.”

“My what?” I ask, but Sofia is already slamming into my back and shoving in between us, but not before Arwan can slide the chain back onto my skin. It immediately slithers up my elbow and resecures itself in place underneath my skin.

Sofia might have a death wish, but I couldn’t ask for a better friend.

“Get away from her, you demon!” she shouts.

Arwan doesn’t react like I expect he might. He merely smiles at her and lowers his head with a polite nod. Strands of dark hair fall over his eyes. “My lady, I promise I did not bring those creatures here.”

“Revenants,” I correct him.

Arwan’s head stays low, but his blue eyes glance up to meet mine. Based on the arch of his brow, I’ve surprised him.

“And she remembers conversations, too.”