Her face turns a mottled shade of red, and her eyes widen with panic.
“Violet!” someone shouts. A woman. A friend, maybe?
Power sears my veins and lifts the hair on the back of my neck, rising with the force of a tornado. Her hands tear at mine, but I only squeeze harder.
“Damn it, Cat!” someone else yells from the opposite side. “Tap out!”
Tap out? I don’t want her to submit. I want her to cease existing.
“I honestly don’t care if you kill her, Violence.” Xaden’s voice filters through the rage that holds me with the same unbreakable grip I’m using to choke the life out of my opponent. “But you will.”
I blink as his words clear just enough of the fog for me to feel the slowing of her pulse beneath my hands, but I don’t release my grip.
“Tap!” multiple people shout.
“I respect whatever choice you make.”
But I’m not making a choice. There is no choice. There’s only the swirling, chaotic vortex of anger and jealousy and—
She’s fucking cheating, using mindwork.
“Get out of my head!” I scream so loudly my throat burns.
Cat glares up at me, and the anger burns even hotter as she tries to work her thumbs beneath my hands, wrath burning in her eyes.
She’s not going to tap out. She’d really rather die than lose to me.
“I don’t want to kill her.” I have to let go. But my hands don’t get the signal.
“Then don’t.” His voice wraps around my mind, and the anger ebbs just enough to let me realize he’s here. It’s been a week since I’ve seen him, and he’s here.
And I love him more than I hate her.
I yank my hands from her throat, but I can’t make my body move any farther than that. “I need your help.”
Cat wheezes for breath as heavy bootsteps approach from the left.
Xaden’s arms surround me, lifting me to my feet, and I cling to the love I feel for him with my fucking fingernails to keep from letting the anger consume me.
“I didn’t tap out!” Cat croaks as she scurries backward, her neck bearing my handprints.
“Riorson!” Devera snaps. “Why would you interfere in a chall—”
“Because she cheated!” Imogen shouts. “She used mindwork!”
“She’s the one who’s unhinged!” Cat’s voice breaks multiple times, and she jabs her finger at me.
“I’m unhinged? I’ll show you unhinged when I kill you for fucking with my head!” I lunge against Xaden’s arms, but he holds tight.
“Let me know if you actually mean it.” He lifts me off my feet.
“Catriona!” Professor Kiandra forces her way through the line of fliers. “Tell me you didn’t…” She glances from Cat to me and back again. “Let go, Cat!”
“Fuck her!” Pure hatred emanates from every line of Cat’s body and only fuels the fire beneath my skin. “And fuck her entire family. I hope you all die for what you’ve done to us!”
Surging against Xaden’s strength does no good. He has me locked down. But power whips through me and releases with a searing crack.
Lightning strikes simultaneously with thunder, flashing white across my vision. Cadets scream and the scent of smoke fills the air.
Xaden flings a hand outward, and shadows stream toward the wooden bleachers, snuffing out the quickly growing flames.
“Bragen! Maren! Escort Catriona to her room,” Kiandra orders. “Her gift is limited by—”
“Distance. I know.” Xaden swings me up over his shoulder like I’m a bag of grain.
“Riorson!” Rhiannon calls out, catching his attention before tossing the conduit to him.
He catches it one-handed, nods, then strides for the exit.
Every instinct tells me to kick, to thrash, to beat him into letting me go, but I force myself to stay completely still as he carries me out into the hall, past the gaping faces of leadership who line the walls, waiting for the challenge period to be over.
“It will ease,” Xaden promises.
And it does. The fog of Cat’s power fades with every step, leaving me raw, like the ruins of a beach after a tidal wave recedes. Gods, how am I going to keep this from happening again?
Xaden doesn’t even break a sweat as he walks past the great hall, then surprises me when he doesn’t turn into the foyer. Nope, he carries me straight into the Assembly chamber, startling the four who are gathered there, including Brennan.
And I’m in control of enough of my emotions to feel every ounce of the embarrassment that heats my face, but my body still vibrates with anger. At least it’s my own genuine anger this time.
“What are you—” my brother starts.
“Get out,” Xaden demands, crossing the room and climbing the steps of a new dais, where the chairs of the Assembly sit behind the long, formal table. “All of you. Right fucking now.”
They glance at one another, then shock me to my toes by doing exactly that—grabbing a stack of parchment from the corner table and leaving, shutting the door behind them on their way out.
Xaden tosses the conduit into the massive middle chair before lowering me, my body sliding against his until my toes touch the dais. When our gazes collide, he arches his scarred brow. “She got you good.” He reaches for my face, turning my head gently to examine my cheek. “But I think you got the last word.”
“And how many of those humiliating words did you hear?” I don’t want the answer, but I need it.
“All of them.”
Fuck.
As a result of the Treaty of Aretia, the power to represent the province of Tyrrendor in the King’s Senarium has hereby been transferred from the House of Riorson to the House of Lewellen.
—PUBLIC NOTICE 628.86, TRANSCRIBED BY CERELLA NIELWART
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
“The things she said…” I clench my aching fists and notice I’ve busted the skin across my knuckles.
“I know.” His gaze rakes over me in a look I know all too well—assessing me for injuries.
“She said I’m just a convenient placeholder for you to fuck.”
“I heard. How hurt are you?”
“I’m fine.” Unless he’s asking about my pride. “My shoulder’s a little pissed, but I think my face took the worst of it.”
“All right.” He wraps his arm around my waist, pulls our lower bodies flush, and moves forward, forcing me to step back so the backs of my thighs hit the chair behind me. “Sit.”
“Sit? I just lost my shit and threw my control out the window in front of the entire quadrant because of the venom she spewed—the emotions she shoved down my throat—and all you have to say is sit?”
He lowers his head, invading my space. “Nothing I could say right now is going to erase her words from your head, so sit, Violence. We’ll do the talking afterward.”
“Fine.” I sink down onto the thick cushion, and my feet come off the ground. This particular piece of furniture was definitely built for someone Xaden’s height. Two of me could sit in this thing. “She wants you for your name.”
“I know.” He braces his hands on the arms of the chair and leans in, brushing his lips over mine. “And you love me in spite of it. That’s one of the many reasons I will always choose you.” He drops to his knees in front of me and works the laces on my boots with quick, efficient movements.