“Thanks.” Arabella grinned proudly.
Blood dripped off her chin from the scab on her lip, and I had the irrational urge to lick it off.
What is wrong with me?
Scorpius scoffed at her. “But your delivery was weak. Your words were generalized and nonspecific. If you want them to matter, hit where it hurts.”
“Oh, I’ll hit him where it hurts.” Arabella tried to slam her thigh into my dick, and I just barely avoided her move.
Yanking her roughly to the side, I shoved my knee between her legs to subdue her. I pressed myself against her just like she’d let the nymph touch her.
Unlike him, I fully dwarfed her frame, and she was completely at my mercy in the position.
She slammed her elbows into my kidneys.
“Stop fighting me,” I demanded as she refused to submit. “You let that nymph fucker touch you, but now you don’t like it? Make up your mind, slut.”
My throbbing dick was pressed against her, and it took every inch of strength I possessed not to moan at the friction.
She said coldly, “I was interested in him. Not you. Learn the difference.” She blew smoke into my face.
Arabella was ice, while I burned alive.
I shook her back and forth like a doll. “Keep speaking to me like that and I’ll wash your mouth out.”
“Wow, growling like an animal.” She made a face. “Very intelligent.”
I turned my wrist so my entire fist wrapped around her curls, and I yanked her head back at an awkward angle.
I opened my mouth to threaten her but got distracted by her scent.
It was unexpected.
I inhaled deeply.
Smoke and ice mixed with something so rich and tangy that I couldn’t put my finger on it. It was intoxicating.
“Why aren’t you afraid of us?” Scorpius asked as he moved closer, and Orion nodded like he also wanted to hear her answer.
I didn’t know why we were engaging with her.
She should be on her knees.
Pleading for the mercy we didn’t have.
Arabella shrugged. “If you hurt me, I’ll kill each of you. Then I’ll kill myself before the tattoo can regenerate any of our lives. Don’t worry, I’ve come up with a plan on how to end myself. I’ll rip out my heart and feed it to some type of cute woodland animal.” She smiled. “Aw, imagine a little teacup pig ruling from the fae throne. That would be adorable.”
“And you think,” Scorpius scoffed, “that you could take down the three of us?”
Arabella smirked like she had a secret. “Do you know how a fae becomes queen?”
Of course we didn’t.
We didn’t bother with the politics of inferior people, but I could guess. Monarchies in other realms always revolved around nepotism.
“You’re a princess. It’s pretty self-explanatory.” I yanked on her curls because I couldn’t get myself to release them.
I wanted to torment her with it.
Use her hair like a leash.
She made a face like she knew what I was thinking.
Red rays cast her too-pretty features in shadows as she said flatly, “A fae ascends to the seat of death by ripping out the current ruler’s heart and eating it.”
The words echoed.
She reached up and picked at the open wound on her lip. “I ate my mother’s heart, and now I’m queen. She was centuries old and known to be mad with unfathomable power. It wasn’t planned out.”
Her eyes were so dark they were black.
“I did it because she’d wronged me and I wanted her to die in the most brutal way possible.”
Vapor from her pipe swirled in tendrils around her.
Orion frowned, and Scorpius arched his brow.
I subconsciously tightened my fingers in her hair and dragged her closer to offer support. Of everything she could have said, this wasn’t what I’d expected.
Arabella smiled. “It was an uncontrollable fit of rage.”
She turned to me, and the full weight of her empty gaze slammed into me. “It will happen again if you try to hurt me.”
The words lingered like smoke.
“We will all die,” she whispered. “I promise.”
I forced myself to release her and step back. I refused to feel sympathy for her.
Every cell in my body cried with distress at the loss of her body heat. I liked her pressed against me.
I liked her under my control.
Orion made a wounded noise and stepped toward her. He blanched and whispered, “Sweetheart, you never should have had to experience that.”
She looked up at him with wide trusting eyes.
He took another step closer.
They were acting like they were alone. Like Scorpius and I didn’t exist.
Like my Revered cared more for her than his Ignis and Protector.
I pulled Orion back and snarled, “You’re disgusting.” The words tasted like ashes in my mouth because I meant them with every ounce of my being.
Arabella had also murdered Horace in cold blood.
It made sense.
She was one of those women who didn’t care about anyone but herself. We killed because we had to but never for personal gratification.
The nymph had touched what was ours, so he’d deserved to die. He’d groped her roughly, and she’d been too high to see that he was hurting her. We killed but only those who deserved it.
Arabella didn’t care. She was just like the whore who’d birthed me.
She nodded.
The ashes burned my throat like flames were eating me alive from the inside.
Scorpius shook his head. “Your plan is dumb. We’d kill you first before you touched us.”
Arabella pursed her lips. “Agree to disagree. Maybe someday we’ll find out.”
“If it ever comes to that.” Scorpius went impossibly still. “If you try to kill my mates, you better hope you’re already dead. Because the things I will do to you will make you wish you were.”
She balled her fists, and her features tightened.
In her profile I saw the shadow of Lothaire’s high cheekbones and arched brows. She had her father’s anger.
She was a worse version of him.
“We’ll see,” she snapped.
A muscle jumped in Scorpius’s jaw. “You better hope for your sake we never do.”
Arabella counted under her breath like she was trying not to lose control.
I tested her restraint and sneered, “You’re an abomination, and we’ll suffer your presence until we find our mate. Then I promise on the honor of my ancestors that I’ll remove you from our lives. By any means necessary.”
Before Arabella could respond, I turned away and pulled my mates with me.
I headed back to our room.
I was done arguing.
But as we walked down the hall, pain flared in my chest.
Whimpers echoed.
You must protect her, my subconscious demanded.
I gritted my teeth and ignored the tattoo messing with my thoughts.
Instead, I whirled around and snapped, “What are you waiting for, an invitation?”
Arabella stared for a long moment like she wanted to argue, then she jogged down the hall to catch up with us.
I pushed her behind us when she tried to pass. “Scorpius and I always flank Orion for his protection. He’s our Revered; he walks first. As our slave, you’ll walk behind all of us. That’s where you belong.”