Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 121008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
Then all is blood and carnage.
Acrid smoke fills my nostrils, and Beck’s heart pumps with rage as he realizes his father is dead. There’s a tiny part of him that revels in the old man’s death. He’s king now. He’s in his rightful place. No one will tell him what to do or how to act again. If they do, he’ll take care of it. He will be king not by right of ascension, but because he can kill anyone who questions his place. Torin gave him this gift.
A wave of disgust flows through me, and I know this is Beck’s real torment. He’s torn by his own nature. His father abused and humiliated him, but Beck loved him anyway.
The sword Beck holds as he surveys the decimation of Torin’s guard is the sword of the rightful King of the Seelie Fae. He uses it to kill a hundred of Torin’s advance guard. He slices through them with an easy efficiency. His body hums with anticipation of more. He enjoys it. He likes the blood and the feel of his sword penetrating flesh. He loves the dance of battle.
Through the smoke he sees Torin. His uncle is surrounded by guards. It’s easy to kill them, too. More are coming. Beck can hear them. They’re making their way through the chaos toward their leader. It won’t matter. Beck circles his uncle. Torin will be dead as they walk into the great hall, and then they will join their brethren.
Torin isn’t willing to go down easy. He holds his sword, and his eyes are no longer arrogant. “Even now, my soldiers are hunting your brother. They will cut him down where he stands.”
Beck’s blood is up. “It will not kill me.”
Torin looks disturbed by that statement. “It will, eventually. He is your brother.”
Beck smiles. He knows it’s a ghastly thing. He nods to the throne where his father’s body lays, still and cooling. “There lies your brother. Perhaps we are more alike than you think, Uncle.”
Torin, who was always a pale imitation of Beck’s father, twists his unhandsome face into a mask of jealousy. “The crown should have been mine. My father always favored Seamus. It should have been mine.”
Beck points to his father’s crown. It lays on the palace floor, covered in his father’s blood. “There it is, uncle. Take it if you can.”
Torin looks between his nephew and the bloody crown he slew his kin for.
Then I feel it. I feel Cian cry out in Beck’s brain. His panic and anguish wash over me. Cian reaches out for the only person he has left, and Beck feels the call in his soul.
It goes against everything in Beck Finn’s nature. His instincts cry out to kill the pretender. His prey stands before him, quaking in his boots. There’s no question about the outcome of this fight, even as Torin’s backup storms through the doors. He can kill them all.
And then he will lose Cian.
Deep in his heart, Beck knows that he won’t care once Cian is dead. Cian’s death will free him in some ways. He can be the predator he always knew himself to be. He can kill and kill and kill until someone is strong enough to take him out.
But Cian isn’t dead. He’s alive, and he waits for his brother to save him.
Beck can avenge his father. He can save his kingdom and all of its people, or he can save the only person in the world to ever trust him, the person who carries all the good parts of his soul.
“I will return one day, Torin,” Beck promises. “I will return, and I will kill you. Never doubt it.”
The years speed by, each more desperate. Beck is alone. He’s alone even as he takes lovers. He’s alone even as he and his brother try to build a life. He is alone until he walks into a marketplace and finds his heart waiting for him.
I sob as I come out of the bond. I throw my arms around Beck’s neck and clutch him. “I love you. I love you so much.” I look into his deep gray eyes. They’re still filled with uncertainty. “I would have no other.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Beck
I squeeze her tight, emotion threatening to choke me. “I hope you mean that because you won’t have another. You’re mine, and I won’t ever let you go.”
I pull her hair back and take her mouth savagely, the need to imprint myself on her completely overwhelming. She’s so open. I hadn’t imagined how good it would feel to truly bond with her. She’s seen all of my bad parts, everything I loathe about my own nature, and she accepted me with a whole heart. I know she’s seen the very things I was afraid of her seeing, but instead of rejecting me, she told me she loves me.