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Ferryn’s hand found my throat again, but Goll whispered something and a snake of flame shot from his chest and wrapped around Ferryn’s wrist.
Suddenly, I was free of Ferryn, falling roughly to the stone courtyard. Instantly, I scrambled backward, ignoring the biting of small pebbles under my palm and the pain in my wrist.
“You’re safe, my mizrah,” Goll said with a soothing, serene voice, his feral gaze still locked on Ferryn.
Ferryn was now held in place with four ropes of fire, his arms outspread, his feet held in place. His gray complexion had darkened with the exertion of trying to free himself. The flames weren’t burning his skin, but simply keeping him still. Goll wanted to do the killing himself. He wanted it to be personal.
“I’m your brother!” screamed Ferryn.
“You were,” said Goll, only a few steps from him now. “But then you touched my wife and dared to hurt her. Now, you’re nothing. You’re ash in the ether.”
His wife? I swallowed thickly at the emotion swelling inside me at his cavalier admission. Like it was nothing for a wraith king to claim a wife.
“But I’m your blood,” Ferryn protested. Then he scoffed, his bravado sounding pathetic, “She’s just a concubine.”
“No, Ferryn.” He finally reached him and took one of Ferryn’s horns with his free hand, bending his head closer. “She’s my queen. She’s everything.”
I gulped at the earnest adoration in his voice.
“You should look away, my love,” he told me in the calmest voice without looking in my direction.
“No,” I said softly.
“Very well.”
Then he proceeded to stab Ferryn in the throat over and over. Ferryn gurgled a dying groan, his lips moving, his eyes wide and shocked as Goll held him by the horn and continued his ghastly work. Ferryn’s eyes glazed as his spirit left his body. I sensed when the dark essence swept away.
But Goll didn’t notice. Or if he did, he didn’t care. He moved to Ferryn’s chest, even while the rope flames vanished and Goll held Ferryn’s body upright with one hand, his dagger plungingdeep in a nonstop rhythm of thrusts, blue blood spraying Goll’s face and chest.
Nausea churned in my stomach, so I finally did look away. Curling into a ball, I pressed my face into my knees while still hearing the sounds of the blade sinking into flesh over and over. I wasn’t sure how long it lasted, only that my mind took me away for a while.
I tuned into the magick surrounding us, the presence of the gods cocooning me in safety. I still shivered, but it was from the cold now, not fear any longer. My chemise was all I wore since I’d been taken, the cold wind nipping at my skin, and my wrist throbbing where I’d fallen on it.
But my babe was safe. I was safe. Gollaya had come for me as I knew he would. As I knew he always would. He’d called me his wife. His queen. I sniffled.
A heavy cloak fell around my shoulders as I was lifted into Goll’s lap where he’d sat on the ground in front of me.
“Shh,” he murmured, hauling me against his chest, rocking me in his arms. “You’re safe now, my precious mizrah.” His body was warm and welcoming. “My beautiful mate. I’m so sorry. You’re safe now,” he ground out against the crown of my head. “I promise I’ll never let anything happen to you again.”
I uncurled and slid my arms around his neck, peering up into the fierce face of Goll, spattered in the blue blood of my captor. I thought it was me still trembling, but it was him.
“I know you won’t.”
“Are you hurt?” He swallowed hard, his throat working as his arms held me fiercely. “Did he…harm you?”
“Except for my wrist, I’m not injured. In any way.” He needed to hear those words, so I assured him.
“I’m so sorry. It never should’ve happened.”
“You didn’t know. You couldn’t have known.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said gruffly, his voice rough and shaking. “It’s my place to protect my mizrah. I’ll never forgive myself.”
I reached up, pressing my palm to his cheek so he’d look at me. His eyes were wild and full of guilt and misery, the flare of gold around his slit pupil bright in the pool of blue.
“Your mizrah?” I asked gently. “Or your wife?” My own voice finally broke, a tear slipping down my face.
“Gods, Una.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “You’re myeverything.”
