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I knew then that I had to keep it a secret until Ruslan and I had convinced the other monarchs to ally with us over Kazimir. With this binding magic, Kazimir could lose his shit at any moment and have all of us bowing to his will.
I would never be powerless like that again.
“I appreciate the heads up,” I gritted out, clenching and unclenching my fingers from Mistik’s gray mane.
Kazimir stepped closer again, and Mistik tossed her head as if she sensed the emotions swirling beneath my skin. “I thought you wanted a king, Izidora. Here I am. I can give you everything Ruslan has, and more. After all, I’m the one who brought you back from the brink. I saved you. I can save you again, from him. Just say the words and I’ll spirit you away, home to Este Castle, where you belong. We’ll rule the Night Realm together like we were always meant to.”
I could only blink at him.Was he fucking kidding me?All my growth wason him? But that statement wasn’t the one that angered me most. “What I wanted was a male who was honestwith me, who made me feel safe, who I could trust. You broke my trust, you manipulated me, you lied to me. Being a king does not make up for that.”
Kazimir’s eyes flashed dark, and my magic flared in my hands, still hidden in Mistik’s mane. “And yet you allow Ruslan to teach you to read? He is manipulating you, and you are allowing it. He is making you reliant on him, to teach you, to protect you, to take care of your emotions. How am I worse than a male who isn’t secure enough to allow you to spread your wings and fly?”
The scoff that fell from my lips was as unbidden as Kazimir’s presence in front of me. Everything he had just described was a direct reflection on him, and not on my chosen mate. Ruslan had fought through his own demons to allow me space to make my decision. Ruslan had empowered me, magically, physically, emotionally, and sexually, begging me to open up and become the highest version of myself. Trust was not an easy thing for me to give away, and yet my trust in Ruslan, especially when he returned with me to the cave where I had been chained, was the reason I accepted our bond that night.
But then, I realized, I’d never read in front of Kazimir. “How the fuck did you know he was teaching me to read?”
“How long was it after he kidnapped you that you started fucking him?” Kazimir redirected the course of our conversation, but I was not done. A violent storm swelled within me, threatening to unleash a torrent of hateful rain over his dark hair.
“Don’t change the subject,” I hissed. “How. Did. You. Know?”
All the times I’d felt eyes perusing my form, only to spin around desperately searching for the source of my unease and find nothing.Was it always him?
Kazimir took another step forward, raising his hands ever so slightly in supplication. “Just tell me what I need to fucking do,Izidora. You’re mine, and I want you back. What the fuck do you want from me?”
“Nothing.” I let the word fall between us, as cold and cruel as I could manage with the trembling that was weaving its way into my voice. My body flooded with adrenaline as I sensed the danger lurking mere feet away from me, mixing with the rage at his insolence, ratcheting up my heart rate as I prepared to fight.
“Sprite, what’s wrong? I can feel your fear.”
I ignored Ruslan’s call down our bond, shutting him out because I had to survive, and that meant all my focus needed to be on the male in front of me. I even loosened the white-knuckle grip I held over my emotions the way Zuriel and Drazen had encouraged time and time again, waiting to use their intensity to my advantage.
“I spent my entire fucking life thinking about you. Searching for you. Every waking moment of every day revolves around you and has since the day you were born. I am the reason you are where you are right now. You should be grateful to me, and instead, you spurn me for a bastard, a mongrel bastard at that.”
“He is more of a male than you will ever be,” I snapped, rising to the goading Kazimir was so clearly giving me. My emotions were slipping through my fingers like sand, and I hurriedly tried to get a grip on them before information I did not want to share burst from my lips.
Kazimir closed the distance between us in three powerful strides, and in an instant, my sword was drawn from its hilt in the saddle and bathed in white flame. The arrogant male stopped an inch from my blazing blade, an amused twitch of his lips breaking up the ugly aura around him.
“You’ve gotten much faster, Izidora.” He opened his mouth to say something else, but a horn cut through the air, and Ruslan’s magically amplified voice called a start to the first event.
Without hesitation, I swung myself into the saddle, staring down from atop my mare’s back at the male I’d loved first. “I am so much more than the female you tried to create,” I said with a sharpness aimed to wound, and then I dug my heels into Mistik’s sides and steered her toward the far ring, glancing over my shoulder to ensure Kazimir was not following.
While his legs did not move, his eyes did follow me until I rode around a makeshift building, cutting off his line of sight.
Liliana and Domi’s heads were bent in hushed conversation when I reached them, and they quickly straightened at my approach. Something wild must have been in my expression because Liliana immediately reached out a reassuring hand as I jumped from Mistik’s back.
My eyes burned as I looked toward the sky, fighting back tears of fear as my body returned to a less heightened state, adrenaline slowing its race through my veins.
“Are you okay?” Liliana whispered to me, pulling me in for a tight embrace.
“Yes,” I choked out, my voice barely a whisper.
I hated that I felt so powerful and so weak at the same time.
She released me, holding me at arm’s length, her seafoam green eyes both hard and soft. “I don’t believe you, but I’m not going to push you to talk. Kazimir is a bitch, and Domi and I don’t want to stay near him anymore. The three of us will stick together through the rest of this fucking feast, and then, I promise, I’ll always stay with you.”
“But what about Endre?” A tear spilled over, heating my cheek as it escaped to the ground.
“You are more important,” she swore, and another choked sob escaped me.
“I missed you so fucking much.”
