Page 34 of Flesh & Divinity

Outrage flashes in her eyes at my comment, but I stand tall and stare her down. “I have a hunch but I'm not willing to share it.”

Anger courses through me. “You either start telling the fucking truth, Cinder Soot, or we leave your ass in this cave to rot⁠—”

“Fuck you!” she screams, cutting me off. “I’m telling the truth. I have no reason to want you gone. I don’t want the fucking crown—” She clamps her mouth closed, but I see the horror in her eyes. She didn’t mean to say that much.

Jaq steps forward, making her stiffen. “Oh, please, carry on. We are dying to hear why you think you have a claim to our throne.”

Her face slackens and she shakes her head rapidly.

Tears gather in her eyes. She bites down on her bottom lip to keep silent. She stares at my brother with a pleading look, begging him not to push her.

“Cinder—”

She cuts Duke off before he can finish. “I know why you want to know. I’ll tell you, but you will let me go.”

“No.” One word, the weight of it settles in the air like a storm cloud. “We already told you, you’re ours.”

Her bottom lip trembles. I suddenly have the urge to comfort her but manage to remain where I am.

Jaq grips her hands in his and looks down at her. “If you didn’t lie and send us to this hell, help us understand why our own father would lie to us for years and blame a girl we didn’t even know.”

“My name is Cinder Charming and I am the great granddaughter of Lucious Prince.” My blood turns to ice in my veins. “Two years ago, my father tried to overthrow the king and claim the throne. The king fought against his allegations, ruined my father’s reputation and forced us into poverty. His wife, Ava, used his death to her advantage. She and her daughters have no idea why the king turned on my father and I kept it that way. No one outside of my father, me and the king know the truth.”

“That fucking cunt!” Duke hisses.

She ignores his outburst and continues on. “I believe the king lied and had you sent here so we would never meet. Your suitors ball was the weekend you disappeared. All females were ordered to attend, no matter their stature in the community⁠—”

“Meaning we would have met you,” I breathe out.

She nods. “That cunt had us sent here in case we met, figured it out and claimed his throne through marriage,” Jaq grits out.

“He allowed them to move into the palace because he knew exactly who she was. He wanted her with him so he could knock her up or put a ring on it, then his claim to the throne would be solid.”

She gently pulls her hands from Jaq’s and steps back. She loses a shoe in the process. The small space between us feels like it’s the size of the ocean. Panic flares inside me. I was a fucking idiot for believing my father. I harbored anger toward Cinder like fuel to a fire. It consumed me for years. I let Jaq and Duke fall into the web of lies without stopping them.

I was fucking furious when we were sent here. I wouldn’t listen to reason. Twenty-four months of planning our escape, in the hopes we would find the bitch who wronged us and force her to clear our names, only for her to bring us to our knees with the truth.

Duke steps up beside Jaq and I can taste his anguish on my tongue. I feel it wafting off him like perfume.

When he drops to his knees before her, she gasps. He grabs her shoe, then grips her ankle and slips the shoe back on her foot.

“The shoe fits.” Her brows dip at his words. “You fit.” He glides his hand up her leg as he slowly stands before her, brushing his fingers along her body the whole way until he reaches her cheek and cups it. “We fit you.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CINDER

My mind is telling me to flee, leave them in the past and leave them to wallow in their own guilt for believing the bullshit the king spun. The pain in my chest is burning bright.

“How can we fit when you believed I lied?” My tone is broken, but I don’t care if they can hear the pain in my voice. “I fell for you… all of you and you… you…” The words catch in my throat, I can’t get them out. Duke wraps his arms around me and pulls me against him. I fight to free myself but he doesn’t budge. He tightens his hold and keeps me plastered against him. Sobs claw their way out of me, I can’t contain them.

Jaq Octavious.

Gus Octavious.

Duke Hans.

For weeks I have had them hating me, using my body against me. They were harsh and cruel with their words. They blamed me for a crime I didn’t commit. A lie I never told. They were sent here in the hope that I would never meet them so that King Octavious could keep his fucking crown. Which means, the secret I have held onto was for nothing. Ava and her spawn sent me here. They would have needed the king’s approval for that. The four of them know who I am. I’ve been banished here so I can never claim my birthright and throw all those fucking cunts out on their asses.