Page 101 of Nocturn

Such a command from a lyrical, silky voice. A pained one that made me desperately want to do as it said.

“DRUSILLA!” he roared, the sound deafening.

No, why was the beautiful voice saying another’s name? Why was it so angry? Before I could grasp my thought, I floated higher into nothingness.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Worry

Voices bounced around my head. Loud, angry, and rough. A vein of grief ran underneath every uttered word.

Bring her creature.

I have her.

No—it was one voice—Cassiel.

I woke with a scream stuck in my throat.

“Amara.” Branwen sat at my bedside, and as she jostled forward to grab onto my arm, the bed bounced. I wheezed in a breath. Branwen’s vanity and bed sat across from my side of the chamber. Dizziness blurred my vision until I focused on Vera shuffling forward, her eyes wide and worried.

“Where is Cassiel?” I kept looking around even though it was clear only three of us were here. “We were just together. Where has he gone?”

A flood of memories returned of the remembered pleasure of his thickness thrusting inside me. I had been lost to him, arching into him, wanting more and more. Then the snap of agony that gave way to numbness.

I yanked the fur blanket away from my legs. My limbs were all intact. I wiggled my toes and despite the shards of pain, they moved. The hem of the sleeping gown slid closer to my knees. After the numbness that spread on the heels of searing pain, I expected the worst. My heart pounded in my throat.

I struggled to accept the agonizing pop was bones breaking, but there was no doubt that was what happened.

With such ease he had pulverized my bones.

Branwen’s mouth continued to move, but the rush in my ears made it difficult to understand.

“He is not here, Amara,” Branwen said gently, patting the top of my hand.

“He crushed you, Amara.” Vera’s eyes remained wide. As if she did not believe her own words. “He broke your pelvis because he fucked you too hard.”

I stayed sitting, breathing hard. His strength was greater than I could have imagined. I’d given myself to him willingly, opened my body to him, and he destroyed it. Not with malice, but from loss of control.

“There is no need to be so vulgar, Vera,” Branwen chastised and turned back to me. “You’re better now, Amara. Lady Drusilla healed you.”

“After His Highness almost ripped her head off,” Vera added. “Lady Drusilla’s head, that is.”

I rolled my ankles in a circle, stifling my wince from the sting prickling up my legs.

‘They’re not telling you the worst part. Since it was so bad, he permanently lamed you.’ The voice entered my mind, so familiar and so missed. The fur blanket I had tossed to the side moved, and a long snout poked out.

“Piper.” I hugged her as her words settled like a pit in my stomach.

Permanently lamed?

Carefully releasing my grip on Piper, I scooted to the edge of the bed and slid my legs off. They settled and everything felt normal so far. I shoved off with my palms. A hiss escaped between my teeth, and I pressed my hand to my hip where the sharp pain traveled. I stepped forward and my leg buckled, my slanted gait becoming increasingly obvious. A knot swelled in my throat and it only grew. My entire plan was to run from here and get to the Barren where I would only be able to travel on foot. And I was falling for the man who would not only snuff me out, but had caused even my escape plan to worsen by making me slower.

I could not afford to break.

I let out a slow breath, returning to sit on the bed while mentally folding away the reality I would face later. There was no longer anything I could do about this. Despite being slower, I could still escape.

Vera and Branwen both leaned away as if Piper had some sort of illness. It was a reminder of where I stood with them. As kind as they had been, it did not mean they viewed me as an equal.