204- To Bow or to Bleed
POV Elowen Grimwald:
I was caught off guard by his large hand grabbing a fistful of my hair and yanking my body roughly.
From one moment to the next, I was on my feet, my cheeks and breasts pressed against the cold wall of what looked like a library.
I didn’t need to rub myself against him again—he himself shoved his vigorous member against my back, pinning me to the stone.
“If it weren’t for your damn heat, that never goes away, I’d see you like any other stray, because that’s what you are, prisoner.”
Aldren was trying to hurt me, but I suspected there was no more room in my soul to collect new wounds, so everything turned into nothing but anger.
Hatred. Fury.
“Really? Well, I might even feel sorry for you for having lost one of your females, but you still have the other one, don’t you? Know this: I will not take the place of the dead woman, not even if you beg me on your knees.”
His fingers tightened even more around my hair, and a perverse laugh echoed straight from his throat.
“So you decided to play brave and forgot that I can give you the same end as hers, you bitch?”
“If that were going to happen, it would be my remains in that cage.”
“Teneris is dead because she disobeyed my order by engaging in an unfair fight with someone she had promised to protect. Don’t think, not even in your best dreams, that I wouldn’t be capable of doing the same to you—someone for whom I feel not even a crumb of affection.”
“So what are you waiting for to tear my throat out, then? End this, go on, kill me now!” After flirting with danger, I flirted with death.
A few seconds passed before he answered me with scorn:
“Before that happens, I will hurt you with the only thing that matters to you,” he threatened, abruptly releasing my hair and stepping back. A ball of steel formed in my throat when the possibility of what he might be referring to dawned on me. Does Aldren know Lunara? Does he know where she is? Is she also a prisoner, like me? “You’re not going to say anything, are you? The only fear you’ve lost is of your own death,” he continued.
“I don’t know what you’re talk—” My legs were shaking.
“Stop lying!” he shouted, yanking me by the arm to face him. “By the way, your vacation is over. There’s no point trying to fool me, because there’s nothing sick about you anymore.”
“I didn’t ask to be poisoned…” The words slipped out, even though my legs were wobbling from the fear that grew inside me second by second.
“Shut the fuck up!” he roared, jabbing a rigid finger at my face. His features twisted in rage. “From today on, you have only one choice left: bow down or suffer the consequences of your disobedience, just like the souls you sent to hell from the moment you set your paws here. Maybe then you’ll learn what your place is.”
Each of his words drove into me like the ritual of my own death pact. In truth, I had no other option—not when my decisions could cost Lunara her life.
I dropped to my knees on the floor and, with my head lowered, forced back every tear that threatened to fall. I was not going to cry in front of him again. I wasn’t.
“I bow to you, Aldren Valmorin, and I promise to obey all the laws that are known to me.”
“Lift your head. Now.” I locked my breath and raised my chin, meeting the frenzy in his gaze once more. “Do you think it’s that easy?” A cynical smile filled his lips.
“I know it won’t be easy, but I’m willing to fight with all the strength I have left.”
And then kill you, you bastard.
“Oh, really? Very well. Your first challenge begins now.”
“Tell me what to do, Aldren…”
The cynical smile turned into a perverse one.
“You, Elowen, will go up to the bedroom and clean up all the mess you forced me to make. I don’t want to smell it or see any trace of blood on the floor or on my furniture. Gather every piece of fabric, skin, and bone from Teneris scattered across that floor. My regent will bring you a chest to pile them into.”