Chapter 70: You don't get to fuck them without consequence

There was no need to ask who else he was talking about. A part of me already knew it was Armen.

“You leave them out of this,” I said, forcing myself to meet his gaze. “Hawke was just protecting me, and Armen has nothing to do with you.”

Vale’s expression didn’t shift, but the air around him felt colder. “Oh, you haven’t completely regained your memories,” he snickered lazily. “For your information, they both owe their second life to me. And if you keep giving your body and heart to them, I will make sure they regret ever crawling back from death.”

He leaned in again, his cold hands cupping my cheeks like he had all the right in the world to touch me.

“You don't get to fuck them without consequence. Not when their lives are tied to my mercy.”

I stared at him, my heart pounding in my chest like a war drum. His words were like poison as they sank in. Slow, burning, cruel.

“You’re a monster,” I whispered, my voice shaking. “No. You Are Worse. You’re a goddamn soulless demon, who feeds off fear, blood, and whatever you can get.”

He grinned like I had just complimented him.

“I’ve been called worse,” he said, his eyes gleaming with something far too darker than I could comprehend. “Doesn’t change the truth.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead before pulling back slightly.

“If you want to be with them, you must accept me as part of the deal.” He added, his voice low but razor sharp.

I could feel anger surging through my veins like wildfire, but it wasn’t the only thing. A scorching hunger curled inside me too. It was fueled by the arrogance in his voice, the dark pull of his unchallengeable power, and his otherworldly magnificence.

It was unraveling my whole being.

I despised how instinctively my body yielded to him. Maybe it was the cursed serpent magic in my veins, because I on my own was terrified of his overpowering presence.

“You think you can just claim me like I’m some prize?” I spat, even as my voice wavered.

He smiled, slow and knowing, like he could taste the insatiable hunger I was fighting tirelessly to suppress .

“I don’t need to claim what already responds to me,” he said quietly. “Your blood doesn’t lie. Neither does the fire in your eyes.”

My hands clenched at my sides, long nails biting into my palms. I wanted to scream, to call him more bad names, or pull him closer just to defy him and myself at the same time.

I felt something stir in my blood at the thought of kissing him, and my whole body stilled.

This was the first time I was sensing the serpent.

I didn’t know if it was trying to warn me.

Or urge me.

I chose to treat it as a warning. “I’d rather die by my own hand than ever let you feed on me.”

“Don’t repeat your grandfather’s mistake,” he said, his voice lowering. “Taking your own life isn’t strength—it’s surrender. Didn’t you wish to kill me? Then, let's strike a deal.”

“I’m not signing any agreement with you,” I said, every word forced between tightly locked jaws.

“But you signed one with Hawke, didn’t you?” he asked with a low chuckle, though there was a flicker of fury beneath the amusement.

“When Leyla mentioned he was caught in some troubling arrangement with you, I didn’t expect it to be a dom-sub contract.”

“You’ll enter the same agreement with me,” he said flatly.

There was something about how he said these words that made my shiver. I didn't even remember the content of my agreement with Hawke, just what it was, and he wanted me to sign the same one with him.

And a slow heat coiled in my lower belly at the thought of being with him the way I’d once been with Hawke.

I hated it.

I hated that some part of me was drawn to the very thing I wanted to kill, or run from if I couldn't. I didn't want to be reduced to nothing but a sex-starved, and needy person.

But I feared I already was.

He saw it too.

His eyes narrowed, lips curving slowly into something between a smirk and a snarl.

“You can’t resist me. What we have sizzling between us isn't just any physical attraction. It’s a storm and I intend to drown you in it.”

I shut my eyes, compelling myself not to listen to any more of his words, but he continued like it didn't matter to him.

“You’ll crave my bite and yearn for my cock. Even as you curse me.”

“I don’t mind if you take a few days to think it over but know this: once you’re discharged from this hospital, your only place is with me.”

His footsteps finally retreated. Then the door slammed shut, hard enough to rattle the frame.

Only then did I open my eyes.

My chest was tight, my breath coming out in slow pants as my heart thudded with a mix of fear and arousal.

I could feel the weight of his presence even after he was gone.

The room was quiet, but the silence screamed louder than his last words.

Once you’re discharged from this hospital, your only place is with me.

Moments passed yet I was still fighting to steady the fury building inside me. It clawed at my ribs, wild and restless.

My fists curled against the sheets as I tried to contain my anger.

How dare he speak like he owned me.

How dare my body still tremble from the heat he left behind?

I wish I was strong enough to kill him.

He was the most manipulative, unendurable, twisted, and possessive creature I’d ever known.

I despised him more than anything or anyone. And I loathed that whatever magical serpent living inside my blood believed he was worthy.

Worthy of what? To fuck me and feed on my blood like I was made for it?

Was that my destiny? To be his completely? Instead of the one meant to wield the Vespera and destroy him?

Had I ever trained hard enough in The Order to even see the Vespera dagger let alone hold it?

Now, I desperately wanted to know every bit of my memory until I woke up in this hospital for the first time.

A knock at the door snapped me out of it.

The door creaked open, and someone stepped inside. I assumed it was Doctor Smith, but instead, Hawke’s sharp, striking features came into view. His familiar, cold and comforting presence seemed to erase the crippling anxiety that had evaded me.

“Nyx, are you okay?” he asked, crossing the room in a heartbeat.

He didn’t ask if Vale had been there. He already knew.

And I wasn’t sure which of us was more furious about it.

As he took the chair Vale had just got up from, I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. Just a shaky breath.

He moved from the chair to sit beside me on the bed, then pulled me into his strong, comforting arms. The moment he held me, the tears began to fall.

I was torn in every possible way, and my body ached with a feverish longing I couldn’t understand.

“I want to kill him. I wish I were strong enough to kill him,” I cried against Hawke’s shoulder.

He let me pour out my grief, my rage, and everything I’d kept bottled up. His arms didn’t loosen, they only held me tighter, like he could hold the shattered pieces of me together no matter how broken I was.

“I want him too, Hawke.” I admitted. “I hate that he makes me feel powerless… and worse, that a part of me still reacts to him.”

“You’re not powerless,” Hawke murmured into my hair, his deep, sharp voice soothing my nerves. “And we’ll kill him together. When the time comes, you won’t have to face him alone.”