by R. Scarlett
As he entered his dim chambers, he unlaced his breeches, only to stop mid-stride and glare at the fire crackling in the fireplace, red and orange flames eating at the stacks of oak wood. His gaze then landed on the silhouette standing by the fire, her back to him.
Her red waves draped down her back and he noted her thin housecoat concealing herself from him. Barely.
“I waited for you,” Lilith whispered, her voice husky.
Tensley gritted his teeth. He didn’t need to say a word; he simply fisted his hands as the aggressive pheromones lashed against her skin and she jolted.
Her sharp eyes found his in the darkness and instead of frowning, she grinned. Wide and menacing, like a wolf.
“Are you frightened of me, my king?” She moved, the bottom of her nightgown floating gracefully across the marble floor.
“My chambers are not your own,” he snapped. “You are not welcome here.”
Her fingers played with the laced ribbons above her chest, loosening them to reveal her creamy flesh and the tops of her breasts.
The beast revolted at the sight of another woman.
“I know you have been lacking intimacy. Your wife has forgotten her sole duties to you. She’s a failure and a shame,” Lilith hummed, but it came out more like a hiss of a serpent swaying its way into its prey. “You’re above those little wolves now, my king,”
Tensley didn’t bother to look at her. “Never underestimate a pup, Lilith. They grow, they evolve and eventually, they conquer the ones who had thought them too weak.”
“I have watched you move, watched you murder lesser men. I must admit, I am a woman of power. I thrive on it. I crave it. And I crave you. More than I ever craved my husband—or any beast in this court,” Lilith said, her smiling eyes scanning his rigid form in appreciation. She moved closer, her warm breath hitting his clenched jaw, the scent of roses and sweetness surrounding him in a ball of anger. “You need to fuck and I must serve my king.” At the moment her fingers touched his wrist, simply skimming her thumb along the hollow of his wrist, he struck.
He gripped her by her throat, Not enough to crush the air out of her, but enough to hurt. To send a message.
To send a threat to stand down.
“I am not your play toy, I am not fooled by your sweet words or your soft touches. I have a queen that satisfies all of my needs and more, I have no use for a traitor in my bed,” he hissed lowly, his dark eyes drilling into her own wide ones.
He let go, Lilith stumbling to catch her balance and he turned away. “Your queen—your queen loathes your existence. She will only weaken you—along with that child she carries.” She whipped her violent red hair off her shoulder and smiled wickedly at him, too confident for his liking. “If I reject you, if I show the court how I truly feel about your authority, they will side with me. They will destroy you. I am your only key to them.”
He balled his hands, imagining them around her neck, crushing the bones until he heard them crack. “Leave my chambers before I force you.”
Lilith hummed, as if scolding a child. “Wrong choice, my brutal king. Wrong choice…”
Tensley waited until she closed the door behind her and listened to her footfalls fade. Until all he heard was the damn beating deep in his chest, a cry of battle and chaos.
He marched to the fireplace and gripped the mantel, digging his nails into the oak wood and hissed out in pain. The flames licked at his skin and he let them. Feel the burn, feel the pain, ignore the twist of desire inside of him.
He wanted to go to his wife, to lay beside her and just hold her. Anxiety controlled him. Anxiety of seeing her again. Anxiety of how to behave around her.
A beast never craved the heart, never bowed to another, but here he was, battling himself to stay within this world.
The heart was growing too fast, too powerful, and the beast was fighting, roaring, but failing.
If he saw her, he’d bow, if he smelled her sweet essence, he’d cave, and if he tasted her, he’d beg.
If she knew, if she had an inkling of how much power she had over him again, she’d win, but he was done fighting what the beast, what even the fucking gods couldn’t stop him from wanting.
And he wasn’t letting her slip through his bloody fingers again.
FITZ SENIOR’S LEATHER gloves squeaked as he flexed his fingers, overstepping his son’s dead body and smiling at Molly as if nothing had happened.
She curled her hands into fists beside her, doing anything to not touch her own stomach. How could a father kill their own son with no remorse? Nothing?
“How?” Molly managed to speak, her voice shaking, the last thing she wanted him to hear, but his callous actions dug into her core.
“He was becoming dead weight,” Senior answered, a slight shrug accompanied his cool tone of indifference. “You said it yourself, daemon. I killed my own wife. With my bare hands.”
Evelyn stood to the side, her features pure stone and unreadable.
All Molly felt was her own rage though, burning the back of her eyes. “He was your fucking son.” She didn’t care that Evelyn had warned her. To be cool, to be indifferent. All she felt was a burning anger and she wanted to unleash it on the white-haired man in front of her.
He laughed softly. “You may be living in our society, but you have not learned a thing from us, have you, Mrs. Knight?”
“Don’t offer me advice,” Molly spat, her entire body shaking with rage. “I’ve dealt with power-hungry kings and queens who wanted to control the way I should act, saying I should submit. But they mean nothing to me. Their words and wants mean nothing to me. Because I’m not a demon. I’m not part of your sick culture.”
Senior’s lips thinned and he flexed his fingers out again. “Watch your words, honey. You have no idea what you even are. You’re still a mystery, even to yourself.”
Honey?
Molly squared her jaw and hated that he was right. “I know enough to be able to be a danger. Even to a Dux like you. You think I’m so clueless, so naïve. Keep thinking that, underestimate me, Fitz. It’ll only make for a better surprise when I have a front row seat to the last seconds of your miserable existence.”
Senior paused, his entire body freezing. The months since the last time he had seen her had changed her greatly. She wasn’t the same woman anymore. She definitely wasn’t naïve or innocent. She had battled the court, she had watched her husband’s heart get ripped out, and she was still fucking standing.
“Back to the bargain,” Senior bit out, his anger rolling off in waves at her. “You seem to have forgotten that I too once made a deal. With your then fiancé. You in exchange for Ares. For my land. I think it’s time I collect my reward, don’t you?”
“Your reward?” Molly scoffed and laughed bitterly. “I’m not an object of exchange.”
“But to save Scorpios? To save that dear fiancé of yours and his family?” He grinned wildly. “Salvatore was only the beginning. Each day you refuse my offer, I’ll murder another person close to your Tensley.”
Molly bit the inside of her mouth, trying to keep her expression blank. She thought of Daphne and how heartbroken Tensley would be. She thought of Gabriella and her kids, if Donovan was killed. He was just a boy. So tiny, so young, so pure.
“And if I come with you?” Molly began, curious of his response.
Senior’s eyes lit up at her words. “No more war. No more blood. No more.”
“No,” Evelyn’s voice was steel and iron and Molly glanced up at her. “The bargain’s not happening.”
Senior’s heavy brows furrowed. “You did your part, Ms. Rose. You’re not needed now.”
Molly frowned. “You did your—what does that mean?”
Senior smiled, but his eyes never left Evelyn. “How do you think we were able to slip the poison into Salvatore’s drink, sweet Molly?”
Pure shock mixed with horror swept over Molly’s entire body and she glanced over at Evelyn.
“They threatened us,” Evelyn ar
gued. “If I didn’t do it, if I—he was going to murder my father. They’ve been threatening him.”
Molly couldn’t handle what she was hearing. Evelyn had poisoned Tensley’s father. She had known all along. She had killed, murdered, her own Dux.
“Not to mention she told us every little detail about Tensley and your love life,” Senior added. Molly’s fisted hands shook. “And she made sure this entire meeting took place. Alone. Out here. In the middle of nowhere.” Molly couldn’t process any of this. It was too much. She couldn’t… she couldn’t. “What—” she stopped abruptly, not knowing what to say. “I thought…”
Fitz took a step closer, his shiny leather loafers glimmering in the low light. “Yes, yes, well you thought wrong, Mrs. Knight. She’s the traitor Scorpios has been hunting for. It was never us, it was her.”
“I…”
“Now, sweet Molly, will you come with me? If you don’t, let me just remind you that no one will hear your screams here, darling. No one will come to help you.”
“She’s not going with you,” Evelyn hissed and stepped in front of Molly, her arm spread out in front of her.
Senior cocked a thick brow. “You can let go of the pretenses now, Ms. Rose. The secret’s out,” he murmured, a mocking smile on his lips.
“I’m not fucking pretending. She is not going with you, Fitz. Whether you like it or not.”
Fitz laughed darkly, his head thrown back as he did. “Why the change of heart, Evelyn? You wanted this. You said we forced you, but deep down, we both know you wanted it.”
Molly watched Evelyn’s side profile, her features unwavering, her chest heaving heavily as she faced off with Senior.
Evelyn simply shook her head.
“Such a shame.”
Molly’s stomach dropped at the sound of his low voice and she watched him move, move like a lion about to pounce, but his head was bent.
He was bent forward, his eyes far from hers. The power within her thundered, her instincts screaming at her to catch his gaze. To look at him. To use the power that rumbled deep within. But she couldn’t, and before she realized it, he lunged.
Her hands shot out, to push him back, but his fingers wrapped around her wrists and his free hand found her neck, forcing her head forward.
She gasped, the tightness filling her chest as Senior held her by her neck. “I know your weakness, daemon. No eye contact, no power.”
She hissed in anger, but only choked when he clenched tighter.
“You’re coming with me,” he said and stepped forward, forcing her to move with him.
“No, she’s not, bastard,” Evelyn’s voice rang out loud and clear and she elbowed his face.
At the weakness of his grip, Molly jabbed his stomach and stumbled away, turning to catch the sight of the two rushing forward, colliding, their bodies meeting like a loud clap of thunder.
The two tore at each other’s skin, bones shattering, blood splattering onto the snowy cement and Molly couldn’t look away.
Senior swung his head forward and collided with Evelyn’s own forward. She stumbled back, but kept her balance and punched him across his cheek, the sound of his cheekbone cracking.
Evelyn jabbed him with her knee and he gasped, staggering. Only to yank out a knife and stab her deep in her stomach.
Evelyn froze, her hands going to her where the blood gushed from her belly and she fell forward.
Senior wiped the blood off of his knife and sneered down at her.
Molly rushed forward and bent down next to Evelyn, feeling her pulse. Evelyn’s dark brown eyes stared up at the black sky and white snowflakes landed on her cheeks, on the tip of her nose, melting into her skin.
Molly looked at the large gash, the blood freely flooding and tore her wool sleeve and put pressure on the wound.
“Mrs. Knight,” Senior said, lowly. “Come.”
Molly looked up at him, at her chance to destroy the man who was ripping Scorpios apart at the seams. At the man she wanted to strangle until she felt his life pour out of him.
Blood pooled in Evelyn’s mouth and she sputtered, coughing, choking.
She was dying…she had risked her life for Molly…even after she had done so many awful things, she had risked her life to save Molly’s.
Either go with Senior now and kill him or save Evelyn…
Her thoughts struck her hard and fast and she raised her eyes, meeting Senior’s eyes. A shiver of power spread down her spine and she felt the flare of strength. “Go. Run as far as you can and don’t stop.”
Senior’s eyes dilated and for a moment, he didn’t move.
He blinked and swallowed, turning and walking off. She watched him, her heart in her throat as he disappeared into the snowfall and darkness.
What was that?
What came over her was pure instinctual. She hadn’t even thought of it before her eyes pierced his and he was moving away.
Her daemon powers…the trauma of Tensley’s death…they were working. Fully working.
She took a shuddering deep breath and looked back down at Evelyn in her arms.
“Evelyn?” Molly whispered, searching her face for a sign of hope.
“I did it to save my family,” Evelyn managed through a cough. “And then—then you’re pregnant.” Tears fell from her eyes and mixed with the melting snowflakes on her cheeks. “I couldn’t hurt Tensley like that. He didn’t love his father, so I could come to terms with that, but this… I just— I could never do this to a baby. Not after…” she said, stopping herself from saying more. Molly had many questions to ask, but they would have to wait. Evelyn was bleeding and it needed to be healed fast.
Molly’s hands shook and she blinked back tears. In the middle of the night, in the cold beginning of December, Molly helped Evelyn back to the car.
She was a traitor, but she had saved her life…
“Evelyn,” Molly whispered to her, trying to keep her conscious. She sagged against the front seat, a trail of dark crimson painting the black leather. “Stay with me. Stay awake. We’ll be back to Scorpios soon.” When she saw Evelyn was slowly falling asleep, Molly changed her plans. “Tell me more, about why you couldn’t hurt a baby… you were going to say something but stopped.”
Evelyn’s eyes were half closed, her mind no doubt groggy, clouded over with exhaustion and her body’s need to heal. “I… I got pregnant when I was younger. I was seventeen, naïve, forgiving,” she started, her voice barely above a whisper, the words a mumbled mess. She took another deep breath. “It was an accident. The boy and I, we were fooling around at the time, nothing serious. But one thing led to another, and stupidity got me pregnant. Out of wedlock,” she finished, but she was getting so drowsy, Molly had to lean closer to her to hear her last few words.
Molly’s heart stilled and she glanced at Evelyn as she pulled out of the parking lot.
“When my father found out, he hid it from everyone, of course. It would be too scandalous for us. It would ruin us. Even though I was nothing more than a child at the time, had Fallen, or anyone one else, found out, I would have been killed without a second thought. You remember what happened to Beau and Valentina…” she said with a shrug, as if it was nothing more than a regular thing to hear. Which, sadly, in a world full of demons once ruled by a mad king, it was. “So in order to protect me, my father sent me away and I had the baby in a cabin upstate with my mother. But—“ she sniffled subtly. “The baby died the day after I gave birth to him.” Evelyn stayed silent for a minute lost to her own thought.
After a beat, Molly turned to look at the bleeding woman on, barely awake on the seat next to hers. “What,” Molly swallowed with difficulty. “What happened to the baby? Why did it…”
“Die?” Evelyn said, her tone part sad, part sinister. “I never knew the reason why, and my father wouldn’t allow an autopsy. He said it would be too risky,” she finished, unable to look at Molly.
Her hands shook and she pressed harder on her stomach, but the shaking didn’t
stop. Finally, her bloodshot eyes looked up. ““Even though my time with him was too brief, I loved him you know. My son. He was everything to me. Isn’t it amazing how something so meaningful, such as a child, a beautiful little baby boy, could come from something so meaningless. And I lost him.”
“I’m sorry, Evelyn. I’m sorry for your loss,” she said, and she saw the woman briefly nod. “Is that why you saved me? Because you couldn’t see someone lose their child like you lost yours?”
“Yes,” she said, and Molly knew those would be her final words on the subject as Evelyn dropped her head again against the seat, facing away from Molly, and sniffled softly.
Molly sat still, unable to speak. She thought of the fear of losing her own son every day and the fact that Evelyn had lost a child and had saved her because of her own loss sat heavy on her chest.
And the more she thought about it, the more she realized perhaps Evelyn wasn’t who she thought she was. They all thought she was a whiny power hungry viper who lured men for their prestige amongst Scorpios. But maybe she acted the way she did because she had her own goals, her own vengeance to seek.
Molly didn’t know how to feel as she drove back to Scorpios, driving with one hand and helping Evelyn apply pressure on the wound with the other. Her head kept getting blurry with thoughts of everything she had learned in the past hour, of the things she had witnessed with her own eyes. First, the image of Fitz Senior snapping his own son’s neck without an inch of regret. Then, this new surge of power she hadn’t known how to control, something she couldn’t quite explain. And finally, Evelyn’s revelation.
Once she knew Evelyn was in the hands of the doctor, getting the help she needed, Molly pressed a hand to her stomach and prayed she’d protect her son until her last breath.
MOLLY WATCHED ILLYA, on his hands and knees, as he built a crib. He grunted when the tiny screws jammed and she laughed, only earning a smile from him. She sat on the bed, slurping up homemade soup she had made that morning and studying the History of World War I. The last exam of her undergraduate year was coming up and she couldn’t wait to have school off the list of things to do.
