They were all gone. All four of my guards were gone. I was alone in my body for the first time in nearly a year. It had been ten months ago that I met them and we developed these bonds.
“Fuck you, you piece of shit,” I snarled at her weakly, my body hanging in the chains. “You’re just a jealous child who can’t handle the fact that the evil asshole who was manipulating her was killed. He never loved you. He was just using you. You were a means to an end. Nothing more.”
She wrapped her hand around my throat and squeezed tightly, cutting off my air supply.
Yes. This is what I wanted. Without them, I wasn’t powerful. Without them, I couldn’t do anything.
“Why give yourself up?” she asked me. “Did you think they would save you?”
“Save. Martin,” I gasped out.
“Martin? Martin got affected by the virus? Poor bastard,” she said. “Well, at least that antidote will save him. You. You won’t be saved.”
Now, it didn’t matter what happened at the tournament. Now, it didn’t matter if I thought I was good enough or not. Now, they would find new mates. They would go back to their normal lives.
“Your torture isn’t over yet,” she told me with a wicked smile. “No, this is just the beginning.” Her hand wrapped around my face and then, I fell into a dark tunnel, spinning and swirling with black mist. There was no down. No up. Nothing, but darkness and cold air.
Chapter 8
“How do you feel today?” Justina asked me, her smile happy and warm, like it had been when we’d worked together.
I had no idea how long I’d been here and I didn’t really care.
“Were you ever my friend?” I asked. “Or was it all a ruse?”
“Do you care?” she snapped. “You should be more worried about the fact that your wound never stopped bleeding.”
That explained my lightheadedness and the weakness throughout my entire body.
“Did you find me because of my father? Or was it just a coincidence?” I really did want to know.
“Coincidence,” she said. “How I wish I hadn’t gotten to know you, though.”
“Just kill me already,” I begged her. “You took them away from me. What more can you do?”
“Well, your dad did tell me that torture never worked well on you. So, I suppose I should just put you out of your misery.”
Finally. Death was better than this hollow shell I was now. I hadn’t realized how much they had filled me until now. How could I live like this?
I couldn’t. This emptiness would eat me up.
What must they be going through?
Well, it likely wasn’t as bad as I was dealing with, since they still had each other and their warrior’s bond.
“I’m going to let you bleed out,” she said. “I think it’s a fitting death for the person who took a vampire from me.” She sliced my other arm open and waved as she left.
“Bitch!” I called after her.
I faded in and out of consciousness, my arms went numb and my body followed that numbness. Soon, I knew I would be dead. Part of me wanted to fight. Part of me wanted to live. But, that part of me was buried beneath the pain and the loss.
There was no one to blame. I had given myself up, knowing full well that I was likely going to die. And, I would do it again. My death for Tobias’s and Martin’s lives was a small price to pay. They would be furious with me, but I didn’t care. They deserved to live. They deserved to continue on in life.
I had never done anything worthwhile. The Others thought I was a hero for bringing them their necklace, but that was purely coincidence. Had I not stumbled into that park, drunk, I would still have that necklace. I wouldn’t be here either. I wouldn’t have had the four princes bind themselves to me. I wouldn’t have seen my ex-boyfriends again. I wouldn’t have been the reason that Rhys and the others fought so hard in the tournament.
I was a walking curse. My death would save the princes. My death would save them all.
“Jo!” someone yelled.
It sounded like Martin, but I wasn’t sure. My eyes were too heavy. The room stank of my blood and I couldn’t move.
“Jo, hang in there,” Martin said, his voice far away.
Hang in there? I was hanging in chains and he said, hang in there? I snorted softly at the pun.
The last thing I heard before I died would be a pun.
“Stand back,” someone ordered Martin.
There was movement all around me and I was pretty sure they had taken me out of the chains, but I was too cold and numb to feel anything for certain.
“Don’t die on me,” Martin ordered me. “Do you hear me, Jolie? Don’t you dare die on me!”
“Too late,” I whispered.
“No, it’s not,” he growled. “You have four princes losing their shit and they need you to come back. I need you. My daughters need you. How are they going to take the news that their favorite aunt died trying to save me?”
“I’m their only aunt,” I grunted.
“Stop talking,” the other person, male it sounded like, ordered me. I didn’t recognize the voice at all, so it must have been a healer.
“I love you,” I whispered to Martin.
“No!” he yelled. “Don’t give up! Jolie. Please! Don’t give up!”
He was safe. That was what mattered. The princes would learn to live without me again. It might take time to adjust, but they would do it.
“She’s lost so much blood,” the healer told Martin.
“What do you need?” Martin asked.
“We need to find someone who has the same blood type as her,” he explained.
“I’m the same,” Thor said.
“Thor,” I whispered. “Why are you here?”
“Shut up,” Martin snarled at me.
“We’ve been searching the entire city for you,” he told me. “Martin found you and we let everyone know. They’re on their way.”
“Why? Just let me sleep,” I requested.
“Hook me up,” Thor ordered the healer.
Something stabbed my arm, but I barely felt it.
“Remember when we went skinny dipping in the lake?” Martin asked me. “You were terrified that Mr. Smiton would come out of his house and find us. But, we did it anyway. We were having a great time and then the entire pack showed up to drink from the lake.”
I did remember. I was mortified. I had become used to them being naked, but not them seeing me naked.
“You were blushing so much, that alpha was worried you were going to faint,” Thor chuckled. “You were redder than a tomato.”
“If that water hadn’t been so clear, it wouldn’t have been an issue,” Martin said and laughed.
“Remember when I first met you?” Thor asked me.
Oh, I remembered. He had been terrified of me. It had hurt my feelings and I had stayed away from the pack for an entire week because of it.
“You smelled so good and so weird at the same time.”
Oh, gee, thanks.
“I didn’t understand what the smell meant until I was older, but it was Martin who convinced me that you were good and to give you another try. I’m glad he did. Every time we were together, it was one of the happiest days of my life. You always made me smile and you made sure that I never felt like a third wheel, even after you and Martin had started dating.”
“Remember that time that Delphine stole her clothes from the PE locker?” Thor asked Martin.
“Oh, yeah!” Martin said. “She sent me a text message asking for help and when I came to the door of the locker room, she practically tore my shirt off of me.”
“Where is she?” Dan boomed, his feet thundering across the wooden floor.
“She’s alive,” the healer informed Dan. “Just barely, though.”
“What do you need?” Dan asked him.
“We need to take her back to the castle, but I’m afraid moving her will reopen the wounds and-”
“I’ll teleport her,” Johann said.
Before I could voice my protests, someone picked me up and then set me down on a cold, metal cot.
“I’m sorry,” Johann whispered to me. “I’m sorry this happened to you. My son may never forgive me.”
I didn’t care if his son forgave him or not. He made his bed. He could have teleported me away too, but he hadn’t. He had left me because he was still furious that I’d interrupted him and Justina’s deal.
“I was trying to work out the deal with her when you interrupted.”
“Why didn’t you tell them where I was?” I asked, remembering that they had said they were searching the entire city.
“Because I’m an old fool who can’t get over his own ego,” he whispered.
“Get away from her!” Nico growled, his voice shaking everything around us. I still hadn’t opened my eyes and now that I knew he was here, I was glad that they were still closed. I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t see him knowing we weren’t bound.
“I’m leaving,” Johann said.
“Jolie,” Nico whispered from nearby. “Jolie, say something.”
“Go, away,” I begged, my throat constricting as I tried to keep from crying.
“What happened?” he asked. “What cut the bonds?”
“Justina did,” I whispered.
“Stop talking,” the healer ordered me. “If your presence is going to upset her, then you need to leave.”
“Jolie,” Nico whispered. “Please, look at me.”
“No, it hurts too much,” I sobbed.
“What does?”
“The emptiness.”
“Leave,” the healer ordered him. “You can see her when she’s healed.”
“No,” I told him. “Stop healing me.”
“Sorry, that’s not something I can do,” he whispered. “We need to find another blood donor for you.”
“It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters,” I whispered. “Just let me go.”
“No,” he said adamantly. “You’re in pain, yes, but you aren’t going to die. Now, shut up and lie there while I heal you.”
I obeyed, mainly because I didn’t have the energy to fight. Talking to Nico had reopened the emotional wounds inside of my heart and I couldn’t breathe well.
“I’m going to knock you out,” the healer said. “It will speed up your healing.”
He wasn’t asking my permission. He just knocked me out.
When I came back to, my arms were healed and I could not only open my eyes, but sit up. The room was empty and I looked down at my arms, two giant scars ran down the center of my forearms.
That bitch.
“You’re awake,” the healer said happily.
I nodded.
“Are you up for visitors?” he asked.
“Can I travel yet?” I asked instead of answering.
“Yes,” he replied nervously.
“Who do I talk to about traveling back to Jinla?” I asked, wanting to get away from the princes as soon as possible.
“Me,” Dan said as he walked in.
I looked away from him. “I want to go home.”
“I thought your home was with my son and his friends,” he whispered.
I shook my head and tears began to fall. “Not any longer.”
“Hope isn’t lost,” he whispered and pulled me into a hug. “They still love you.”
“They’re gone,” I gasped. “They’re gone! My soul, my heart is empty. They’re gone and I can’t get them back.”
It had been what the Elders had told us, that once I removed the warrior’s bond, I couldn’t get it back.
“The warrior’s bond is gone, but you can still become their queen. You can still become their mate,” Dan informed me.
“Only the one who wins her hand in the tournament can claim her as their mate,” Amos said.
“Leave us,” Dan ordered him.
“You don’t order me around, King of the Werewolves,” Amos reminded him.
“I’m talking with her. This is a private conversation. You can come see her later when I’m done,” Dan told him, his body tightening around mine.
“The second round has yet to happen, so you cannot leave for Jinla. You have to wait until your mate is chosen. Once that happens, I will book you on the first train ride out,” Amos said to me.
“Fuck you,” I grumbled into Dan’s chest.
“What?” Amos asked.
I pulled back to face Amos and said, “Fuck. You.”
His shock turned into anger and he reached towards me, but Dan stepped between us.
“You will not lay a fucking finger on her. She’s my princess. She’s my daughter. You will leave now, or I will rip your fucking head off and explain to everyone that you were trying to kill the princess.”
Dan was pissed. I felt his body shaking with anger where it still touched me.
“She is not your daughter,” Amos spat. “She’s hardly even a princess.”
“Get out!” Dan bellowed, the room shaking with his voice.
I heard Amos’s footsteps retreating and a door close.
“He’s right,” I whispered.
“Stop. That’s enough,” Dan ordered me. “You have to come with me to the coliseum. If you don’t want to talk to your guar…the princes, then I will keep them away from you for now. They have to finish the tournament, though.”
“Why? I’m not their queen any longer. I’m just-”
“Their friend,” Dan finished for me. “Their lover. Their love. They will continue to fight for you.”
“There are four of them,” I reminded him. “They can’t all win me.”
“Let’s go get you a change of clothes,” he said, picking me up and carrying me. “And some food, because I’m sure you’re hungry.”
“I’m not,” I whispered. The emptiness in me was so big, that food would just make me sick.
“Let’s get you changed. We’ll focus on one thing at a time,” Dan whispered.
My room was empty of princes when we arrived, thankfully, so I took my time bathing and getting into another one of the dresses that was in the closet. Dan carried me again, this time taking me to the coliseum.
Ezio and Deryn were fighting, while Rhys, Nico, and Fox stood off to the side just watching. The idiots must have decided it was Deryn’s job to fight Ezio, since he was a werewolf.
“Jolie,” Emrys breathed as Dan set me in the chair between them again. “How are you feeling?”
“Cold,” I whispered, pulling my legs up on the chair beneath the long skirt of my dress.
Emrys blew a ring of fire around me and it sat even with my chest, without moving, the flames warmed me.
“Thanks,” I whispered, trying to look away from the arena, but unable to do so.
Fox looked up at me and his eyes widened. He took a few steps towards me, as if he would come to the box, but Nico grabbed his arm and stopped him, shaking his head.
They were keeping him away from me. I knew it. I knew they would feel different once the bond was gone.
“The princess is back,” someone in the crowd called and that sentence was repeated over and over again by others until the fighting stopped.
“Jo,” Ezio called. “Are you alright?”
“I’m alive,” I whispered, not sure if he could even hear me, and looked away, glancing down at the flames around me.
“Jolie,” Fox called in a rasping voice.
“Finish your fight!” Amos ordered them. “The three of you should be fighting each other while Deryn fights Ezio!”
“I concede,” Ezio said, jumping out of the arena. He ran up the stairs until he reached me, kneeling before me. “Jo, say something.”
I shook my head, tears welling up. “Please, go.”
He rested his hand on my foot a moment and then bowed and left.
“Four left!” Amos announced to the crowd, as though it were exciting.
“We are done,” Rhys called up. “We four claim her.”
“You can’t do th
at,” Amos snapped. “Only one of you will win.”
“Shouldn’t it be her decision?” Dan asked Amos.
“Nothing has been my decision,” I snapped, leaping up and somehow avoiding the circle of flames still around me.
Emrys extinguished them and stood up next to me. “It’s alright,” he whispered.
“No, it’s not!” I turned to Amos and said, “I’m not a god damn pawn for you to use! I’m not someone you can treat like a trophy. I’m a living, breathing, person! I deserve to choose my own mate.”
“Then choose,” he said and waved at the princes. “Choose one to be your mate.”
“No,” I growled and looked away from them. “No. I won’t choose one.”
“Are they not good enough? Do you think you’re too good for the princes?” Amos asked.
“Shut up!” Rhys roared at Amos. “Don’t you dare talk to her like that!”
“Silence!” Amos ordered him. “At this Summit, I am the head. I am the ruler. I make the decisions.”
“Not about my life,” I told him. I turned away and walked back towards the castle and my room.
The crowd erupted into shocked chatter and I ignored all of Amos’s demands for me to return. I was done. I was done with all of this.
“It’s alright, Jo,” Martin whispered beside me. “Everything will be alright.”
“Please, don’t touch me yet,” I begged him as he moved closer.
He kept his distance and nodded. “Okay.”
“I want to go home,” I sobbed. “Now.”
“Okay,” he agreed. “I’ll help you pack.”
In my room, he locked the door behind us and started packing my bag. I tried to help, but it was hard to see anything with the tears flowing down my face.
I was pissed at Amos. I was pissed at Johann. I was pissed at Justina. Most of all, I was pissed at myself.
“Jolie,” Rhys called through my door. “Please, let us in.”
“No,” I whispered, packing faster.
“I love you,” he yelled. “I don’t care who hears it. I don’t care who knows. I love you, Jolie. Please, don’t shut me out. Don’t shut us out!”
“It’s over!” I yelled. “The bond is gone! She severed them. She severed them all!”
“Oh, fuck,” Martin whispered. “I didn’t know. Jolie, I-”
Royally Exposed Page 14
