Cruel Crown: A Dark Romance (Sekten Book 2)

by C. Lymari

  I would have felt sympathy for the asshole. To feel emasculated like he had must have been a bitch. To know he was getting raped and not be able to do a thing fucked him up good. All of that ceased because all I kept hearing was Daphne’s voice. “He knew what Ivan was doing to me, but he didn’t care.”

  When Damian walked into the office, I was sitting down on a chair looking outside the window with a cigarette on my lips.

  “Can I help you?” he said, sounding displeased. He went to sit behind his desk as he pierced me with those dark eyes, waiting to see what I would say. I wasn’t stupid; I knew he wanted something from me. He wanted to use me against Daphne, but instead, I would turn the tables against him.

  I smiled at him. “I believe we can help each other.”

  Before I left MI6, I made sure to take out as much insurance as I could. All the information I had stored, guaranteeing my life, I was about to give to him. I mean, at the end of the day I was Sekten now, wasn’t I? I wasn’t alone anymore.

  I had enough incriminating information that could destroy the world. I didn’t give a fuck about that, and when I told Damian what I was giving him and what I wanted in return, he gave me a smile.

  Maybe I was playing into a trap, but I could deal with the fallout when it came.

  That was the thing about not having feelings—you didn’t care when you sold your soul to the devil. At the end of the day, I got what I wanted, and that was all that mattered.

  Since enough time had passed, I went in search of Daphne, knowing she would get pissed at what I was about to tell her. I grinned. I liked fighting with her, and I loved making up with her even more.

  I got off on the push and pull. The way she could kill me if she wanted but getting a thrill at the fact that she wouldn’t—she couldn’t.

  When I made it to her room, I checked her bathroom since she wasn’t in the room. I waited for about thirty minutes before I decided to go search for her.

  Grabbing a torch, I went to search in the Amber Room, but there was no sign of anyone in the darkroom.

  My next place was the dining room, and when I didn’t find her there, I started to get a little worried. I had to remind myself that she had been taking care of herself for the last twenty-five years without me.

  I found Bas sparring with another guy, and when he saw me, he stopped and walked over to me.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Have you seen Daphne?”

  He didn’t look worried.

  “Did you check her room?”

  “Yes, and the Amber and dining room,” I replied.

  Bas’s face became a little somber, and that right there told me all I needed to know. My gut feeling was rarely wrong.

  Fuck. Me.

  A woman came in; she was one of the ones that was in bed with Bas the other day.

  She came to a halt when she saw me and looked back at Bas.

  “He’s with us” was all Bas said.

  “I just saw it on one of my chats, Rebeca Estacado hung herself this morning.”

  Bas ran a hand through his hair and cursed.

  “Did anyone tell her this?” Both the woman and the man who had been sparring with Bas shook their heads.

  “Tell the others. Try to find her.”

  The two Sekt members left without a word.

  This was the kind of loyalty my woman inspired. These people would do anything because they believed in the same cause she did. They committed treason against the same society in hopes of rebuilding a better one. They were so loyal they took their orders from someone else because it was too risky to take them from her.

  “If she finds out about the Italian girl committing suicide, she will blame herself,” Bas said as we went out through another door.

  Maybe this was the part I should feel like an asshole, but I didn’t feel anything for the woman dying. She chose to take her own life after I decided to kidnap her. A series of choices strung together and they fucked up her life.

  “I’m the one who kidnapped her,” I said.

  Bas snorted. “She won’t see it that way, especially not after seeing Alexis. It always fucks her up a bit, seeing her like that. It’s why I steer clear of her on those days. She also feels guilty about training me.”

  She could feel guilty all she wanted, but there was no way in hell I would leave just to protect her from feeling.

  Bas and I walked down halls and went up corridors, coming up empty. If she was fine, I was going to strangle her myself.

  I knew most feelings; I’d been mimicking them all my life just so people would leave me alone or help me get wherever I wanted to go. But the ones I was feeling now, I fucking hated them. It was this despair, like I was trying to scratch my skin out.

  Time was going too slow, and there was an anxiety that clung to me like a second skin. Feelings could go suck a dick because I didn’t want them anymore.

  Someone came running toward us but didn’t stop, and in the wind, his words carried.

  “She’s in her room.”

  I took off running in the direction of her room. I swore if she was fine, I was going to fuck her half to death for making me feel like I was dying for a quick second.

  People passed in a blur, and I didn’t care what anyone said or what they thought of me. All of that was irrelevant.

  By the time I was at her door, I was out of breath. The woman who had come to the gym was standing outside. I tried to go in, but she stopped me by putting her palm on my chest.

  “She doesn’t want you in there.”

  I grabbed her wrist like a vise. “You better get the fuck out of my way before I snap your neck.”

  The woman didn’t back down. “I’m not scared of you.”

  “It’s okay, let him in,” Bas said, coming to a stop behind me. He then motioned for the woman and they left me alone.

  When I walked inside the room, Daphne was lying on the bed, the covers over her body.

  “Where were you?” Probably not what I should have said, but I was acting beyond rational. No one pushed my buttons like the woman before me.

  “Go away,” she said, sounding annoyed that I was in here.

  “You know what I said about taking it easy on you because your pussy was sore—if I have to make you bleed until you submit to me, I’ll fucking do it,” I growled.

  I walked to the bed, and then I tugged at the comforter to remove it from her face. Daphne fought it, and the moment I pulled it away, rage like I’d never felt before coursed through my veins.

  “Who. The. Fuck. Did. That. To. You?” I gritted out the words slowly. I wanted to—no, I needed to kill the person responsible for this.

  Someone had hurt my woman. Her cheek was busted open where someone had kicked her and blood poured from her lips. She held on to her stomach, trying to add pressure, and I knew…I just knew they had kicked her there too.

  Daphne didn’t even look at me. “Go away.”

  She reached for the comforter and tried to pull it over her face, and I saw the way she gritted her teeth in pain.

  I kneeled on the bed, my hand touching her busted cheek. “Baby, who did this to you?”

  My voice was more controlled, sounding less lethal, but she knew I was barely holding it together.

  “Please, go away,” she begged as she closed her eyes.

  “Fuck that!”

  “Please, I don’t want you to see me like this,” she pleaded.

  My knees buckled a bit. I sat at the edge of the bed, gently forcing her to look up at me. Her eyes were wide with pain.

  “See you like what?” I asked lowly, my throat burning as I got the words out.

  “Weak,” she hissed as she turned away.

  Was she crazy? She thought I would think she was weak?

  “Petal,” I called out as I brought my face to hers, my thumb wiping the blood that was on her cheek. I hated seeing her skin torn, imagining a hundred different ways of how they’d manage to rip it open.

  “Fuck, Pet
al, tell me you don’t mean that.”

  When she didn’t answer me, I knew she did. And that made a part of me ache. The moment I got up from the bed, I saw her take a relieved breath. Instead of walking out, I went to her bathroom and then cursed this fucking place because I couldn’t get hot fucking water in this room. I grabbed a towel and soaked it in water. I then walked to the fireplace and stuck the wet towel close enough for it to get warm.

  I ignored the heat in my hands. I would pay for the burn later. Right now, that took a back seat.

  Coming back to the bed, I sat beside her and her eyes sprang open.

  “Weak is not even a word that’s in my vocabulary when it comes to you,” I said as I gently wiped the smeared blood. When I had cleaned her face, I brought my mouth to her cheek, and I licked the wound, then gave it a soft kiss.

  She whimpered in pain, but while we got her medical supplies, the enzymes from my saliva would act as a barrier against infections.

  “Please, go away,” she repeated.

  “No, and don’t fucking ask me again. Do you know how much it’s killing me right now to see you like this? My every instinct is telling me to make rivers of blood flow through this castle. The only thing holding me back is because you need me. I always imagined this day—the day you needed me—but never like this.”

  I scooped her in my arms and gently turned her body so I could look at her ribs. I lifted her shirt, and she whimpered in pain but was trying so hard to hold it together.

  “Who did this?” I demanded in a harsh voice, starting to get angry.

  “Just go away.”

  “I’m not leaving you alone,” I barked.

  She glared at me, her silver eyes shining brightly. “Then send Bas, but leave.”

  Something metallic hit my taste buds, and it took me a second to realize that it was my own blood from where I’d bitten the inside of my cheeks. If she wasn’t in the condition she was, I would throttle her.

  I got on the bed and leaned above her, making sure I didn’t put any of my weight on her body. Our foreheads touched, but that was about it.

  “Fuck you,” I hissed. “I’m not going to send that fucking rich prick to take care of my woman when I’m right here.” My chest rose and fell faster when she didn’t look at me. “Because that’s what you are—mine.”

  “Then don’t look at me when I’m like this…not when I’m weak.” She said the words out of breath and in pain, but all she achieved was for them to carve themselves into my heart.

  “Fucking hell, Petal,” I said, trying to force her to look at me.

  She didn’t listen; she tried to push me away, gathering her strength to throw me off the bed—maddening woman.

  “I see it every time I look into Bas’s eyes. I can’t help but remember him weak and broken.”

  It was hard trying to hide my pleased smile. Now was not the time to gloat, even I knew that. Instead, I got off the bed and ignored the sagging of her shoulders in relief. I took off my shirt and then my joggers until I was only in my boxers. When I got under the covers with her, she stiffened.

  “I said—”

  “Sshhh,” I cut her off as I slowly brought her body closer so her head rested on my chest. “When I look at you, Petal, I see nothing but strength, resilience, and beauty. If there is a God, then I have to thank him for crafting the perfect woman.”

  “I’m far from perfect,” I tried to scoff, but the pain in my abdomen made it too difficult.

  Gideon took hold of my hand and brought it up to his mouth. He grabbed the palm, the one that had the scar from the vow he’d forced me to make. He took his time, turned it, and then he put a kiss to the center.

  “Tell me what happened.” Even though his voice was gentle, I knew this was no request. I didn’t want him here, but he was not leaving. As I laid my head on his chest, I wondered why I wanted him gone in the first place.

  “It was a warning,” I managed to say through the pain.

  When they found me, I was barely coming into consciousness. They brought me here and gave me some pain pills.

  “For what?”

  I could feel the tension coming off Gideon. It was so sharp it could cut.

  “I’m not sure y-yet,” I said as I tried to move from the angle I was in, but it caused me pain because I had used all my strength trying to get Gideon to leave me alone.

  “Can you do me a favor?” I hated asking him this, I hated depending on anyone, but while he was here, he might as well make himself useful.

  Gideon nodded and held his breath, waiting to see what I would say.

  “Can you wrap my ribs?”

  Once again, he maneuvered me until I was lying flat on the bed. He got up to go to my bathroom, and I heard him moving stuff around. I closed my eyes as I tried to recall anything from the attack.

  It was after leaving the tunnel. I felt so raw and exposed, like I was translucent, and Gideon would be able to see all the things I always kept locked tight.

  I was on my way to the exit closer to the graveyard when I felt someone come behind me, when I turned around to confront them, I was attacked from behind.

  Right away, I knew it was a warning from the way they hit me. It was precise with the intention of not breaking me but causing the most pain. They had succeeded because I could barely move, my body on fire once they were done with me. The only thing I had managed to do was slither to the wall, and even that took a great deal of effort.

  When they found me, I was starting to lose consciousness.

  There was someone talking in my room, but I couldn’t make it out until Gideon got angry.

  “She’s not fine, and she wants her privacy…” I couldn’t hear what the other person said, and I found it too hard to open my eyes again.

  “I’m taking care of her,” he said right before he slammed my door.

  I managed to open my eyes, but I just didn’t have it in me to turn to see to whom he talked with, so I closed them again.

  My cheek burned, the open flesh stinging; every time I spoke, it hurt. One of the only places on my body that hadn’t been marred was my face. Now the cut would scar. I didn’t know who had kicked me, but they wanted me to hurt.

  “Petal.” Gideon’s voice rang by my ear. It was pleasant and soothing. “Come on, baby, wake up.”

  I hissed when he started to clean the wound on my cheek and gritted my teeth as he put adhesive on it so it could close.

  “You probably have a concussion, so I need you to stay up.”

  “I’m so tired,” I said, not just referring to today but my whole life.

  “Give me your eyes.” He kept caressing my cheeks until I opened them again. “I’m being your bloody Prince Charming, and you can’t be bothered to see it happen.”

  Despite the pain, I smiled, then winced when the muscle in my cheek started to throb.

  Gideon leaned closer, his mouth hovering over mine. “How can I ever think of you as weak, when you smile at me while most people would cry?”

  He pressed his lips to my mouth softly, whispering something against them that I couldn’t make out.

  I closed my eyes again, and then I heard the sound of a blade tearing through the cloth as Gideon ripped my clothes so he could remove them without forcing much movement from me. This time as I let sleep overtake me, I did it knowing that I was safe.

  I’d been strong for so long I forgot how it felt to rely on anyone else. I forgot how freeing it felt to let someone carry you, even if it was just for a little while.

  Gideon’s lips briefly touched my forehead.

  “I got you, Petal.”

  For his sake and mine, I hoped he did, and I didn’t regret putting my trust in him.

  The throbbing in my head woke me up, the pain a reminder that no matter what you did, the pain would always find you.

  My chest felt tight, and it seemed like too much energy to move my hands, but I knew Gideon had gotten me wrapped up.

  “Come on, love. You need more meds.” H
is voice rang by my ear, and that anxious feeling I had was gone. He was still here. He was still with me.

  “W-water.”

  Instantly I felt the rim of a water bottle touch my lips. Gideon’s hand came to my chin as he helped me open my mouth and then slowly poured water.

  The water wasn’t cold like I had expected it to be, and I wondered if he had it near the fire to keep a bit warm.

  “What time is it?” I asked as I managed to speak and ignore the pain. I still didn’t have it in me to open my eyes.

  “About to be five.”

  That made sense; I wasn’t one to get much sleep.

  “You’ve been out all day.”

  My eyes sprang open then. “In the afternoon?”

  “There you are,” Gideon breathed in relief.

  I tried to move, but he was there, helping me sit up and lean against the headboard.

  I opened my mouth to talk more, but he was pouring more water down my throat.

  “You could have been this nice in Chicago,” I said after I was done drinking.

  He smiled, and my God did I feel something warm spreading over me. His whiskey eyes shone with mischief. I forced myself to bring my hand up, and with my thumb, I caressed the scar on his eye.

  “Back then, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to kill you or fuck you.” His eyes were on mine, a shade darker than usual, and if I had to guess, he was thinking about our first time.

  “And now?”

  He smirked at me. “It’s beyond fucking, Petal, but there are moments when you also make me so bloody mad I want to kill you.” I started to smile, but he kept talking. “What I feel for you, it’s so brutal that it cuts and tears, and it’s softened me where you are concerned.”

  I knew that feeling well.

  “It’s an awful feeling, isn’t it?”

  He smiled at me, pressing a kiss to my cheek before he kissed my lips. He was a maximum contact kind of guy—it was nice.

  “I quite like the feeling. Keeps me on my toes.”

  “You like that I hurt you?” I raised a brow.

  “I like that you make me feel.”

  “Me too,” I whispered.

  “Fuck, Petal, why do you have to make me hard when I can’t fuck you?” He said it whining. That warmness I felt earlier came back, spreading even further on my body. There were many sides to Gideon, and this one was one I wasn’t used to, but if I wasn’t careful, it was the one I would let myself attach to the most.