by Katie May
"You saw my face," Ryland stated. There was no bitterness in his voice. It was merely a recitation of the facts. "You saw what I look like."
"So why do you still hide?"
His body tensed beneath mine as I moved my hand even further up, resting the tips of my fingers on his cheekbones. I paused there with bated breath, searching his face. If he wanted me to stop, I would, but the diminutive seed of trust growing between us would stop as well. Trust went both ways, after all. He wanted me to trust him, and it was completely rational of me to want the same in return.
I waited, heart beating against my ribcage, as he took a shuddering breath. It fanned against my skin.
"I want..." he broke off suddenly. And then, louder, "What the hell is he doing?"
I jumped. Out of everything he could've said, I hadn't expected it to be that. I blinked up at him rapidly.
"What do you mean?"
He placed a shadowy hand on my shoulder and spun me around. The move, so sudden, nearly propelled me off my feet, but I held firm.
"What the hell are you talking about, Ryland?" I hissed. Were the Kings up to something? Were they finally moving the last pawn into place?
But he wasn't talking about the Kings.
No, he was talking about Bash, my Mage mate.
My mate who currently had his hand clasped with Cassie's as he led her out of the ballroom.
SEVENTEEN
Z
The floor opened up and swallowed me.
I had once been pushed out a window by an enraged Shifter. This feeling was somewhat similar. My stomach was bottomless, perverse fear sinking its claws into my heart and refusing to release its grip.
Suddenly, the world didn’t make sense. It was just a blur of faces and names, of species and genders, of good and bad. The facets of nature, of mankind, blurred together until everything was indecipherable. I could barely breathe, barely think, barely hear anything over the sound of my heart beating.
Breaking.
I think the asshole just broke my heart.
My chest grew as taut as the strings on a violin.
“What the fuck is he thinking?” Ryland muttered irately.
All I could do was stare at the door they had disappeared through. Stare. As if that would somehow compel them to come back.
My hands were shaking, horror and rage the predominant emotions. They settled heavily in my stomach, curdling like a spoiled cheese.
The silence stretched until it became almost unbearable. Ryland’s eyes remained on me - even through the shadowy cloak, I could feel their gentle caress.
“It doesn’t matter.” My voice was soft, devoid of emotion. “He can do what he wants.”
“Z...it’s not what you’re thinking.”
“Do you know for sure?” I spun around to face him, hands clenching into fists. “You’re with me, not them. How do you know? How do you fucking know?” A humorless laugh escaped me followed immediately by a snort. “I wonder how she will react when she discovers he can’t get hard.”
“I think you’re blowing things out of proportion,” he cajoled soothingly. The shadows moved as he stepped closer, hand extending as if he meant to put it on my shoulder and comfort me.
I took an automatic step backwards, bristling. I imagined that if I was a cat my fur would be standing on end, and I would be hissing. My emotions were running rampant within me, a hurricane that threatened to flood my mind. I tried to calm them, tried to reel them in, but they assaulted me repeatedly.
“Says the coward who hides his face,” I spat and then immediately regretted it. “Ryland...”
But he was already gone. The shadows had diminished as if a giant spotlight had come, effectively eliminating them. I was now alone.
Alone.
Alone.
That thought echoed in my head.
Before I could second guess myself, I walked briskly to the back door. It led to a magnificent garden, currently sheathed in moonlight. I could distantly decipher the shape of a marble fountain, emitting a soft blue glow. Whether that was from a spell or electricity I couldn’t decide.
A few people gave me strange looks as I stepped outside, but not any of those people were my mates.
I imagined they would be furious with me, but at that moment, I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything.
My rage had ebbed leaving behind an icy numbness. It sprang from the tips of my fingers, up my neck, and then down my body. Encasing me in a slate of ice.
Suffocating me.
The air was crisp, a slight wind blowing my hair back. It smelled like scented pine, despite the fact that there was no pine tree in sight. A facet of magic, I imagined.
Steps brisk, I walked further into the garden.
A stone statue caught my attention. The artist had outdone himself. Each detail was intricate, carved with precision. It was a man dressed in finery, mouth opened in a scream. The artist had captured the horror emanating from his eyes.
Rubbing my hand over the statue’s cold shoulders, I thought back to what I had seen.
Bash’s treachery was still too raw, a wound that hadn’t quite scabbed yet. The child in me, the insecure girl, wanted to pick repeatedly at the skin until it bled.
Why had he done it? I had thought - perhaps misguidedly - that we were making headway. When we had danced, he hadn’t been looking at me like the enemy. He hadn’t looked at me as if he hated me.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
I should’ve listened to myself the first time. I should’ve listened to the warning voice in my head steering me away from these seven deadly men.
And because of my own stupidity, my heart had broken.
I had offered it up to him, and he had watched it crumble. I had no one to blame but myself.
Never again, I vowed, pulling up my dress and grabbing the diamond encrusted dagger. A gift from Devlin.
Spinning it in my hand, I finally released the scream I’d been holding in. The dagger flew from my hand, flying through the air and bouncing off another statue a few feet away.
Why hadn’t my mates followed me into the garden?
Why did that even matter?
And why the fuck was I so emotional?
Realization settled over me like a heavy cloak.
The asshole Kings.
They had done something to me.
I knew, from both research and experience, that Incubi were able to manipulate emotions if they were powerful enough. All it took was skin to skin contact.
My mind flittered back to when the King had kissed my hand.
Since then, everything had felt enhanced, as if I was seeing the world through a new lens. Shinier. Brighter.
Those fucking assholes!
The despair turned to anger, white hot. It threatened to burn me from the inside out. Burn me alive.
Through the hazy cloud of fury, I realized that I was playing directly into their hands. They wanted a strong emotion from me, planned on it, and no doubt were waiting for me back in the ballroom.
Did they want my fury?
Because they could fucking have it.
Mentally, I planned using my dagger to carve off their skin. The Incubus King would go first, of course. I would pay extra attention to his nutsack. I wondered how appealing he would be with a castrated penis.
Fuming, I marched towards my dagger and picked it up. I was so focused on my mission that I almost missed the statue mere inches from me. Almost.
But I saw it.
A scream threatened to burst out even as I took a step backwards, eyes widening in horror.
Killian.
Even in stone, his handsome, chiseled face was impossible to miss. His lips were pursed into a perfect O. Unlike the other statue, he didn’t seem scared, only confused. He was wearing the same outfit I had seen on him in the ball, including the Incubus crest on his jacket lapel.
Horror filled me.
What the hell was this? Had someone been commissioned to carve a statue
of Killian? Or...
Dread curled in my stomach.
Or was that Killian?
I stumbled backwards, tripping over my own two feet, and hit something hard.
Another statue.
His broad shoulders, extended canines, and hate filled eyes were impossible to miss, though that hate had never been directed at me.
Lupe.
He, too, was dressed exactly as I had seen him previously.
“They were looking for you,” a soft voice said from the shadows. There, flowers and hedges rose from the ground in a sort of makeshift maze. With the darkness blanketing the garden and only a thin shaft of moonlight, it was impossible to make out the figure.
I held the dagger steady, pushing my emotions to the side. It was surprisingly difficult to do so with the spell heightening them.
“Who are you?” I asked darkly.
The voice was a girl’s, of that I was certain.
“While you were talking to your Shadow, I told them that I saw you leave. They, of course, ran after you like obedient puppies.”
Something moved in the distance, and I took another step closer. From this angle, I could see down another pathway.
Three statues glinted in the moonlight, one of which was sitting. Dair, Jax, and Devlin.
Anger hummed through my veins. There were no words adequate enough to describe it. It was the sort of anger people started wars for. Fear, simultaneously, twisted my gut.
These were my men, my mates, and this bitch had harmed them, maybe forever.
What if I could never free them from their stone prison?
“Release them.” I didn’t recognize my voice. It was practically a growl.
“All we want is you, sweet girl,” she cooed. “Come with me, and I’ll release your loves.”
“Who the fuck are you?”
I realized that the correct question should’ve been what the fuck are you, but I was too pissed off to care.
Finally, she took a step closer. The light caught first on her pretty face - plump lips, white eyelashes, and a button nose. Something hissed as the rest of her came into view. No, not something.
Her hair.
Her hair hissed.
Dozens of snakes slithered around her head. Green, a ruby red, and a few still were as yellow as aspen leaves. Each snake hissed, beady eyes fixated on me.
The girl laughed, a surprisingly jovial sound.
“My sweet child,” she said. The snakes rose from her head, their hissing a cacophony of noise. She smiled with feigned sweetness. “Have you ever heard of a Gorgon?”
EIGHTEEN
Z
A Gorgon.
My mind rapidly attempted to sift through all the information I had acquired over the years.
A mythical creature, descended from a demon. Snakes for hair. Female, always. Extinct.
And the ability to turn people into stone.
I squeezed my eyes shut, heart racing. Her laughter caught in the wind, a twinkling of bells.
“So you heard,” she said, and there was no mistaking the cockiness in her tone.
“Your reputation precedes you,” I drawled sarcastically. I held the knife handle stiffly as Ryland’s training flickered through my mind. He had prepared me for this, I realized. Prepared me to fight an enemy I wasn’t able to see.
The hissing of snakes grew louder as she grew closer.
“I don’t want to have to hurt you, Z, but I will.”
“Did Aaliyah send you?” I asked, teeth gritted. There was a change in the air, and suddenly I felt warm breath on my face.
“Of course,” she replied immediately. Casually. Relaxed.
“Why?”
The question haunted me. Why? What did that psycho bitch want from me? Why me? I was afraid I would never get the answers to those questions.
The Gorgon giggled, a surprisingly young and innocent sound. Still, I didn’t believe it for one second. This woman was not innocent nor young. She was a killer - she may have already killed my mates.
It was that thought that made my hands move. Blindly, they reached out and yanked at her slithering mound of hair. She yelped even as something sharp pierced my skin.
Cursing, I released her hair - her snakes? - only to immediately punch her in the face. The sickening crunch of bone greeted my throbbing knuckles, and I resisted the urge to smile like an idiot.
“You bitch,” she hissed, the noise more snakelike than human.
“You know my name,” I began, listening intently to the wisp of fabric. The snakes had quieted down once more, but the Gorgon could do little to conceal her footsteps against the dirt. The crinkle of leaves. The scattering of rocks. “I think it’s only fair that I know yours.”
I spun around and held up an arm a mere second before something slammed into me. I staggered, but my arm shielded my face from the worst of blows.
“Haven,” she answered. Her breathing was heavy as if this fight was taking a lot out of her.
I kicked my feet out, listening to her body clunk as it hit the ground. She muttered a curse.
“Pretty name,” I mused. My foot intended to slam on her head, but she moved at the last second.
“Better than Z,” she retorted from behind me.
Something hard slammed into my back. The pain was immediate and intense. Pinpricks of fire raced down my spine, tears blurring in my eyes.
“Nah. I’m rather fond of it,” I countered, remaining crouched on the ground. Her warm hand tangled in my hair, pulling my head back, but at the last second, I swept my foot out behind me and brought her down as well.
She snarled. Honestly, it was a hideous sound. Grown ass women shouldn’t snarl. It just wasn’t attractive.
“What does she want with me?” I asked darkly, twisting my body. My hands once more tangled in her snake hair. Ignoring the stab of pain from the snakes’ fangs, I brought her head up only to push it back into the dirt. “Answer me!”
“Fuck off!” Haven hissed.
My head throbbed suddenly. So suddenly that I very nearly released the bitch.
Dizziness and nausea swarmed within me. A strange pain erupted on my arm. It felt like thousands of needles numbing my skin. That was the only description I could think of. It raced from the tips of my fingers, up my arm, and then down my body.
Suddenly, I couldn’t move.
I kept my eyes squeezed shut as I was kicked unceremoniously onto the rocky ground. It was the strangest sensation to not know if you had a body. To have your sense of sight ripped away. To not feel your toes wiggle or your fingers grasp at dirt. Only my brain existed in this strange world. I was disembodied, a shell of myself.
“Making eye-contact may turn you into stone, but my snakes?” Her lips touched my ear, and I wanted to shiver in revulsion. “They paralyze you.”
Well.
Fuck.
I finally dared to open up my eyes.
Haven stood over me, smirking, and as I watched in rapt horror, she bent down to pick me up. I may have been skinny, but I wasn’t a short damsel. Still, the Gorgon didn’t struggle as she dumped me over her shoulder.
“You know, I might’ve liked you, Z. We could’ve even been friends.”
Somehow, my lips were able to move. They were the only thing besides my eyelids that were able to.
“Please don’t.”
Haven released a heavy sigh.
“I wish I could,” she said softly. I almost wanted to believe the sincerity in her voice, but I wasn’t stupid. “Aaliyah gave me life in exchange for this one task.”
“Me?”
“I’m not ready to die,” she said earnestly. “Between you and me, I choose me.”
Hatred did not begin to encapsulate what I felt for this motherfucker.
I opened my mouth to retort something snarky, probably along the lines of, “But I choose me, cocksucking bitch” when I realized I couldn’t get my lips open. Panic settled heavily in my chest with the strength of a tsunami, drowning me.
>
Would my breathing go next? I wondered if it would be horribly painful to choke from lack of air.
Stomach sinking, all I could do was focus on the twinkling stars blinking in and out of existence. I would be like those stars if Haven had her way with me.
“It’s not like you’re going to live much longer anyway,” she continued. “I know denial when I see it. I can sense death-” Her voice broke off abruptly.
In a span of seconds, I was dropped to the ground, but no pain registered. I moved my eyes rapidly to the side just in time to see Haven’s blank gaze and pretty head.
Disconnected from the rest of her body.
The snakes were dead as well, cascading around her in a kaleidoscope of color. A figure dressed in black stood over her, a katana sword held in his or her hand.
Terror blinded me, momentarily overcoming the paralyzation from the snake bites. This motherfucker had just killed a Gorgon with an ease that left me baffled. He - or she - knew exactly how to stop the bitch.
I was jostled as I was grabbed once more, head nestled beneath someone’s chin. I couldn’t see who was holding me, and my body thrummed with pent-up tension.
As we walked, we passed the statues of my mates. I was relieved to see the stone chipping away to reveal skin and vibrant colored hair. I nearly sobbed with relief. They were alive.
The unknown figure gently set me down on a stone bench, and I felt fingers brush my hair out of my face - the only part of my body that wasn’t completely numb. There was so much tenderness in that one gesture that my heart caught in my throat. I willed my head to move, to look at the figure, but it remained stubbornly frozen.
There was a ruffle of fabric, and I knew my savior was gone.
Just like the stars.
NINETEEN
Z
The next couple hours were chaos.
If you could call it that. Chaos didn't even begin to encapsulate all that occurred. Someone, probably a noble girl and her lover, were dallying in the garden when they came across my prone body. My prone, unmoving body.
