Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
I unsheathed my sword.
“I won’t beg for my life.” He remained seated and turned back to the fire. “So get it over with.”
I grabbed him by the neck and slammed his head back, forcing his gaze on me. “I was too young to defend my father. Too weak to save my mother. Too small to defend my kingdom. But I’m a man now—and you’re the one who’s small.”
His eyes didn’t flinch. They were defeated, knowing his life was forfeit.
“Fuck. You.” I squeezed his throat and forced him to gasp for air—and then I stabbed my sword right into his throat and through the back of his head, pinning him in place just as he had to my father on his throne.
He died instantly, his eyes still open, blood dripping from his mouth into his lap.
“Ahhhhhhhh!” Metal clanked against the stone floor. A bottle shattered. The screams continued to pierce the silence. “Noooo!”
Even her voice wasn’t enough to destroy my satisfaction, my blood lust, my all-consuming need to avenge my father.
“You promised me!” Her voice was choked with sobs, so soon, her words became incoherent. “You…promised… You… God.”
I finally turned around and faced her, faced the consequences of my actions. “He deserved it.”
She was on the floor, her back against the wall, rocked with the same sobs my mother had just cried.
I stepped out of the cage, stepped over the broken glass from a shattered bottle. The metal tray was on the floor, bits of food scattered in other places from when she’d thrown it. The longer I watched her suffer, the more it hurt. “You know he deserved it—”
“He tried to come to Delacroix after his family was killed by a yeti attack…and your father exiled him.” Her hands left her face, her eyes red, her skin blotchy. “Your father exiled him. He left him to die down there.” She climbed to her feet, swaying side to side because she was too weak to stand.
“Doesn’t justify what he did—”
“He was going to apologize—”
“Don’t want his fucking apology!”
“He was going to help us with King Rutherford—”
“I don’t need his goddamn help. He killed my father, raped my mother, and destroyed my family! My father has been avenged, and I know he’s proud of me this very moment. My mother got the closure she deserved. She can move on with her life now, knowing she never has to see that motherfucker again. I have no regrets.”
More sobs exploded from her mouth. “You promised me…”
I blew out a drawn-out breath.
“You promised me…you fucking promised me.”
“And I meant that—”
“That was the one thing I asked. Now his blood is on my hands because I helped you get here. You made me kill my own father.”
“No—”
“Fuck you.”
“Baby—”
She slapped me hard across the face. So hard it emphasized her strength. “Don’t you dare.” She turned away and headed to the hallway.
I went after her. “Ivory—”
“We’re done.” She turned back around and faced me, rivers of tears running down her cheeks. “We’re so fucking done.”
Everything hit me at once. All the euphoria I’d felt just moments ago was obliterated. The satisfaction was gone. The pride. The closure. Now my heart broke in two when I saw the pain I caused, the damage, the devastation. I’d just destroyed the one thing that mattered most to me.
My wife.
She walked away—and this time, I didn’t go after her.
I heard her cries all the way down the hallway, all the way up the stairs, and even long after she was gone.