I did this. Me.
Leaving her in this condition, alone, unable to fend for herself, had agonized him. The tonic had better be worth it.
Her eyes were closed, her head thrashing from side to side. “Daddy, please. I don’t want to stay with the king.” A procession of dry heaves. “You gave me to him—now help me leave him. Please! I can’t... Just can’t take any more....”
Her own father had given her to a male she despised? A male who’d clearly hurt her. Bastard!
Torin paused as guilt, rage and sorrow tangled up inside him, a special cocktail he drank daily. What a hypocrite he was. He had hurt her more than anyone else ever could.
He double-checked to make sure he’d returned the gloves to his hands before smoothing the hair from Keeley’s face. “I’m back, princess,” he said. “I’ll protect you with my life, even from your memories.”
Her chest rose and fell in quick succession as she writhed against the cushions. “I spoke to no one today, I swear. Please, don’t kill her, Majesty. Please. She has a family. She— Noooo!” Sobs. More dry heaves.
“Shh, princess. Save your strength.” Torin draped a cold rag across her brow before stroking the corners of her blood-splattered mouth with his thumbs. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
Her lips parted, just the way he’d wanted, and he poured a mouthful of the tonic down her throat. A gagging fit would have caused the liquid to spill out, so Torin forced her to swallow by applying pressure to her jaw and massaging her throat. Cruel to be kind. One of the most difficult things he’d ever done.
She beat at his hands, but her efforts were wasted. As weak as she was, she couldn’t have shooed a fly.
So much power inside her, he thought, and yet still she was so fragile.
He waited for any sign of improvement. Instead, she worsened. Blood gurgled from her mouth, choking her, which led to another spell of vomiting. He wasn’t sure how much medicine she kept down.
Damn it!
The demon laughed, gleeful over the turn of events.
Helplessness...hatred. Wish you were dead.
The laughter only grew louder.
“Hades,” Keeley suddenly shouted. “Help me.”
Torin pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth. “Torin’s here, princess.”
“Torin...” At last Keeley calmed and slipped into what seemed to be a peaceful sleep. Torin dragged the dead spiders outside the cabin. The snow had stopped falling, and the sun had stopped shining. The sky was just...gray.
A sign of impending doom?
No!
When he had all eight bodies and their various severed parts in a pile, he lit a match and threw it in the center of the carnage. It wasn’t long before the flames spread, and dark smoke curled through the air, carrying the pungent scent of charred flesh. The creatures had slashed through his skin, and even though they were already dead, he didn’t want Keeley coming into contact with them when she awoke.
And she would. He had to believe it. Because the thought of going a single day without her was suddenly intolerable.
* * *
BETRAYED BY HADES, the only man to ever claim he loved her? No. Impossible.
“Torin’s here, princess.”
Torin...her new man.
But...he can’t be here. I’m trapped. Alone.
Keeley struggled between memory and reality...wasn’t sure which won...only knew it was impossible to create order from chaos and if she failed to clear her thoughts...
...She was pacing the confines of a chamber, her heart utterly shattered. Hades’s men had come for her an hour ago, locking her inside the smallest, sparsest bedroom usually reserved for the lowliest of servants. Her betrothed couldn’t know she was here. Even though his soldiers did nothing without his express permission.
She should have been able to fight her way free of their hold, but her new wards prevented her from doing anything.
How had this happened?
She remembered how Hades had given her a special wine to put her to sleep so that she wouldn’t experience any pain when the brimstone touched her. How one of his minions had stood by, ready to give Keeley a single ward, one to temper the worst of her power, so that Hades and his people would be safe around her.
But Keeley had woken up alone, with hundreds of wards, weakened, unable to do much more than breathe.
Hades would kill the minion when he found out what had been done to her. Surely he wouldn’t have ordered this. He loved her and would never purposely hurt her.
“Hades,” she screamed for the thousandth time. If she kept this up, she would lose her voice. “I need you!”
Finally he appeared, flashing into the center of the room.
He was a beautiful man with dark hair and eyes—eyes that pulsed with red any time he considered making a kill. He was six foot seven and lofty. But he wore it well. He had the strength to back up the attitude. Women everywhere desired him. But he chose me.
“I trust your new accommodations are comfortable,” he said.
He was so casual....
He knew.
A deep wound cut through all the scattered pieces of her heart. “Why? Why did you do this?”
“You were too powerful. If ever you turned on me—”
“I would never have turned on you!”
He plowed ahead, saying, “—I could lose everything I’m trying to build.”
“Keeley.”
She frowned. The newest voice belonged to a male, but not to Hades.
“It’s time for more medicine, princess.”