vin

hat snapped my head to the side. Pain exploded across my

r and disbelief. I staggered backward, only to

run not that escape h

ice trembling, barely rising above

t to shield myself. The fury radiating off him was suff

is jaw was locked tight, and his eyes dark, relentl

o soft. Each syllable was slow, precise, laced with a decept

tempest I had come to know too well. The fl

ak, to calm him, but my voice st

e tightening like a noose, "was to be gracious

ed brittle, la

't even manage t

assault that sliced through me. My heart twisted,

ing closer. "Dancing with him like... like you've forgotten yo

rp, possessive cut dee

couldn't escape. His rage devoured the

I knew better. There was no way out of the gilde

ice cracking as fear wrapped tight around my

umorless bark that ma

ink I'm blind? Stupid? I saw the way he

but the words wouldn't come.

oice low and brimming with threat

rds pressed down on

but he cut me off befo

at they must have thought of me? The whispers, the glances

," I said, barely more than a brea

ing in so close the heat of his rage

t who she belongs to. Did you think it was polite when you da

ened painfully.

into my role, that refusing Arixen would've been seen as

honesty. He wan

quieter now, though no less cruel. "

tween his fury and the wall. I nodded frantic, fe

egate? Why was it you entertaining hi

th to answer. N

n't been allo

I would still end up here be

eavy, and I knew I'd already been condemned

unded like

and fisted

brutal, and I cried out a

understand how could someone who claimed to love me do this?

roy me and still

fferent," he sneered, every word dripping with disgust.

I trembled, shaking my head, silently

und, festering beneath every momen

said, voice scathing.

whispered, my voice nearly

re in him. His grip tightened, sha

growled, the words thick with menace.

he moment

d with sobs as the last o

roken thread in the dark. But it me

consuming it hollowed me out. My screams mu

rd me. But no one ca

thought I d

believed it

ed the storm th