Undying Hate~ Book Three

It wasn’t the two days of silence or angst between Sylvie and her companions that hurt her the most.

It wasn’t even leaving Kian; she knew she’d see him again before they left.

No.

It was the pain from Rowan’s mark. The confusion. He could feel her pain and had no idea what was happening. She wanted to vomit every time his mark buzzed.

“Come out for dinner.”

“No thanks.”

Kerensa groaned and slapped the glass window of the carriage. “Stop being difficult!”

Sylvie stuck out her tongue and made the most childish noise she could muster before turning and curling into a ball.

She dozed in and out of sleep when the door opened, and someone was carrying her under a dark sky. “Shh, shh, shh.”

She couldn’t see anything, her eyes glued together from the gunk of two days of traumatised sleep, but she wasn’t afraid. Instead, peace flooded her senses as the warm arms rocked her back and forth.

In the darkness of the night, dancing lights from the horizon appeared as bright as stars. Stone court. They made it already. There were lights on - they were alive. All the visions and Fae’s musings were just delusional, confused thoughts.

It wasn’t real. They were fine.

She blinked, and they were standing beside the dead forest. The trees were small ash-laden stumps, and black goo poured from the hole where Trion’s tree once stood. What a mess. Why were they there? Where were the people?

Again she blinked, and they stared at the castle steps. Sprawled across them were bodies, dozens piled high. It was then she realised what the lights were on the horizon. They weren’t stars. They weren’t lights of candles. No. It was the flames slowly consuming the dead.

“Oh god,” Sylvie covered her eyes, but the images seared behind her lids. “No!”

The body holding her suddenly wasn’t comforting anymore. It was writhing and coiling like a python. “Let go!” She snarled and kicked and screamed, blood turning to ice, when one of the flaming bodies sat up on the steps and stared at her.

“You left me.”

“No, Kian, I didn’t want to. I just couldn’t. I can’t- Forgive me!”

“Wake up!”

A sudden, painful shaking woke her, and she screamed, feeling her body shifting.

“It was a dream, Kitten. It was only a dream.”

His grip on her shoulders tightened as her chest heaved terrified breaths. “But Kian, is he- He’s alive- he’s okay? Is he okay, Elias? Tell me he’s okay!”

“He’s fine. Touch your mark. Does it feel like he’s in danger?”

She shakily brought her fingers to her mark and sighed with relief when she felt his essence. His emotions were muddled; sadness, relief, resignation, but he was alive.

“He’s okay.”

“You need to eat.”

She slowly sat and palmed her growling stomach. “I don’t think I can.”

“You need to. I won’t have you wasting away in here. Kian is not dead, so stop acting like he is.”

She scowled up at him, his raised brow making her expression falter into a pout. Why did he have to be right? It was so annoying.

“Your dreams are meddling with your mind. Come eat, or I will have to take matters into my own hands.”

“Oh, what? You’ll force-feed me?” How would that even work? He’d surely find a way to make it a ′funishment,′ but she was in no mood to play. At least, that’s what she told herself. If he showed her any kind of affection, she’d probably fold immediately. Damn, vampire.

“Don’t push me to that-”

She grumbled and shuffled passed him, gasping when his hand shot out, slapping her on the ass. Bastard! Her pussy throbbed automatically from his teasing, and she bit the inside of her cheek. He’d probably ‘smell’ her arousal, which she still thought was disgusting, but she wouldn’t stand around to let him bask in it. She walked away, a few curse words on the tip of her tongue.

“Asshat.”

She could’ve sworn she heard him chuckle as one accidentally slipped out.

“What did you say?”

She spun and pulled her lips down in mock innocence, shaking her head and clasping her hands. “Nothing.”

A smirk tugged on his lips. “That’s what I thought. Now go and eat.”

A day later, and a few dozen miles from the castle, they stopped again. Sylvie grumpily sat in Elias’ lap on a log as they ate the last remaining scraps of their rations. Kerensa stalked the neighbouring forests somewhere, looking for a spot to ‘do her business’, or so she announced five minutes earlier. Elias hadn’t eaten in a while, and his paling skin set Sylvie on edge.

“Here.” She lifted her wrist to his face. “Feed.”

“I’m fine.”

“Elias. Eat, or I’ll take matters into my own hands.”

She turned and faced him head-on, relishing in his flashing eyes and baring fangs.

“I said no, Kitten.”

She sucked her cheeks to hide her smile as she let her arm drop into her lap. “Fine. Force feeding it is.”

Bringing her wrist to her mouth, she bit down and sucked as much as she could before the holes healed, and Elias ripped her arm from her teeth.

She spun, straddling his thighs with hers and pressed up onto her knees, tipping his chin back with her index finger. Why he was letting her control him was beyond her, but she was going to run with it as much as she could.

His icy eyes faded to red, and his lips parted as she pressed her lips to his, and the blood spilt between them. She rubbed her hands along his neck, smiling when his throat bobbed as he swallowed, and finished the action by burying her fingers in his hair.

Their tongues met and fought for dominance as the last of her blood dribbled down her chin. Finally, when Elias seemed to have had enough of her teasing, he snatched her head to the side and buried his fangs in her neck, forcing her to cry out in ecstasy.

“Elias-”

His hands slapped hard on both of her ass cheeks, and he squeezed them tightly, pulling her into him.

The world fluttered around her as he drank his fill.

“Elias,” she whispered.

“Oh, Fates. What the fuck are you doing? You’re going to kill her.”

Elias detached his bite, licked Sylvie from collarbone to ear, and hummed approvingly.

“Kerensa.”

“Don’t, ‘Kerensa’, me.”

Elias grumbled and pulled Sylvie up, her head lolling against his chest.

“I’m fi-fine, Kerensa. He needed it.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

She skulked away as Sylvie curled into Elias, and his deep, rumbling laughter vibrated her chest.

“Such a brat you are.”

“Am not.”

“I still remember the day you told me you wished to be tamed. Do you remember that, Kitten?” He bit the word Kitten into her ear, a smile evident in his tone as she panted softly.

“Vaguely.”

“Shall I show you what it means to tame a brat?”

She exhaled through her nose and let the euphoria of her rapidly healing blood loss tip her head back.

“Nope. Nope. Get up. Let’s train.”

“Kerensa,” Sylvie groaned but stood up with flushed cheeks.

“Take the staff.” Throwing a long stick, still spotted with leaves, Kerensa backed up and pointed her own at Sylvie.

Sylvie caught and spun it in her hands, shrugging at Elias’ half-smirk.

Without a second to change stance or prepare herself for the upcoming blows, Kerensa struck dangerously close to Sylvie’s head. She barely stopped the fifth thwack and instead dodged to the side.

“Watch it, Kerensa.”

She didn’t even register Elias’ annoyed look as they attacked again. Sylvie started gaining the upper hand when Kerensa broke into a run to the trees. Sylvie tilted her head to the side and shouted, “Done already?” but chased after her with a giddy laugh.

It was the first time in ages her mind had nothing in it but battle strategy, and it was freeing. She caught up quickly and swung the stick in an arc towards Kerensa’s ankle, but she jumped at the last second and darted up the branches of a tree.

“Hey- no fair!”

“You’re a Dryad. Climb.”

She pulled a face and scurried up after her, losing the stick as her foot slipped on damp moss.

“Wait up.”

“Now, that would be missing the point, wouldn’t it?” Kerensa jumped from the branch above Sylvie’s head to the neighbouring tree, their limbs groaning and creaking from the pressure.

“Not fair! I’m not gonna do that. I’ll break my damn leg.”

“Boo hoo. You lose.”

Sylvie grumbled and pushed the leafy branches aside to get a better look at the tree in front of her.

She ignored Elias’ concerned grumble and held her breath as she gathered courage, steeling her muscles and pushing off with a yell. Her hands scraped along the rough bark, but she caught a lower branch and hooked her leg over it while gasping for air. Then, exhilarated and shaky, she scaled behind Kerensa, holding on a bit tighter as they reached a break in the foliage.

“I used to come here a lot when I was a child,” Kerensa spoke softly, and Sylvie had to strain to hear.

“It was when my mother was trying to smooth over Trion after my father racked up many debts. That’s what she told me, at least. Who knows if it’s true? I guess we’ll never know now.”

Sylvie sighed and placed her hand on top of Kerensa’s. When she didn’t jerk away, Sylvie squeezed it lightly.

“I’m sorry.”

Even though she shouldn’t have said it, she trusted Kerensa implicitly. She wouldn’t take advantage of it. She didn’t even acknowledge it.

“I don’t want to do this.”

Kerensa’s expression was dark and heavy. Sylvie searched her face. “Do what?”

“Promise you’ll visit.”

“What? Where?”

Kerensa didn’t answer. She just turned her body around the trunk they were clasping and pressed her lips lightly to Sylvie’s. It only lasted a second and held no sexual energy behind it, but it brought tears to Sylvie’s eyes. The sadness and finality in Kerensa’s body language made Sylvie shake. Something was really wrong. Before she could question her, Kerensa dropped down as precisely as a cat and left Sylvie with her thoughts.

As the sun set, she made her way down, much more confident in her steps. The tree seemed to move under her to ensure her safety. She pressed her forehead to its trunk once her feet hit the earth and thanked it for protecting her. The leaves rustled, and she smiled, pulling away. Her nature still felt distant; everything she did was trial and error, but it felt right.

Her eyes were glued to the ground where she kicked a pebble in the direction of the carriage and hoped Elias didn’t freak out on her for taking so long.

Instead, she heard his sexy voice murmuring low to someone else. It wasn’t Kerensa, the voice responding deep and familiar. Her heart thundered as she searched for them. They weren’t by the log or around the forest. Carriage? She jogged over and knocked on the door.

“Come in, Kitten.”

She jerked the door open, panting lightly, her eyes widening and throat constricting as she took in their smiles.

“Hello, Princess.”