Read Online The Passionate Queen (Dark Queens Book 2) by Jovee Winters - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jovee Winters
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to run away. But my heart wouldn’t let me move. I clutched at his shirt. “Zerelda will learn of this. She will beat me, Ragoth. She will—”
“No,” he snapped, and his slitted irises flared with veins of golden lightning. “She won’t.”
I slammed a palm against this chest. “You cannot hurt her!”
More terrified than I’d ever been in my life, even the beatings I’d taken from Zerelda were nothing to the terror I felt at Ragoth doing to her what he’d just done to Hagar.
His fingers were so gentle as they flitted against my cheek. “I hurt her, I hurt you. I would never, never hurt you. Never again.”
As he said it, he traced his thumb across my bottom lip, and my heart bled.
The skies suddenly opened above us, drenching us to the bone in rain. Like wonderland itself raged at the violence it’d witnessed tonight.
Trapping my fingers with his, he tugged me toward the path. “I will fix this.”
I balked, not wanting to go back to the cottage. Terrified of what Zerelda meant to do to me once she learned the truth. She’d blame me. I’d been the one to sneak out. I’d dosed Hagar for years with wolfsbane. Every sin would come out to the light. I was only two weeks away from my blooming, two weeks away from leaving her forever, placed into the care of a man I did not know. But anything had to be better than Zerelda, right?
And in one fell swoop, a passion I felt for a boy not of this world had ruined me.
“Lena,” he said calmly, “trust me.”
But I shook my head, because I’d seen his violence tonight. And what had me most scared wasn’t even the fact that he’d eaten Hagar; what scared me was that for that brief moment when it’d all felt like a dream, my only thought had been, “He is more magnificent than any creature in all the lands I’ve ever known before.”
I’d seen him eat someone. Kill someone. With the easy grace of one who’d done it many times before. Ragoth was a killer. A monster.
And yet, I wanted to cry at the thought of never seeing him again. And I knew that was exactly what would happen when I returned to my prison.
This was our last night. We could never have been together anyway; I’d been a fool to even entertain the notion. Not only was my soul bound to the King of Hearts, but Ragoth’s kiss had been a small death to me.
“Ragoth.” My voice cracked, full of so many words I could never speak freely.
He rubbed his cheek against my knuckles, and I flinched, petrified that I’d feel the fire consume me again, but it seemed only his kiss was toxic to me.
“You’re okay. I vow it on my dark soul. You’ll be okay, my Lena.”
My lashes fluttered, feeling the heavy weight of his resonate truth behind those words. Before me stood a man, a beast, a dragonborne. One of the most lethal beings in all the worlds, and yet still, I trusted him.
I did trust him.
Even as a small part of me feared him, I trusted him completely.
Somehow, he managed to drag me down the trail. By the time we arrived to the cottage, neither of us spoke, but I knew Zerelda was aware of what’d happened. Every window in the cottage blazed with light.
Her shadowy figure stood in the doorway, and even with a hundred yards separating us, I felt her gaze pierce through me like a fiery brand.
Walking up to the door, I tried to disengage my hand from his, but Ragoth wouldn’t allow it. I looked down at my feet, refusing to meet Zerelda’s murderous glare.
“Lena, go to your room, and leave us,” Ragoth ordered in my ear.
Sucking in a shocked breath, I looked up at him. But his jaw was set, and his eyes gleamed with unholy fire.
For all her flaws, Zerelda had always been wise enough to know when to keep her mouth shut. Ragoth was making no attempt to hide his power, and I felt the shiver of it prickle against my own flesh.
Worried out of my mind, and sick to my stomach, he finally dropped my hand and I was able to ease past Zerelda. Neither of them spoke until I was in my
“No,” he snapped, and his slitted irises flared with veins of golden lightning. “She won’t.”
I slammed a palm against this chest. “You cannot hurt her!”
More terrified than I’d ever been in my life, even the beatings I’d taken from Zerelda were nothing to the terror I felt at Ragoth doing to her what he’d just done to Hagar.
His fingers were so gentle as they flitted against my cheek. “I hurt her, I hurt you. I would never, never hurt you. Never again.”
As he said it, he traced his thumb across my bottom lip, and my heart bled.
The skies suddenly opened above us, drenching us to the bone in rain. Like wonderland itself raged at the violence it’d witnessed tonight.
Trapping my fingers with his, he tugged me toward the path. “I will fix this.”
I balked, not wanting to go back to the cottage. Terrified of what Zerelda meant to do to me once she learned the truth. She’d blame me. I’d been the one to sneak out. I’d dosed Hagar for years with wolfsbane. Every sin would come out to the light. I was only two weeks away from my blooming, two weeks away from leaving her forever, placed into the care of a man I did not know. But anything had to be better than Zerelda, right?
And in one fell swoop, a passion I felt for a boy not of this world had ruined me.
“Lena,” he said calmly, “trust me.”
But I shook my head, because I’d seen his violence tonight. And what had me most scared wasn’t even the fact that he’d eaten Hagar; what scared me was that for that brief moment when it’d all felt like a dream, my only thought had been, “He is more magnificent than any creature in all the lands I’ve ever known before.”
I’d seen him eat someone. Kill someone. With the easy grace of one who’d done it many times before. Ragoth was a killer. A monster.
And yet, I wanted to cry at the thought of never seeing him again. And I knew that was exactly what would happen when I returned to my prison.
This was our last night. We could never have been together anyway; I’d been a fool to even entertain the notion. Not only was my soul bound to the King of Hearts, but Ragoth’s kiss had been a small death to me.
“Ragoth.” My voice cracked, full of so many words I could never speak freely.
He rubbed his cheek against my knuckles, and I flinched, petrified that I’d feel the fire consume me again, but it seemed only his kiss was toxic to me.
“You’re okay. I vow it on my dark soul. You’ll be okay, my Lena.”
My lashes fluttered, feeling the heavy weight of his resonate truth behind those words. Before me stood a man, a beast, a dragonborne. One of the most lethal beings in all the worlds, and yet still, I trusted him.
I did trust him.
Even as a small part of me feared him, I trusted him completely.
Somehow, he managed to drag me down the trail. By the time we arrived to the cottage, neither of us spoke, but I knew Zerelda was aware of what’d happened. Every window in the cottage blazed with light.
Her shadowy figure stood in the doorway, and even with a hundred yards separating us, I felt her gaze pierce through me like a fiery brand.
Walking up to the door, I tried to disengage my hand from his, but Ragoth wouldn’t allow it. I looked down at my feet, refusing to meet Zerelda’s murderous glare.
“Lena, go to your room, and leave us,” Ragoth ordered in my ear.
Sucking in a shocked breath, I looked up at him. But his jaw was set, and his eyes gleamed with unholy fire.
For all her flaws, Zerelda had always been wise enough to know when to keep her mouth shut. Ragoth was making no attempt to hide his power, and I felt the shiver of it prickle against my own flesh.
Worried out of my mind, and sick to my stomach, he finally dropped my hand and I was able to ease past Zerelda. Neither of them spoke until I was in my
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