He softly pulls his teeth from my neck and leans back, cupping my cheek. He kisses me, forcing me to taste my own blood as he is still inside of me.
“You taste like a goddess,” he whispers to me, brushing the words against my lips. “You were sent here to destroy me. I know it.”
“Maybe we were meant to meet to save each other,” I counter. He shakes his head, slipping his cock out of me but keeping me on his lap. I touch my neck, feeling the bite mark, but it isn’t as bad or rough as the others I’ve had.
“The bad can’t be saved.”
“I don’t think you’re all bad,” I counter. “You have family, you have friends. Bad people are not respected, and I think you are by your people even though you don’t particularly rule them.”
“I have no interest in ruling them. My brother was born for the crown, and he would make a better king,” he replies, stroking his fingers through my hair. “I don’t know why I was created.”
I frown, stroking my fingers down his chest. “Maybe it’s not for us to know why we were created but to find a way to make our lives worth it.”
His eyes search mine for a moment. “Tell me something about you that I don’t know,” he softly asks me, changing the subject.
“My favourite colour is pink or red, but then I came here. I think I need a new colour,” I reply.
“I think green suits you,” he replies. “If it wasn’t my brother’s colour, I would enjoy seeing you in a green dress.”
“I prefer jeans.”
“Dresses are easier to rip,” he states. “Tell me something else.”
Even though I’m not sure why he wants to know things about me, I start talking. “I love dressing up for nights out, but I also adore movie nights in. I love my best friend, Sophie, and I miss her here, but I’m glad she isn’t here. She would judge me so bad for this,” I tell him, waving between us.
“I care little for other people’s judgment.”
“Lucky you,” I say, making him laugh. “I was studying art to become a teacher. Painting has always been an escape for me, and I wanted to give that gift to children. My twin brother, Austin, is a wonder child, always the one who did everything right the first time. I guess that’s why I love painting, because if it’s not right, I can just brush it away and start over.”
“Yes, I understand this,” he replies. “When I’m painting, I can pour my emotions into the paint and wipe them away, making something beautiful.”
My heart pounds as I look at him. My tortured prince. “Are you close with your brother?” he asks, clearly changing the subject.
I nod. “I was.”
“I am not sorry you came here, but I am sorry he did not,” he replies. “I would have liked to meet your twin brother.”
“I wonder if he has the same gift as I do,” I ponder even though the thought of Maddox and Austin meeting scares me. Austin is protective, always has been, and Maddox is insane alongside possessive as hell.
“I have found no vampire ancestors in your bloodline, or witch or siren. Your family are very human, but you taste like magic. You taste better than anything I have tasted before,” he replies, cupping my cheek. He brings my lips down to his, softly moving them against mine. “I will never let you go.”
He keeps kissing me, possessively showing me how certain he is I won’t leave.
But I have to. Even if it might break my heart.
Chapter Thirty-Four
A scream clogs in my throat as I step out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, and find Cross laying out a strange sort of coat on the bed. He turns to me, his eyes widening a little as he looks at me before he swiftly turns away. “Inside this jacket is the powder. It’s hidden well inside a pocket.”
I walk over, keeping my eyes on him as he steps back. The jacket has long sleeves, is made from a thick blue material, and it has gold leaves designed from the neck down to the breast. It will fall to my knees, I suspect, and the collar is high with no hood. The buttons are thick, and the material is soft to touch with silk inside. Black leggings, a white T-shirt, underwear and black socks are folded next to the jacket, and my boots too, which have been cleaned. The underwear is lacy and black, and I’ve never seen it before. Cross answers my unsaid question. “These were made for you. Maddox’s order. Maddox isn’t here right now; he has gone to meet his friend who just arrived in his ship.”
The ship we have been waiting for.
My heart pounds in my chest as I realise the chance to leave this place is finally here.
“I doubt I will see him before I go, he doesn’t do goodbyes. I’m actually glad he isn’t here,” I reply, my mouth feeling dry. I fold my arms across my chest, holding my towel tightly in place. My wet hair drips water onto the floor; each drop is the only noise as Cross stares at me.
“Are you sure you can go through with this?” he sternly asks.
My instinct is to say no. That I can’t leave Maddox because I damn well know I feel something for him, something dangerous and addictive. Every second I spend with the Mad Prince makes me see him in a new light and understand his actions a little bit better. If I stayed, maybe, just maybe I could rein in some of his crazier tendencies, and we would love each other.
But...the curse.
But...he is a monster.
And if I stay, I fear there is a chance he could turn me into one too.
“I want to leave. My feelings for Maddox aren’t going to interrupt our plan,” I reply, lifting my head high. “I was stolen from my family. My parents and twin brother need to know I’m alive, and I need to see them. I miss my best friend, and I need to get Arlo off this island. It is destroying him.”
“He might come for you. You can’t just go home,” Cross softly warns. “You will have to stay hidden.”
“Arlo and I have a plan. We just need to get off this island,” I reply. The plan is to go to France, to a cottage my uncle owns in the middle of nowhere, and no one knows he owns it. He made sure to tell me that once, and after his letter...he will understand. He is the only one in the real world I think has a chance of hiding me and keeping me safe.
He rubs his chin. “Tonight. At midnight, be outside Prince Reign’s house with the orb, and someone will come and pick you up. They will bring you to the harbour, and we will leave.”
“How are you going to control the harbour?” I ask.
He just smirks and steps back. “If I wanted, I could take down The Onyx, Riona.”
I frown, wondering how the heck he could manage that. “But we just need the orbs and our freedom. That’s it.”
“What do you know of sirens and their prophecies?” I ask before he gets to the door. The visions of the future that Natalia showed me are glued in my mind, and every time I go to sleep, I see them.
All three of them, and how in each one, everything was so broken.
“Be wary of the sirens and their visions. The sea only shows you the way they wish for the most, not all the possible rivers the future could take.”
“Thank you,” I reply, and Cross inclines his head before stepping out of my room and pulling the door shut behind him. I sit down on the bed, wishing there was someone I could tell all my secrets to without total fear. I can’t tell Maddox anything about the sirens or what I saw, and Arlo would never understand because I’d have to explain my relationship with Maddox.