I dressed, slipping into a soft blue dress before adding lip gloss and mascara. I silently tied my hair up, moving from the room. The knights fell into step behind me, none of them speaking. I moved purposely to the dining room, sliding into a chair as everyone watched me. Rhys came in after me, sitting in the chair beside me at the head of the table.
Cole scooted his chair closer to me, staring at me while I remained mute and unnerved by Rhys’s cold dismissal. Servers moved around us, and Cole leaned over, kissing my cheek. I ignored him. Illeron watched me, his eyes smiling as he leaned his arms against the table and spoke.
“This is where you fuck Cole, and I get you after he gets bored of your snatch,” he snorted, licking his lips. Nyota elbowed him and turned angry eyes to Rhys, who silently watched it unfolding.
“You ready to be mine, Sunshine?” Cole asked softly, reaching for my hand.
I stood slowly, moving my eyes to Illeron, Cole, before finally settling them on Rhys. “You’re a bastard, and you need to forgive yourself. You fell for some stupid whore’s game and thought her innocent, and people got hurt. It isn’t your fault you fell for a tight pussy that was attached to the villain. Many men before you and after you will also slip and fall into cunts just like that one. It’s like the idiot guide to adulthood. You,” I said to Cole, holding his stare.
“You deserve more than to pick up the broken pieces of those that Rhys discards like trash. You’re better than that, Cole. You may want everyone to think you’re a prick, but your heart is huge, and it deserves to be someone’s first choice. You, Illeron, you’re a fucking idiot. Nobody sticks around for sloppy thirds. It isn’t even a real thing! You are all seriously fucked up. I wasn’t alive when this shit happened, nor am I a part of it. I get that our families have history, but if you want to live in the past, do it without me. I prefer the future and learning from mistakes we’ve made so that we don’t repeat them. Nyota, I am not some evil bitch here to hurt your family. I am not here willingly, and as of this moment, I’m a freaking hostage.” My eyes slid to Rhys. “Do not expect me to take your shit with a smile on my face anymore. If you’ll excuse me, I need to wash you out of my vagina again, as you disgust me, and I can still feel you there.”
“What the fuck just happened?” Cole asked.
“I think you finally met someone with enough self-esteem to tell you assholes right where to shove your little game of pass the snatch around,” Nyota muttered, her eyes meeting mine briefly with regret.
I pushed away from the table, and everyone watched me walking away with my shoulders back, and my head held high. I hit the stairs, skipping one, moving up them quickly before I burst into tears where they could hear me.
The knights rushed up the stairs, finding it difficult to keep up with my angry strides. I entered my room, slamming the door closed before moving to the connecting door, pushing the large dresser against it. Next, I angled the bed in front of the other door and moved into the bathroom, running the water as hot as it would go. Shedding the dress, I slid into the scathing hot water, slipping beneath it to scream. I watched the bubbles rising as the sound of something hitting the door caused me to lift from the bath, glaring.
Rhys stormed into the room with Cole and Illeron on his heels while Nyota shouted at them. I watched them all filing into the bathroom, stopping in their tracks to take in my mottled flesh and the steam rising from the tub. I stood, glaring at them.
“Get out,” I hissed, pointing my finger at the door they’d just rushed through, and noted their eyes sliding down my body with shock.
“Get out of the bath now,” Cole snarled, grabbing a towel and pulling me out. “You’re burning yourself!”
“I won’t burn,” I growled, shoving him away from me. “You’re all unwanted in this room. Get out, or I will,” I warned, and when no one moved, I shoved through them, marching toward the bedroom door, and continued through the house until I reached the glass room with the forgery, slamming the door and locking it behind me.
“Open the door, Remington,” Rhys snarled, and I turned, flipping him off as the towel dropped.
“Remi?” Nyx screamed, entering the room. I stepped back, and her eyes took in my red flesh. “No, you don’t get to do this again. The last time sucked!”
“So did this morning,” I snorted, turning to hit high on the thermostat, listening to her hands slapping against the glass.
“Don’t do this. He isn’t worth it,” Nyx pleaded.
I turned, smiling brokenly at Nyx. She placed her head against the glass and then backed away to set the timer on her watch, and I shook my head. I needed a total reset this time, and there was the only way I knew how to do it. Sure, the Van Helsings would figure out more secrets about me, but I was sure Rhys had no intention of ever letting me leave. So what did it matter? He’d made it abundantly clear that he planned to use me, and that was how I felt now—used and discarded.
“Remi, open the damn door,” Cole growled, his eyes lifting to the thermostat maxed out at three thousand degrees.
Nyota worried her lip, picking at her sleeve while Illeron stared at me in shock, his brows nearly disappearing into his hairline. I stood there stark-ass naked as more alphas were entering the room to figure out what was causing all the commotion. Hunter, Conrad, Ian, and others filled the room, and I shut them all out, turning as the heat filled the armory, causing my skin to sweat.
I fired up the forge, sliding the silver into the mold, and watched it glowing red before I pushed my hand into it, dripping the liquid metal over my fingers. I could hear them gasping behind me, knowing they were freaking out at the show. I lifted myself into the fire and laid down on the coals. My eyes slid closed, and I exhaled.
The flames kissed my flesh, heating my soul while I exhaled the pain of hearing Rhys’s words. Even though I knew he rejected me because of his self-punishment, it didn’t make the words any easier to swallow. I could hear people screaming as the fire hid my body within the flames.
Some women were created from flames, and I was one of them. I’d discovered it in an accident that should have ended my life. The car had rolled down a hill, and after bouncing several times, it burst into flames. I’d screamed, begging for someone to help me until I felt the pleasure the flames brought. I’d sat in the car on fire, listening to the crackling of metal as it burned so intensely hot that it had melted and twisted the frame. When the fire began to simmer down, I crawled out of the car and walked home naked through the woods.
I’d told my mother everything, and she’d hosed me down as if she’d been expecting it. We hadn’t spoken about it afterward, other than to promise to keep it a secret. Speaking of my mother, I highly doubt Rhys had even looked for her. Where was my family? Where were Winchester, Sig, Weston, Smith, and Sauer? I mean, I understood them not rushing in to save me, but no one here had even mentioned them. If my family were here, people would notice.
I sat up, sliding my legs over the forge, and walking toward the water. Slipping into the bath, I watched the water bubble as steam hissed loudly. I turned, smiling coldly at Rhys, who watched me with a dark look in his eyes. Yes, asshole. I wasn’t just a Silversmith. Whoever my mother had chosen to sire me was also a part of who I was.