Rise of a Queen (Kingdom Duet 2)

It’s only me and him.

By the time we reach my room, my energy has waned, but that doesn’t make me stop. I can’t stop. If I do, that means I’m admitting defeat, and I would never do that.

I hate how easily Jonathan overpowers me with a squeeze of his big hand around my thigh or arm. I hate that I’m so small in comparison to his frame.

I hate him.

I hate him so much, not only because of what happened to Alicia, but because I was about to instil my trust in him.

I was fucking falling for him, and for what? For this betrayal. For this…desolation.

It’s like my feelings are trapped in a state of hyperawareness and it’s almost impossible to sort through them.

All I know is that I need to leave. Now.

“Are you done?” he asks in that closed-off tone of his. His features are blank and the lack of reaction, the fact that I can’t read past his façade, is more frightening than if he’d lashed out at me.

Jonathan isn’t a man to be taken lightly, and to be caught under his thumb means danger. However, that doesn’t stop my innate need to run.

“I’ll never be done. Lock me up again and I’ll try to escape until I finally do it.” I punch him one more time for good measure.

He places me on the bed and I scramble away like an injured animal.

In fact, I am.

The bandages covering my palms are soaked in blood. My knees and lip sting, and the back of my head throbs.

However, that’s nothing compared to being stabbed, crawling out of the grave, and suturing myself.

If I could endure that, then I can endure this.

Jonathan stands in front of the bed, both hands in his pockets, appearing like a warlord sampling his prisoner of war. There are a few scratch marks on his neck and collarbone, and blood stains on his light blue shirt.

I try to hold on to my hate for him, but I don’t like inflicting pain on others. That’s so similar to my dad, and I promised myself to never be like Dad.

No.

I’m only defending myself like any injured animal trying to escape. It’s only natural that I’d scratch, bite, and claw.

Jonathan stares down his arrogant nose at me. The storm brewing in his grey gaze is a force not to be reckoned with. “Measures are already in place, so you will not be able to escape, and even if you do, I’ll find you in no time, Aurora. Now, why don’t you stop fucking around and tell me what’s with the show you’re putting on.”

I lift my chin, refusing to answer.

“You won’t talk? Is that it?” Jonathan lowers his knees to the bed, dipping the mattress.

I hold my ground, meeting his unfeeling eyes with all the bitterness and hate in mine.

His knees are on either side of my legs as he cages me in and lifts my chin with two lean fingers, trapping me with his savage eyes.

At a naïve moment, I imagined that I was seeing myself in those eyes. That’s far from accurate.

There’s no way I’d be able to. His gaze is bland, lifeless, and only filled with the purpose to hurt or to be obeyed.

Or both.

His philosophy is that he’ll hurt whoever doesn’t obey him. That he’ll make them disappear as if they never existed.

Is that what happened to Alicia?