Forever Fae (Forever Fae #1)(62)
He pushes me up against the tree with a painful force. The impact is so hard my head bounces up against the tree and my teeth rattle.
His voice takes on a menacing tone of pure evil and hate when he roars, “You know, my queen, betrayal is punishable by death. Did you think I was stupid? I could sense the treachery in you the moment you awoke in my bed.”
Realization clicks on in my brain. I close my eyes and sag in defeat. I can’t believe he knew I was pretending this whole time. My look of surprise brings a smile to his face and his hands grab around my neck and he squeezes so tight I start to see spots. I’m gasping for air and my hands come up instantly to grab onto his arms to pull him away from me, but he’s too strong. I scratch my nails down his arms as hard as I can and blood begins to flow down in rivulets. His face is so close to mine and I try to turn my head, but his grip is so tight that I’m stuck there. He pushes his body against mine, grinding me into the slick, oily tree. The feel of his body combined with the feel of the tree on my back makes me feel sick. He bends low and slowly traces his tongue along my jaw.
“I love pain, princess, and all you’re doing is turning me on even more. This isn’t my body so I don’t care what you do to it. Scratch, bite, you name it. I enjoy it all,” he taunts. He thrusts hard into me so I can feel how turned on he is. “But I can assure you, I will enjoy this as if it was my own body about to take you.”
He laughs, low and seductive.
“I enjoyed every minute of your betrayal. I pretended right along with you, making you think I was blind with lust. Believe me, I am, but not enough for you to trick me. You have an amazing body and I’m sure you could bewitch the best of men.” He moves his face away to send a long, lingering gaze down my body. He takes his hands away from my neck and I cough to draw in a much needed raspy breath.
He smirks as he says, “Nice plan, though, luring me out here to seduce me like a siren in heat. But I think we need an audience, don’t you?”
He turns away from me and yells out into the forest, “I know you’re out here somewhere and if you don’t show yourself now, I’m going to put her through ungodly pain each second you decide to waste.”
Ryder appears first, off to my left and our gazes land on each other. My eyes begin to fill with tears, but I refuse to blink and let them fall. I am not weak and I will get us out of here. Our situation is too dire to think of anything other than getting out. I wonder if Nixie is around and what she has planned. I look around for her, but I don’t see her. If she is here I hope she has some magical plan to help us get out of here sometime soon.
The dark sorcerer sees Ryder appear and taunts sarcastically, “Ah, Prince Ryder, it’s nice to finally meet you and might I say, you’re looking pretty dapper in that new skin. Thank you for joining us on this special night because I’m sure you’ll find the festivities rather…unappealing.” My heart sinks because the last thing I want is for Ryder and Merrick to see what this bastard does to me.
“Don’t you dare touch her, you worthless piece of shit!” Ryder yells. He’s fuming and his stance tells me he’s about to attack any minute.
“Oh, I plan to do a lot more than just touching her, Prince Ryder,” he provokes with menace.
Ryder bolts toward the dark sorcerer, but is stopped by some kind of invisible force. Merrick appears in front of Ryder holding him back. I notice a silver locket dangling from Merrick’s hand and I recognize it as the locket he gave me for my birthday. I wonder what he’s doing with it.
The dark sorcerer is amused at Ryder’s anger and claps his hands when Merrick appears. He laughs.
“Now that was easy. I’m surprised, Guardian, that you would stop him. Killing Ryder would put you next in line for her heart, now wouldn’t it? Isn’t that what you have always wanted? To have her love?”
Merrick’s scowl is impressive as he spits, “I already have her love, but your cold, dead heart wouldn’t know anything about that.”
The dark sorcerer puts on a mock frown and on Avery’s face it just looks evil.
He shrugs his shoulders and replies coldly, “Well, that may be the case, but I plan on enjoying her love while you two watch and then I plan on killing you both while she watches.”
In that second, the oily tree roots rise from the ground and bind both Ryder and Merrick to the trees behind them. Their eyes grow wide with shock and they both gasp for air after being knocked against the tree. The force of the impact makes a loud thump as their bodies are thrown against them.
The dark sorcerer smiles and then turns to me. I begin to walk backward slowly as he makes his way forward. I look at both Ryder and Merrick as I move. They are both trying desperately to get free of the roots, but I know they won’t succeed. I’m going to try to get them out once I can concentrate and connect to the ground. I give Ryder a reassuring look to let him know I’ll be fine.
I look over at Merrick and he stops moving when I silently say, “I’ll be fine, Merrick. I’m going to get you both out of those roots and then we’ll attack. Just give me a little time.”
“Please hurry, Calista. I can’t bear to see him touching you.”
I nod at him quickly and explain, “When I release you from the roots I’m going to use as much magic as I can. I want you to hit him full force with your fire. This should distract him and then we can attack.”