Notice how you guys skipped the Author's Note on chapter 54. My feelings were very hurt. Anyway, the conversation they're about to have is going to take two chapters at least. So, I was wondering, would you guys prefer I cram everything into one chapter or leave it as it is with the two chapters? I'd love to know what you think.
MARIA "Talk about what?" "Your past." The words left his mouth like a whip, sharp and loud in the otherwise silent, almost dark room. She flinched away from him as the word left his lips, recoiling at the flashes of imagery that went through her mind, evoked by those two words.Her past. His eyes darkened at her reaction. Where lust had once been, wariness and a certain hardness now took root. "Don't, Maria."Well, she guessed she should be glad that he was now calling her by her name and not the annoying 'sorceress', although with the tone he used, sounding somewhat exasperated, she wasn't really sure she liked him calling her name in that moment. "Don't what?" It was crazy how the night had taken such a sudden turn. A few minutes ago, she'd been eating at his mouth like she didn't have another day to live and now it was like a bucket of ice had been poured over her, extinguishing all traces of desire in her. "Don't try to run away from this." He warned in a surprisingly even
BRAN"That's not news, Maria, and that's not what I'm asking.""I'll get there," the words came out hard and clipped, yet her tone was soft, cautious. "Can you just let me talk?"Bran bit his tongue and told himself to shut the hell up and let her talk now that she was willing to.But she was sitting on the other side of the room, far from him, and she looked so small, so vulnerable with her hands clasped on her thighs like that and he felt this strange urge to protect her even though there was nothing to protect her from. "Okay, back to what I was saying..." Maria sighed and with her eyes fixed on her hands, started talking. "As you well know, my father is hated by a lot of people because of his abusive use of power. I really can't say how it started, I suppose he's always had a thing for being evil, but anyway, he wanted to expand far outside the realm of Sorceri. He already had lands, countless possessions, but his greed made him want more and when he goes after something, he does
BRAN The words seemed to echo, bouncing off the walls of the room and coming to rest between them, daring him to move. To quit being a fucking coward and take the next step. But Bran stood right where he was, still unsure of everything. What were they doing?Most importantly, what was he doing? But he knew what he was doing, didn't he? He was finally admitting to this amazing woman that he didn't really hate her as much as he liked to make her believe. He was finally admitting that he felt something for her—something other than hate and anger and derision. Something that made his chest tighten every fucking time he looked at her. He wasn't sure what it was. He didn't want to put a name to it. But he had a sinking suspicion it came dangerously close to like. Because if he didn't hate her then that meant he liked her right? Even though he wasn't exactly there yet, but he was getting close. And if she continued showing him those little vulnerable bits of herself, he was going to di
MARIA"His Majesty said that you can go for a walk today if you want to."Maria stared open-mouthed at her maid, Olivia, finding it hard to believe the words that had just left her mouth. "A walk?""Yes," she nodded. "However, you can't extend past these walls, but the compound is huge and I believe you'll find more than enough room to stretch your legs."Maria still couldn't believe it. "I'm finally being let out of this room?" Disbelief and shock were obvious in her voice and she wouldn't be able to mask them even if she tried—which she didn't. "I don't believe it. Why would he let me out?""Maybe because there's still a collar around your neck? Where could you go?" Olivia deadpanned and Maria cut a glare her way. Mirth danced in the woman's eyes. "You're probably shocked because you haven't heard the last part yet—I and two other guards are going to accompany you."Still, Maria thought, it was a far cry from the literal captive she'd been as at yesterday. "It's still so strange t
MARIA Death. One word that evoked thousands of emotions in a person. How could it not when it was a thief that stole from people when they least expected it? When it robbed them of their friends and loved ones, plunging them into an eternal life where they would have to bear the loss of those people. Where they would have to think of them every single day, knowing that they would never see them anymore. The irony of the situation wasn't lost on Maria. Was it not just a week ago when she'd been praying for death to come for her because she was tired of living the way she did? And now death had come. But it wasn't for her. It had come for Bran. Okay, shit, she might be taking it too far. Bran wasn't dead. He was just terribly injured and unconscious and was currently being attended to in his room. But in that moment when she'd seen him so lifeless, his body pale up on the stretcher, his hands hanging limply by his sides, eyes shut, she'd thought that he was dead and cold, terrif
BRAN "Your wounds are not healing."Bran already knew that when he saw the grim look on the man's face, whatever he had to say couldn't be anything good so he wasn't particularly surprised when those words left the older man's mouth."Yes, that's actually why we requested for you," Corey piped in like a smart-ass but the look on his face was a serious one. Solemn. "The wounds are deep, yes, but they were stitched." Ezra, the physician, said, sounding like he was speaking to himself. "Even if they weren't stitched, they would have healed on their own but they're not healing. His leg isn't regenerating either."At the mention of it, Corey's eyes dropped to Bran's legs and a grimace flitted across his face. Bran fought against the urge to look, knowing that he would not like what he saw. It had been three days since the incident, three days since he'd been caught in a grenade explosion and yet, his injuries were still wide open, looking exactly like they'd been that day and his leg sti
BRAN "Who?" Both Bran and Corey asked at the same time. "The sorceress, of course," the oracle said, leveling a meaningful look at the both of them before turning to the door where Maria was standing. Bran, too, turned carefully towards her, ignoring the pain and instead, watching the expression on Maria's face to know how she was taking this. But she still wasn't looking at him—she kept her eyes on the oracle."Why exactly do we need her?" Corey asked and Bran turned to him, wondering if that was anger he'd heard in his friend's voice. The expression on Corey's face was carefully neutral. He didn't look like he was angry, but that didn't mean he actually wasn't angry. If he was, what reason did he have to be? Had Bran not explained to him already that Maria didn't intentionally kill his mate? "The hex was placed on him by a powerful sorceress and therefore, can only be removed by one equally as powerful.""You know who put the hex on him." It was a statement from Corey and not
MARIA I'm not going to take it off, Maria. Forget it.The words rang over and over in Maria's head even days after.She couldn't stop thinking about it, that little part of her that had thought Bran had been truly changing, unable to come to terms with the fact that he'd actually been able to look her in the face and say those words.He wasn't going to take the collar off. He was serious. She'd known before that Bran was stubborn but with that conversation, he'd unlocked a whole new level of stubbornness entirely. What person would consciously, in their right mind, pick dying over doing anything they could to help themselves? Bran, apparently, because that was exactly what he was doing. Maria had almost freaked out two days ago when the oracle had pointed at her and told her that she was the one that Bran needed. At first she'd been floored, terribly confused, and it wasn't until the oracle explained that Bran had been hexed by a sorceress, the Queen of Evil, that the words made s