AVERYI yawn and stretch my arms above my head. My side aches but the pain is not as bad as before. After smacking my lips a few times, I snuggle into my pillow. My hands pat the surface under me. It’s a little hard.I must be sleeping on the floor again. I huff, and shift my legs over the…Wait a moment.What is this hard thing between my legs? And why do I seem to be straddling…Slowly, I pull my head back and open my eyes to look down. Aleister stares back, his eyes narrowed dangerously. And what are those black spots under his eyes? Dark circles?I nod. I am still asleep or the blood loss brought about this hallucination. I put my head back and close my eyes. “ Keep rubbing yourself over me. You are used to it by now. ” The body rumbles under me, the vibrations resonating in every inch of me. The ache between my legs grows. I clench my fingers.Why does a hallucination feel this real?Slowly, I pick up my head again and take him in. His head is propped over his folded arms as h

AVERY “ Princess. ” Her smile widens when she finds me looking at her. “ Agrona. ” I nod, calming the beats of my heart. “ Was she kissing Draven? ” One of the girls behind Agrona turns to others and says in a hushed voice. My heart almost stops beating. “ Mind your fucking tongue if you don’t want me to rip it out of your mouth! ” Draven growls from behind me before I can say anything. “ Calm down, Draven. Tracy doesn’t know what she is talking about. ” Agrona says politely and glances at the girls from over her shoulder. “ right, Tracy? You will not want to cause any misunderstanding between the Princess and the King, will you? ” “ No, Agrona. I didn’t mean it that way. ” The girl bows her head apologetically. I clench my hands by my side. I don’t have any doubt that Agrona will use this against me later. But why do I care? It’s not like I care about what Aleister thinks of me. “ Agrona. ” I smile enthusiastically and end the distance between us. She tries to maintain a swe

AVERY It doesn’t take me long to realize that I am no longer in the confines of the castle walls, but drowning in the black lake I saw on my way in. Until my head remains above the water, I have belief that Aleister will be able to feel me in time and come to save me. But when my face dunks underwater, I lose that belief quickly. I hold my breath, writhing around to free myself of the ropes. The pathetic lack of strength in my limbs angers me, then horrifies me. I can feel the patch loosening on the wound in my back. I shake worse than before, moving around in the water, trying to see something in the pitch black. In the cold water, the warmth of my blood tricking down my side makes my head spin. Shortly after, I am out of breath. The pressure behind my eyes, and under my jaw increases so much that my mouth almost opens in the water to suck in a desperate breath. In my silent attempts to break free, I sense a slight brush of scales on my ankle. My heart hammers in my chest, due t

AVERY I can never understand the change in Aleister’s mood. One moment, he is cold. Another, he is warm. Then, he is cruel before becoming like this…too clingy. I cringe as he suffocates me by hugging me tightly. I wanted to argue with him and curse him some more, but he looks like he came back to life after experiencing a horrifying death so I don’t know what to do with him. In the end, I can only struggle to breathe as I stay plastered to him. “ This is so unfair. ” I grumble under my breath. “ I should be the one acting like this. Not you. ” “ It’s not my fault that I can feel your emotions. ” He sighs, tightening his grip over me. If I didn’t know better, I would think he is trying to kill me by breaking my ribcage but his heart thumping against my ear tells me he is truly panicked. “ How can you say it’s not your fault? You marked me and brought this upon yourself. ” I huff, unconsciously placing my hand over his back. My hand moves on its own, patting his back softly. He s

AVERY“ You exposed your audacious lie, Princess! You were not kidnapped from outside your room. ” Her widened eyes narrow as she yells at me. I nod. “ of course, I was not kidnapped from there. But how do you know that? ”The satisfaction she was about to feel dissipates as she realizes her mistake. The desire to protect her precious Agrona made her desperate and got her caught. “ I heard witches are not as intelligent as they pretend to be, Tracy. Now, I believe it. ” Anger burns in my eyes as I scoff. Agrona starts. “ Princess, please show consideration. First, you accused me, and now Tracy— ”“ I apologize, Agrona. I didn’t intend to accuse you. I know you didn’t kidnap me but to make Tracy confess, I had to do it. And now that we have our culprit, you need to step away! You should not protect someone who tried to kill me if you are not involved in this! And if you are, tell me now so I can break your hands for trying something like this with me! ” I snap, forgetting the niceti