Adrian’s POV
“The princess or more dies?” I heard someone repeating it and my vision bled red.
Not the slow simmer of anger…this was full crimson, the kind that turns everything into prey. My mate.
The one person on this cursed earth I would burn kingdoms for, reduced to a bargaining chip in some rogue bastard’s sick game.
My claws were already out, digging bloody crescents into my palms. My canines throbbed.
Derek was clawing at the inside of my skull, howling for blood, for bone, for the sound of necks snapping.
Thomas stepped in close, voice low and urgent in my ear. “Breathe, your majesty. Breathe. You lose it here and you’ll tear this room apart. You’ll kill someone…maybe someone who doesn’t deserve it. We don’t want that now… Do we?”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. Because he w
