Chapter 32 · Give Me the Crown

The crown's eating me alive.

I can feel it spreading through the bond, cold metal fingers crawling up my veins. Kade's teeth are locked on my wrist and his eyes are molten red, no recognition, nothing human left. Just the king. Just my father wearing my mate's face.

"Let go," I gasp. My knees buckle. The stone under me is slick with blood—mine, his, I don't know anymore. The bond's pulling tighter, a noose around my ribs. "Kade, let go—"

He doesn't. His grip's iron. The crown flares silver on his head and I feel it hook into me, dragging something out, something I can't afford to lose.

Morgana's watching from the far side of the well, arms crossed, smile soft. "It's beautiful, isn't it? A king and his queen, bound in blood. You'll rule together. You'll burn together."

"Screw you," I spit. My free hand claws at Kade's wrist but I can't break his hold. The wolf in him is gone. This is something older, something worse.