Storm Born Page 0,133

shook my head. "I'm not going to have your heir."

"Then you will not pass. You will die here."

I didn't say anything. Anger hardened his already fierce features, and whatever attractiveness I'd noted before vanished. I remembered my mother's reaction, her pure and unwavering hatred for him. His eyes flickered again, turning from blue to a gray so dark it almost looked black.

"You are a stupid, foolish girl who has no idea what you're doing. The fate of the worlds hinges upon you, and you are too ignorant and too weak to do anything about it. No matter. You are not the only one who can carry on the dream."

"What, you mean Jasmine?"

He nodded. "She lacks your power and war instincts, but again, she is only a vessel. More important, she is willing. Aeson made sure of that. He visited her years before finally taking her. She knows her duty. She will see it through."

A cold, heavy lump settled in my stomach. I had gone out of my way to avoid pregnancy, but Jasmine would not. She would be seeking it, purposely trying to have Storm King's heir. All my smug contraceptive practices would mean nothing.

Storm King read my thoughts. "Maybe if you were the one, you could control the situation. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad if you were the heir's mother. If your sister is the one, there will be no reprieve."

"Don't fuck with me just to get your way. It won't work."

The eyes darkened further. "Whatever you want, then. It makes no difference if you die here and stay with me."

I stared at the far, blank wall, willing the stone to open. Beyond it I could feel Kiyo slipping away from me. My heart - if I had one in this form - beat more rapidly.

I closed my eyes. "What do you want me to do?"

Hands reached around from behind me, closing around my waist.

"Submit just once," Aeson said in my ear. "Submit just once to me, and you can pass on."

His hands pulled me against him, and I tried to squelch my rising nausea. Some reasonable part of me said it didn't matter. None of this mattered. I wasn't here in body. I couldn't get pregnant. This wasn't actually happening.

Yet...it seemed so real. And for all intents and purposes, it was. His hands upon me. His breath against my neck. It felt exactly as it would in physical form, as I knew it was intended to.

I opened my eyes and saw my father watching me. Beyond him, Kiyo moved farther away.

"All right," I said, barely recognizing my own voice.

Aeson turned me around and kissed me, harsh and bruising, uncaring that my lips stayed inert and did not kiss him back. He pulled me down, putting my back against the sharp planes of the stone. The last thing I saw before all went to blackness was Storm King looking down at me, face cold and uncaring. I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the mental and physical hurt.

When I let myself see again, I sat on the ground, palms down against the hard surface. Just like before, I felt no more pain, and I could tell my clothes were whole once more. Another illusion...one my body had no memory of but which would stay etched in my mind for some time, I suspected. Standing up, I moved forward, on toward Kiyo.

Someone else was waiting for me in the next chamber, a man I'd never seen before. He was slim and small, dressed in scarlet velvet bordering on outlandish. He held a small cloth-wrapped bundle in his hands and paced around nervously. When he caught sight of me, his face brightened with relief.

"There you are, your majesty!" he exclaimed. "I've been waiting."

"Waiting for what?"

He proffered the bundle before me. "To give you your crown. You have to put it on."

I eyed the bundle nervously and then looked at the smooth, blank wall between Kiyo and me. "Is that what I need to do to get through? Put on the crown?"

He nodded, shifting from foot to foot. "Hurry. We're running out of time."

I knew what the crown was for. I knew what Dorian had done outside of Aeson's fortress. Somehow, some way, I had gained the Alder Land. I had become its queen. I sure as hell didn't want it, though. If I made it away from here alive, I'd definitely rectify the problem. But if wearing the crown here was what it took to pacify this next sadistic torment,