Fabled Kingdoms (The Fated Wings #7) - C.R. Jane

Prologue

I exist.

And that is all.

I no longer feel emotions. And I wonder, was this Aiden's intent? Because surely he must have some kind of feelings for us to have ended up at this place.

He's frustrated.

I see it in his eyes as he watches me hungrily...and angrily.

He wanted me to be like him, but all I am now is a void, empty of everything.

I go through the emotions of what he wants, but everything that made me Eva...it's all gone.

And he hates it.

It turns out that one of the things he hated about me, was also one of the reasons he loved me.

I would think that was funny if I was capable of it.

"Eva," he calls for me roughly. I subserviently approach him and kneel before him on the mattress that he has his servants lay out for me at his feet.

He stares at me, his gaze searching mine. I stare at him obediently, waiting...always waiting.

"Tell me you love me," he orders.

"I love you," I immediately reply, in a calm, even voice.

Love, I think I used to remember what that felt like. Now, it seems like a fairy tale told to children before bed.

"Again. But mean it," he seethes, his hand reaching out to grab my chin. His fingers dig into my skin, and I know there will be a bruise, but I just can't find it in me to care.

"I love you," I repeat dutifully.

He growls in frustration and throws me to the hard marble floor. My head hits the ground with a loud crack, but I don't even cry.

I'm incapable of it.

"Chandra!" he calls out suddenly, summoning the head servant of his domain. She appears silently at the entrance to the room where she'd been patiently waiting to please him. Her head bowed in submission and her hands clasped timidly in front of her.

"Get her here now," he seethes. Chandra immediately leaves the room to get the Goddess. Aiden doesn't even have to specify, she's the only her that bears mentioning.

The Goddess appears within minutes, almost like she'd been waiting for his call. She spares me a pitying glance as she glides up to Aiden's throne. I'm still lying on the ground, my head aching too much to move.

"You called?" she announces wryly, staring at her fingernails like she's bored even though her entire body is tensed like Aiden....or the snake wrapped around his legs, is about to strike.

"Something's wrong with her," he spits out, gesturing to my prone form.

The Goddess's gaze flicks to me for a moment.

"You've been injecting her with the venom?"

"Of course, I have. You didn't do your job!"

She scoffs. "She's perfect. Just like you requested."

"She doesn't love me!" he yells out suddenly.

The room goes deathly silent in shock.

Love him? How could I really love him when I'm not even capable of real feelings anymore?

The Goddess laughs then, the sound coming out like the chime of a bell, delicate and sweet, even though it should sound mocking.

"What did you think would happen? You would inject her with poison from that creature and she wouldn't be affected?"

She shakes her head in disgust, glaring at the snake. She turns and walks away dismissively.

"There's nothing I can do, Aiden. But the terms of our deal are still in place."

With that parting remark, she floats out of the room.

The silence is terrible after she leaves. Aiden sits there on his throne in a haze of anger.

After a long stretch that feels like hours but is probably only minutes, he turns his attention back to where I lay.

"I guess we'll have to start over again," he says before standing up and striding towards me.

He kneels beside me and strokes my hair as he stares down at me and shakes his head in disappointment.

"Such a shame," he whispers before he pulls a long, familiar-looking knife out of his belt.

I know that knife. It's so powerful it has its own name, Scrios...gailic for "destruction." It's a word that perfectly describes the knife that can kill any immortal. The knife that can assuredly kill me.

"Goodnight sweetheart," Aiden says calmly before stabbing me suddenly right in my heart.

I gasp in surprise and in pain as blood starts to flow out of the wound. He watches me, fascinated, and I know I'm dying.

Cold spreads through my veins, but I also feel lighter, like the venom that's poisoned my entire being is slowly being leaked out of me.

Tristan's face appears in my mind and this time I recognize him for what he is. I recognize the face I