Gena Showalter - Unraveled

So. He’d expected a reaction. Because bad news had been delivered? “Tell me again.”

Do not aid him, Thomas roared inside his head. He is the enemy. His masters will destroy your world and all the humans who populate it . Do you hear me? Kill him!

Aden tuned him out as best he could.

“I need to plunge a blade through his heart,” Riley announced.

No! The protest came from Thomas and Aden simultaneously.

Fabulous . From Caleb.

Dear God . From Julian.

Blood . From Elijah.

“Is there another way?” Aden managed to ask past the lump in his throat. “A way to leave him here, prevent him from causing any more harm?”

“No. There’s no other way. He’s a fairy. Like all his kind, he has the ability to borrow strength from immortals, temporarily possessing their abilities. More than that, he’s a prince. If he lives, he’ll raise his army and come after us.”

“I don’t like the thought of killing him.” Even though Elijah, too, had said it was the only way. “He protects humans.” Victoria had told him. Still. Had he not known, he would have realized the truth the moment he’d stepped inside the fairy’s body. The knowledge was there, swimming through his mind with the same potency as the warmth. Humans were like children. Irresponsible, feral children, but loved by the Fae nonetheless.

“He’ll kill you if given another chance,” Riley said.

“I know.” That knowledge was there, too. “But I don’t care.” He could take care of himself. He hoped.

“He’ll kill Victoria,” Riley added coolly.

Low blow. The wolf knew Aden would do anything to protect her. His hands clenched, and his eyes closed. His heart pounded in a staccato rhythm as he condemned another creature to death. “All right. God. Let’s do it.”

“Are you sure?”

Sure he wanted to take a knife through the heart? No. “Yes.” He wondered if he would die with the fairy the same way he’d died with Dmitri. If so, would he come back to life?

Yes, you will die, but yes, you will come back, Elijah said, calming him. Still. You’ll wish you’d stayed dead . You’ll feel the stabbing as if it was your own .

Okay. Bye-bye calm. Here was the pain he’d feared before possessing the prince. He’d known Thomas would have to be injured and subdued in some violent way. Stabbing, though…

For Victoria.

“All right, then,” Riley said, resolved.

Aden opened his eyes and nodded. “I’m ready.”

Riley returned the nod, and unsheathed a blade from his back pocket. A blade that belonged to Aden.

Do not do this! Thomas commanded.

“You didn’t arrive with that,” Aden said to distract himself from the sharp, deadly weapon soon to be embedded in his chest.

“While I was in the closet, I slipped back into the human dimension and gathered what I needed.” Riley shrugged those wide shoulders. “Then I slipped back.”

“That easily?”

“That easily.” All of Riley’s nonchalance and confidence faded as he lumbered forward, paused and frowned. “You won’t be harmed when I do this?”

“No. I’ve been assured I’ll live.” For the most part.

“My king—”

“Don’t call me that,” he snapped, and Thomas gasped in shock.

King?

Again, Aden ignored him.

“If there were any other way…” Riley continued.

“I know.” He was surprised by how sad he suddenly was that hatred and intolerance had brought them to this point.

For several minutes, neither of them moved or spoke.

“Maybe you should lie down for this,” Riley said, shaky now.

“All right.” Aden studied his surroundings. The fight had ended inside RJ’s bedroom. The bunk bed had been toppled, but one of the mattresses was on the ground. Aden forced the prince’s body to stride over to it and lie down. By the time he stilled, he was shaking worse than Riley.

What was a stabbing compared to being burned alive? He could do this.

You’ll regret this, the prince snarled.

“If you would just promise not to harm Victoria.”

Riley had already closed the distance between them and now blinked at him, clearly offended. “I would never harm her.”

“Not you. The prince.”

That, I can never promise . Your Victoria—oh, yes, I know her very well—she is a spawn of Vlad, and her sister Lauren was to be my brother’s bride. A peace offering, a uniting of the races. Only, Lauren killed him before the ceremony and admitted she had never meant to wed him. Spat with enough acid to burn. Should I live, Victoria will die. A sibling for a sibling. My vengeance will not be denied. At least the fairy hadn’t lied. “Even at the cost of your own life?” Aden demanded, and this time Riley ignored him, knowing he conversed with the prince.

Hear me well. I’ve already killed three members of her family. The rest will follow.

“Three?” he gritted out. “That’s not a sibling for a sibling, is it? Who did you kill?”

Cousins. Not nearly enough of a sting. I want them all. The entire royal family.

“Then you are a murderer and you have brought this on yourself.”

I am a murderer? What are you?

Hesitant, Riley raised the knife. “Ready?”

“I—”

She is vampire, Thomas said, cutting him off. You are a human. All you’ll ever be to her is a blood-slave, addicted to her bite. And still you kill for her?

Flickers of fury ignited in his chest. He was more than Victoria’s blood-slave. He wouldn’t believe otherwise. “Yes. For her, I’ll do anything .”

For my brother, I will do anything. You might kill me, but you’ll never break me. And Haden? Somehow I’ll make you pay for this, even from the grave.

“Ready?” Riley repeated then. Determination radiated from him, but that determination was waning. “I want to get this done before I change my mind.”

Deep breath in, hold, hold, slowly release. Aden was tense, which would cause more pain, but that wasn’t going to change the final outcome.

“Ready?” Riley repeated a third time. Sweat dripped from his hand.

“Ready.” He could do this. He would not chicken out. “Do it. Do it now!”

“I’m sorry.” The blade fell, a blur. Plunged deep. Cutting through bone, muscle and into the vital organ. Burning, stinging…destroying. Aden screamed, loud and long, and his voice soon broke from the strain.

The heart, though, continued to beat. At first. Each pump slid the knife deeper, cut worse, burned more. Blood flowed from the wound, soaking his chest, the mattress. Droplets even bubbled up into his throat, choking him, before rising into his mouth and spilling out, warming his cheeks.

Rivers, Elijah said, as if in a trance. Flow .

Caleb, Julian and Thomas were howling. They weren’t feeling Aden’s agony, he knew from experience, and he was glad to spare them that. But they were feeling the residual effects of his mental anguish.

Calm down, he told himself. For them.

But the pain never eased. Not when it felt as if every drop of life had poured from him. Not when his limbs chilled, so heavy he could no longer lift them. Aden could have abandoned the body at any time, but he wanted to spare Thomas every bit of pain he could. Besides, he had to know. For his peace of mind, he had to know when it was over. He had to know what he would one day have to bear himself.

A few moments later, Aden died for the second time that day.

A few minutes earlier