Arya’s eyes flutter. Her eyelids feel so heavy she has to put all of her energy into pulling them back. She barely recognizes the room she’s in but she’d know these palace walls from anywhere. Suddenly, the realization of what’s happened hits her and she shoots up. She’s shackled to a bed and there are alumni surrounding her. Lumi, Rayu, Jax and Mekhi. At least he’s smart enough to surround her with people she cares about too much to cut through or harm. Beyond them, Malich rises from a chair still only donning his pants and slowly begins to approach. She both hates and loves the image of his half naked body, eyeing every inch of him as he approaches. His dark wavy hair sits a tousled mess atop his head. It’s grown longer and it makes him look even younger.8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9YGP1TvL6J 維尼
Images of the naked girl in his bed flash through her mind. She clenches her eyes shut hoping to drive them out of her head completely. Lumi and Jax part to allow Malich to walk through and sit at the edge of the bed. Arya lunges at him, bearing her teeth, only to be yanked back by the shackles around her neck and arms.8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡsnYsjpj1Nn 維尼
“If you think you’ve spared her life you haven’t,” Arya glares at him. Nothing could curve her appetite for murder at the moment. “I’m going to find her, and when I do I’m going to sever allof her fucking limbs.” 8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jtsKNVDP8 維尼
“You’ll do no such thing,” Malich glares back, daring to lean in closer. “She’s Princess of the Winter Court and if you go after her you’ll start a war you don’t want orneed. Not to mention the fact that you have no right. You walked away, remember?” Arya sits back, her eyes locked on his, wondering when his heart turned so cold to her. “Release her,” he commands.8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡbNJ2Eg0fvz 維尼
“Is that wise?” Dax shifts nervously. “The last time she got angry with you she put her sword through your abdomen.” Malich whips his head in Dax’s direction. Mekhi and the others simply look surprised. Dax shrugs. “Ihsan told me.” 8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkMsJ0KDjU 維尼
“Did he also teach you how to disobey orders?”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡNQzibW5ITQ 維尼
Dax shakes his head and reluctantly does as he’s told. He releases Arya from her shackles and follows the others out of the room. Once the door is closed, Malich moves closer to her. She backs away. 8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9iW9Yqnlgg 維尼
“People talk Malich. I know all about your nighttime activities.” 8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡKoTkEUlEaX 維尼
“I wasn’t trying to keep them a secret,” he shrugs.8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡAx8MTGdiVB 維尼
“I ask for time, so you start sleeping your way through the Summer Court?”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡlB2kcYcZCe 維尼
“Grow up Arya,” Malich sighs, rising to his feet.8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡjwMF7zfGCI 維尼
“What?” She stares at him in disbelief.8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡUhq1NEUaqN 維尼
“I said grow up,” he repeats. He crosses the room and pours himself a glass of spirits. “What did you expect me to do? Was I supposed to wait for you to figure things out like you did before? How well did that work out for me?I won’t be a passenger upon the ship of your swaying emotions. If you want to be mine, be mine. It’s that simple. If not, you know where the door is. I’m tired of playing these games with you.”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡASrd2gZSnC 維尼
“I wouldn’t be in this mess if you hadn’t-”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡ60a1firO2Y 維尼
“So it’s my fault you’re incapable of making a decision?” He cuts her off. “Tell me, when you allowed the new king to crawl between your legs, was that my fault too?”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡWYcjVESaf1 維尼
Arya sprang to her feet and lunged. He quickly counters, pinning her to the wall, one hand around her throat and the other pinning her arms above her head. “I didn’t want to go to him, you forced me to!” She shouts at him, tears forming in her eyes.8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡIL09a2JYHJ 維尼
“I forced you to confront your feelings, not share a bed with him. That was all you.”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9iEWGKOOkP 維尼
Arya shoves Malich away from her. He’s right and she hates him for it. Mostly she hates herself. She drops to her knees and sighs. 8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFF6VpCPUL 維尼
“I’m sorry,” she apologizes. 8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0x3Un0f7tf 維尼
“For which part? Sleeping with Ihsan or stringing me along?”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡqEJTlxOAht 維尼
Arya looks surprised. “I haven’t been stringing you along…I loveyou. Had you have granted my request for council I would have told you that. You’rethe one I want to be with. I know that now. I think I’ve always known, but I was afraid to admit it to myself.”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡbRa5KtjSD2 維尼
“Afraid to admit what to yourself?” 8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1UGrbx20Jj 維尼
“That I’m such a horrible person I fell in love with a man who’s had me beaten on more than one occasion. A man who beat the boy I fell in love with almost to deathand then kept us from each other for no reason other than he wanted me to himself. A man I looked to as a father because I didn’t have one. That’s the hardest truth to swallow,” Arya sulks, “What kind of person does that make me? Weak? A hypocrite?You’re a horrible man who’s done horrible things and I should hate you but I don’t. I love you when I shouldn’t and it makes me questionmyself. It makes me question why I love you so much when everyone knows Ihsan is a much better man.”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡWBfG2Q21ya 維尼
Narrowing his eyes, Malich replies sarcastically, “I’m not exactly feeling the love here Arya.” 8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡTULlTlzQiT 維尼
“I feel as if you’ve cast some sort of spell on me. I should be running in the opposite direction, but Anan help me, I can’t seem to stay away from you.”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡggLAB0wZ2r 維尼
Malich holds out a hand for Arya to take. After taking a deep breath, she takes it. He helps her to her feet, tucking a few loose curls behind her ears. “I understand that you’re hurt, but you can’t simply kill everyone I’ve slept with.”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡPFpQei4aWF 維尼
“Will the Summer Court be short on citizens if I did?” She muses. “Something tells me that if the rumors I’ve been hearing are true, my kill list would be extremelylong.”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡtqm2ddcEpz 維尼
Malich laughs. “Don’t blame the girls, blame me. I was so lonely without you that I had to fill my time with someone. You haunted me every time I closed my eyes and often while I lay awake. I tried to get you out of my head, but I failed miserably. Every night, as beautiful as those girls were, none of them were you.”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡtUuxyggRTS 維尼
“And the Princess?”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0f0Xx6ImHD 維尼
Waving her off he says, “Kahlem is trying to marry me off. I’m pretty sure his goal is to create a rift between us. Divide and conquer. But I don’t want those other girls Arya. I want you.” 8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡKFivAwqKNB 維尼
She tries not to show how much it pleases her to hear him say that, but a smile surfaces before she can stifle it. Seizing the opportunity, he closes the distance between them and softly presses his lips to hers, groaning against her mouth. 8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡIXpl1gNpjm 維尼
When Malich pulls away she promptly slaps him across the face. He glares at her as if she were crazy. “What was that for?”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡloJwnedVWE 維尼
“You smell like her,” she replies, “Get rid of her scent and come find me.”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡVgmzOJ91DI 維尼
Arya exits the room. She can hear him laughing as she walks the halls to find the others. 8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9xchB87fAh 維尼
They’re gathered in the sitting room and Mekhi leaps to his feet as soon as he sees her. His eyes search behind her for Malich, “He’s showering to get that girls scent off of him,” Arya puts him at ease. 8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2gzggfGp3 維尼
“Do you remember what happened?” Mekhi asks. She shakes her head. “You burst into flames, setting that entire room ablaze and nearly killed us all.”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡrSN8ZZoLk4 維尼
Arya’s heart skids cross her chest. She can’t remember. “What?”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0txzwp3BNj 維尼
“Has Alara or Tomich shed anymore light on your origin?” He asks.8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2M36YKOpgf 維尼
“We aren’t exactly on speaking terms, Alara and I.”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKhcj9jXgO 維尼
“You needto find out more about yourself and figure out what’s happening to you.”8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡEZ2ikUAHGF 維尼
Arya looks around the room. They all felt the same way he did. Perhaps they were right and she should try harder with both Alara and Tomich to learn more about herself, but part of her is afraid of what she’ll find when she did finally learns the truth. What if that truth took her away from the people she loved? What if she didn’t like what she found?8964 copyright protection176ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4VKu5VZewH 維尼
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