Hands from behind ripped Tomas off Ref. He flailed about, trying desperately to escape their clutches.
“Get off him!”
“Enough!”
“What the fuck do you think you are doing?!”
Tomas just cried, from the deepest, coldest place within him. Screaming to kill Ref, to save Rilan.
Rilan’s eyes stared blankly to the sky above.
His skin was white. His chest had stopped expanding.
Chapter 24 - The Dagger
Trish stormed in to Edrick’s candlelit quarters in the lower levels of Castle Bower, slamming the door behind her and bolting it shut. It was an area of the castle she had become familiar with once again since returning to Ravenrock.
Her golden hair was a mess, and her makeup was running down her face.
“That bitch,” Trish cursed with clenched fists. “That self-obsessed bitch.”
Edrick sat up from his bed, surprised to see the handmaiden. “I thought you weren’t going to be able to visit tonight?”
“Yeah, well things change, don’t they?”
“What’s wrong?”
Trish faced Edrick with hate-filled eyes. “After everything I’ve done for her. Everything I’ve been put through. All the things we are doing to help her!”
Edrick pulled Trish over with a gentle tug on her arm, sitting her down on the edge of the bed. He began massaging her shoulders to comfort her.
“What happened?”
Trish scoffed. “Katryna found out about her betrothal with the prince from Ember. She called me cheap and compared me to a brothel whore!”
Edrick sighed. “Don’t take it personally. She must be quite shocked with finding out,” he said, trying to reassure the young woman.
“I feel like I want to hit something. She’s a self-entitled brat.”
“You can hit me if you like,” Edrick said with a smirk.
Trish faced Edrick, gently caressing her hand across his cheek, before slapping him rather firmly. The two smiled.
“You are no cheap handmaiden, or a whore,” Edrick said. “You are beautiful and smart, and together we can do anything.”
Trish wiped away the last of her smudged makeup with the back of her hand, nodding.
“They think us inferior, and that is why we are stronger than they.”
“You’re right,” Trish said. “You’re right. I’m just so mad that we do what we do for Katryna and she treats me like an insect beneath a boot.”
“When the princess discovers all that we have done in her name, then she will be grateful,” Edrick said.
“She better. I lost everything because of her family. I was taken from my home, humiliated, beaten, forced to become their servant. And this is how she treats me in return?”
“Don’t beat yourself up, Trish.” Edrick leant beside the bed and took something from underneath, before hiding it behind his back. “I, uh… I got you something.”
Trish’s face instantly lit up. “Well, well, well, not just a pretty face after all,” Trish laughed, patting Edrick’s face before crossing her legs on his bed. “What is it?”
“Guess.”
Trish rolled her eyes. “Umm, a horseshoe?”
Edrick chuckled. “No.”
“An apple?”
“Better.”
Edrick revealed a shining, ornate, steel dagger. She gasped at its beauty. The weapon was dual bladed, each with a slight curve. The blades had a long fuller depression down their midline, and the handle had ridges along it with a glowing red jewel embedded at the base.
Trish was breathless. “Wha… Where did you…?”
“I stole it from a trader who was drinking at a tavern in Stonesilt Harbour. He and I were gambling and drinking. He told me all about it before losing it. The steel was forged across the Emerald Sea,” Edrick explained, watching Trish as she studied the dagger.
Trish ran her fingers across the razor-sharp blade, drawing a prick of blood.
“It’s…”
Edrick beamed. “I knew you’d like it.”
“It’s incredible.”
“I was going to present it to you after the king dies. But I thought you could use some cheering up now. A reminder of our mission.”
Trish embraced Edrick, breathing in his intoxicating scent and pressing her lips against his with appreciation. The two fell back as they kissed, hands all over each other’s bodies.
Edrick caressed Trish’s soft face, running a finger down the ugly old scar across her cheek. It had never bothered him- when they were young, he used to always tell her it made her look unique, like a tattoo.
Trish, sitting atop Edrick, slid the blade playfully across his throat. She imagined sticking it in him, the blood pumping out, the feeling of resistance and ecstasy of joy she would receive as she plunged it deep into someone’s body.
Edrick was not nervous, however. He knew it got Trish excited. He began undoing Trish’s laces, pulling off her dress to reveal her slender, smooth form. He held his breath at her beauty.
Trish smirked as she watched him study her body hypnotically. She felt his firmness beneath her hips as he ran his soft fingers down her naked body.
Edrick played with one nipple before grabbing her firm breasts with both hands. He kissed her neck as his strong hands squeezed the tenderness of her chest.
Trish breathed in Edrick’s ear as their hearts raced and bodies began to sweat, melding into one. She gripped the dagger tightly within her hand.
Trish took of his pants as he grabbed her rear. She whispered into Edrick’s ear as she moaned.
“It’s time we step things up.”
With Trish still on top of him, Edrick entered her in one forceful thrust. She gasped in pleasure, rubbing the smooth yet sharp dagger against his unshaven stubble as he began to repeatedly push into her.
She pricked his skin with the tip of the dagger, drawing a spot of blood.
“I’ll do whatever you ask,” Edrick said, his eyes rolling around in his head as he firmly held on to her hips, feeling their bodies move in unison.
“Tonight,” she said. “Tonight, we finish what we started.”
The pair kissed passionately once again as
