Duchess Of Sebria ✔️

Staking Claim

26

Renai exhaled from her parted lips once her back dipped on the stony mattress. Her body was cold and continuously trembling. She wrapped her arms around her chest to provide herself some warmth but nothing eased the coldness as expected. The temperature of the room was ice-freezing. Her toes and lips had turned bluish purple. Her teeth clattering was ringing in her eardrums until a heavy step against the floor violated her earshot, forcing her to open her eyes.

Zebian stepped forward and a faint glow of light cast upon his face, making him look menacingly intimidating and assertive. Her eyes immediately flicked from his chest to his face. His toned cheekbone stood out first, his jawline defined sharp and eyes so intense that robbed her off her breath. That enigmatic glint in his eyes raced her heart yet made it skip several beats. He tortured her a few moments ago and still she had faith he wouldn't kill her. What a crazy thought she was having.

She blinked her eyes and focused on his bluish crystals that were shining under the dim glow. She took a deep breath and a voice reminded her that those were the same eyes that used to give her peace, the same eyes that paused the world for her whenever she snuck into them. Yet now...

The sense of familiarity she was getting by his face swelled her heart with strange comfort however killed her breaths, for both of them had become so foreign to each other. He had become a monster, something he was never when they were together.

There was one thing certain, she wouldn't get out of this room as a virgin. He had no plans on listening to her pleas, he just wouldn't listen. Her heart dropped remembering she had always guarded herself for her husband even when many situations came where she thought she would lose it, but unlike then, now she was really going to.

His pupils were dilated and morphed into a darker shade of something which she knew was none other than lust. There was desire written on his face. The way his Adam's apple was bobbing, she could tell he was resisting pouncing on her. The battle of mercy and cruelty was sparkling in his orbs. His penetrative gaze was making her nervous.

She gulped as he eliminated the length of distance in one heavy step. If she wanted she could make him stop but that would cause another bloodbath and she didn't want it at any cost.

His scrutinising bluish orbs fell on her body that was draped in a red silk gown he ordered her to wear that night. His jaw clenched as his eyes jumped back on her face, wondering where had she been and with whom. Only he knew how many times this thought had haunted him. She being with someone that was not him. That was the root cause of torturing her. He wanted to hear her rejecting the allegation, but her reaction only infuriated him more. Jealousy flared inside him as countless disturbing scenarios invaded his head. What if she was protecting a man? What if she had a lover inside this castle? What if he was one of those prisoners for whom she surrendered unexpectedly?

That could be the only logical reason. He lied about the execution of nine hundred men, just to see her reaction, that indeed favoured his theory.

With endless rage pumping in, he inhaled deeply and grabbed the hem of his tunic, pulling it above his head but his hard gaze never leaving her face. His packed abs came on display but the spine-chilling scars were the first thing that caught her eyes and made her gasp. Her gasping turned into deep breathing when her gaze travelled down and got stuck on the stitches near the right side of his waist. Guilt strangled her. This stab was meant for her and he took it.

He bent closer and put his hands on either side of her head, eventually hovering above her. His raging reddish-purple scars came right close to her face. She gulped and raised her anxious eyes to meet his firm ones. Her tongue was this close to ask him how he had gotten them but the knots in her stomach obstructed her.