Rejected Queen by Meg Xuemei X.

CHAPTER 13

Tessa

 

 

 

 

 

 

I submerged into the water in the marble basin. I’d chosen to bathe in this chamber because the water was cooler, flowing from the spring. I always preferred an icy bath, as I was part Ice Fae.

When I broke out of the water, a smile hung on my face, which had something to do with Loki. Despite the upcoming trial and other thorny issues hanging over my head, I hadn’t felt this good for a very long time.

I peered at the river of lava in the distance, remembering my Ice Kingdom. Outside the barred window of my old tower, a forever frozen river of ice had been my only view for years. My kingdom was so cold, the opposite of Loki’s in every way. My soul craved both ice and flame, and now I knew why.

The Weaver of Fates hadn’t been wrong.

If it weren’t for my people, for what I owed to my royal family, I might just stay in Hell, where I would be sheltered from blood, death, and fear. But fate wouldn’t be that kind. I still had a blood contract that I couldn’t get out of.

I’d found my mate, but I could never be with him.

Ice was my element, but it was now wedged in my airway. I struggled to breathe, to take air into my lungs. The weight wouldn’t lift, letting new guilt and shame pound through my veins. It beat me so hard I admitted a new truth. 

I couldn’t go on like this. I couldn’t keep lying to myself and to Loki, the inferno to my ice.

I must tell him about his parents, his true origin, and the blood contract I’d made with Lucifer. I needed to come clean and tell him that I’d been sent here to kill him and deliver his head to his father, and I needed to do it before the compulsion from the blood contract kicked in and took my will. When I refused to murder my own mate, my salvation, it would force me to.

I’d vowed to never trust a powerful man again, but I’d trust Loki. He’d shown me another man beneath his cruel, ruthless exterior; he was just as vulnerable as I was deep inside. So yes, I’d take a chance with him.

If he was willing to hear me out, we’d work together and figure something out. We’d move forward and have a future together. Before, I’d had no one outside my team, and our numbers were small. Now I could have Loki, his entire circle, Mari, her demigods, and my team. I even had a Hell Cat.

I sighed out a trail of frost, my breath easing.

I hadn’t felt this light for a long time.

My lips curled up again as I thought of the heat in his eyes before an urgent call had pulled him away. Kings and their duties and burdens. Despite his flashy playboy style, I hadn’t seen him shy away from his responsibilities when required.

He’d wanted to join me in my bath badly, and we could’ve finished what we hadn’t in his penthouse in Manhattan.

“No one will dare to disturb us this time on my home turf,” he’d said. “Wait for me, Bunny, and I’ll show you how good I am at back rubs.”  

My face burned at the image of his handsome face between my thighs. He’d made me come with his wicked tongue. I’d request the same when he returned.

What would happen to us when we truly mated? Would we form a mystic mating bond? If so, would the true bond cleave out the old bond my ex-mate had forced on me? Even though I had never even kissed Ragnarö, the Ice God had found a way to forge that bond between us to control me.

He couldn’t locate me because I was light years away with worlds between us, but he could always feel that I was still alive, so the bloodhounds had never stopped hunting me.

I tried to shake off the cold terror that seeped in whenever I thought of Ragnarö, so I kept replaying the scene of Loki suckling and even biting the bundle of nerves to evoke a great pleasure I’d never before experienced. Heat rushed through my bloodstream. I brought the washcloth to my pussy and rubbed it up and down, picturing what Loki would do to me, and nearly moaned as I closed my eyes.

I already missed him.

I wish he would finish whatever business he had been called away on and hurry here to soothe the fire in me—or stoke it higher.

The castle rumbled. My eyes flashed open, and I sat bolt upright in the tub, darting my gaze around. Had what happened in Manhattan followed us here? Had the gods indeed roamed Earth and breached the Underworld as well?

Outside the window, lava bubbled in the river, as if responding to a powerful being’s raging mood.

My heart rammed into my ribcage as my sense of danger spiked. Frost coated my skin.

I shot up, water pouring down from my body. Before I reached the towel, the door swung open. Esme rushed in as if her tail were on fire.

We stared at each other, and I quickly grabbed the tower and covered my front.

This wasn’t the time to glare at her and demand propriety.

“What happened?” I asked, my voice calm and my demeanor cool, though my pulse ran wild. The threat of danger loomed closer.

“You need to leave now, Tessa!” she said, her face dark and worried. “You don’t have time.”

“Where’s King Loki?” I asked. “I’m not fleeing without him. I’ll fight by his side.”

She let out a short, harsh laugh without mirth. “It’s him whom you must flee from. The king is destroying everything. The dukes are trying to hold him off to stop him from coming to take your life. He might regret it later when he’s himself again.” She pursed her lips. “We need to go now. I’ll explain on the way.”

I swallowed, as I detected no lies in her words. I caught a robe she threw at me, shrugged it on, and hurried out of the bath chamber after her. Dread and confusion wrapped around my head. Just as I’d thought things were going well between Loki and me, fate fucked me over again. Just as I’d feared, this thing between Loki and me was too good to be true.

“I don’t know what you did to him.” Esme sighed. “I don’t know what transpired between you two. One second, he was all happy and smiling and glowing, almost a lovesick puppy, and the next, he lost his mind and raged, shattering everything in his suite. His power destroyed part of the castle as well.”

“Then I should go to him and ask him directly,” I said. “Clear things up. I’m not going to flee like this, like a coward.”

“Please, Lady Tessa,” Esme said. “He called you a treacherous bitch. He said he’d wring your elegant head off your neck, but he wouldn’t say what you’d done.” She rubbed her temple. “If you go face him now, he’ll kill you, and none of us could stop him. But I know him better than anyone, better than the dukes. He’d kill you, and then it would break him. No one has ever riled him up like this, not even his father Lucifer.”

That stopped me cold.

The blood drained from my face, fear and shame pounding in the back of my throat.

Had Loki found out about my role? But it couldn’t be. No one knew about the contract except Lucifer, my team, and me. My team would never betray me, not even under extreme torture and compulsion, which we were no strangers to.

Esme tugged my sleeve. “Hurry!”

Violent vibrations shook the walls of the castle, and I rushed after Esme barefoot. At this point, I’d resigned myself to my situation. I’d be a fool to go challenge the King of the Underworld if he was set on killing me for whatever reason.

Just when I decided to trust another powerful man, this happened. It was like bad history repeating itself right in front of my eyes.

Why was I even surprised?

Fleeing along the corridors, I felt numb, and then rage and humiliation took turns tormenting me. By the time I stepped through the side door like a thief in the night, I felt my heart crack a bit more.

I hadn’t done anything to him yet, so it could only be that he’d gotten bored of me. And now he couldn’t wait to get rid of me. The Demon King had a reputation. He went through women like underwear.

Powerful men believed they were above everyone and everything. Women were mostly just playthings to them.

A geyser of lava erupted in the distance.

The castle still rumbled. Shouts and screams and warnings from the demon guards and his guests, possibly some of his whores, ricocheted off the stone and marble. Rocks and debris rained down as the lower east side of the castle collapsed.

“This is really bad,” Esme murmured. “Why is he so mad?”

“Because he’s a powerful man,” I said coldly. “A man like him thinks the world exists for his whims.”

It didn’t take long for the Demon King to show his true color. He was just like Ragnarö, and I’d almost fallen for him.

I was at a man’s mercy again.

My fury and hatred unleashed.

Three slashes of lightning pierced the red-gray sky, followed by an icy storm. Cold rain poured down, and a great hissing sound from the cooling lava filled every inch of the air.

Esme snapped her head at me.

Ice crystals dotted my eyelids. Frost burned on my skin.

“You made Hell rain for the first time in its history, Tessa,” Esme murmured drily. “That might just cool his temper. Or not.”

Silence stretched through the realm; even the Demon King stopped rampaging through his castle. And then everyone started shouting. Hell’s citizens and other creatures rushed out of the buildings or whatever other holes they hid in, and pointed at the icy rain that turned to snow as they shouted.

I wrapped the robe around my naked body tightly. Ice magic glamoured and shielded me as I merged into the shadows.

I was gone before Esme realized it.