When I get my hands on them, I won’t kill them.

They will wish I had.

Serenity

I blink my eyes open. An unfamiliar room stares back at me. My hands finger a velvety comforter, and around me a fresco covers the walls.

I push myself upright in bed, belatedly realizing there’s no more pain. My eyes flutter shut as my hand brushes over my torso. Someone’s removed the gauze, and where a bullet hole should be, there’s only smooth skin.

The king’s technology has cured me once more. The thought pisses me off, mostly because I got duped. Montes does what he wants when he wants to whomever he wants.

Flinging the sheets off, I begin to storm out of the room. Halfway to the door I realize I’m still in a hospital gown. I practically growl as I rip the thing off of me and search the dresser and closet for real clothes.

Five minutes later, wearing tight pants, a loose shirt, and ass-kicking boots, I stalk out of the room. My hair whips wildly around me. I couldn’t care less how I look. In fact, the scarier the better.

Outside the room a guard intercepts me. “Your Majesty,” he says, scurrying after me.

“Where’s the king?” I demand.

“If you’ll follow me, Your Majesty.”

His acquiescence surprises me. I guess the king’s learned that he can’t keep me stationary unless he locks me up.

I trail after the guard. My body receives a shock when I realize we’re back in Geneva, inside the king’s estate, and not the palace where I married him.

Why stop here and not there?

My thoughts are interrupted when the soldier halts in front of a door. Before he can politely knock on it, I push past him and throw the door open. Storming inside, I catch sight of over a dozen important people, including my husband. A tape recording immediately blares throughout the room.

I freeze as I hear a familiar voice—my own.

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Serenity

“Serenity,” the king says, pushing his chair back and rising to his feet, “I wasn’t informed you were awake.”

I can hear the surprise—and happiness—in his voice. That’s where the two of us are now. Caught between hate and love, between our grim reality and what might be.

Montes comes to my side while someone else clicks the recording off. He runs a hand through my hair, tilting my head to get a better look at me. “Are you feeling all right?”

“Don’t baby me, Montes.” I hear several of the king’s men suck in air at that. I want to laugh. I’ve said so much worse to this man.

Montes’s mouth curves at my words. He likes me best with my claws out.