Page 127 of We Three Kings
But she doesn’t take the bottle. She doesn’t even seem to see the container with her gaze hypnotized behind me. I spin around to see what she sees.
A man wearing a ghoulish mask and dressed all in black aims his gun at us.
“I knew a bunch of rich lawyers dressed to the hilt would pay off. Give me your purses.”
Shock slows my response. I have to transition from heartbreak to utter terror.
“Come on, come on.”
He seethes at us, angry from the delay, motioning for us to obey. We both react, handing over our bags.
He rips them out of our hands and shoves them in his backpack, gaping open to store everything he steals.
“Ring, necklace.”
Emotions I’ve been holding in finally burst. Tears sting my eyes from the reminders of what I thought were Balthazar and Gaspar’s symbols of love. Now I know they were just marking me as a possession.
I shake my head, brushing the choker. “It won’t come off. You have to have a key.”
“Don’t fuck with me, bitch.”
His gloved fingers slide under the heavy chain, leaving me no room to breathe. I grab his forearm, failing to push him away.
He squeezes tighter, trying to rip the jewelry from my throat. My head bobs with his force, and I flail in my stilettos, drifting back and forth across the slick surface as he yanks me.
“Fuck it. I don’t have time for this.”
He releases his grip with just as much force, and the last thing I hear is the girl’s scream as my head slams into the marble.
Melchior
Balthazar’s head whips in my direction. “If you don’t stop banging your foot, I will rip your fucking leg off.”
I glance down at the boot I didn’t even realize I was tapping. Damn. The need to move throbs inside of me to the point of pain. But I don’t dare leave. I need to be here when Seraphina wakes up.
We all do. None of us can survive without her so where else would we be except where our girl is.
Where our girl lies motionless with a concussion and bruised larynx from that motherfucker.
Where our girl stays silent and devoid of her normal joy.
Thankfully Casey’s gone which makes room for our new guest. If he wasn’t, I’d fucking build an entire prison for the thief to ensure he’s adequately punished for hurting Seraphina.
The longer she’s out, the longer the bastard who did this to her will suffer before I end him.
I grind my heel into the tile to hold still. My brother snarls at me but turns back to her, squeezing her tiny hand with his huge fingers.
Dad lifts his head from her slender forearm. Dark circles of fatigue dull his eyes as he swings his gaze between us but not uttering a single word. Too devastated to speak, he returns his attention to her as well.
Too many stifling memories flood my mind from the last time he was like this. He barely survived. None of us did. We won’t last now if she doesn’t wake the fuck up.
I shove off the wall and stride to her, clamping onto her ankle. Not much but the only place I can reach with the two of them crowding around her head.
My gift rolls under my hand. Despite the efforts of the hospital staff, we refused to let them remove her ring, necklace, and anklet. Our queen can never be without her kings’ presents.
With her long dark head draped around her pale face, she embodies an ethereal fragility we’d kill to protect. Yet this time an enemy we never expected almost ruined us.
Seraphina flinches from the force of my palm that I didn’t realize I was squeezing in my apprehension. None of us miss her eyes fluttering.