Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 120336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
“And they are killers that want you dead due to Yan’s death. They want your sisters dead too.” He raised one finger. “If they have the chance to end you, they will. And the moment you walk into that tent without me or Lei, they will take that opportunity. That is how much they think you are a soft outsider unable to truly lead them.”
“N-no. I’m not doing this.”
“You will.”
I rose from my chair and started pacing. “Eighty people who hate me. Kill a few. What the hell are you talking about? I can’t do this.”
Leo stayed seated and looked up at me. “My little monster, you’ve already killed—”
“Enough! I won’t do it.”
And then just like that, Leo moved fast—too fast. He was up and in front of me before I could step back.
SHIT!
However, his hands wrapped gently around my arms, to my shock his touch was firm but not rough, like a lover’s grip, not a captor’s.
He leaned in close, so close that I could feel the heat of his breath against my skin and smell the faint scent of jasmine lingering on him.
My heart stuttered, betraying me, because for a fleeting second, I thought he might kiss me or something.
I widened my eyes.
His hands slid slowly up and down my arm, soothing me. “Do this, Monique, and you’ll rule the world.”
I trembled.
“You’ll rewrite your family’s legacy. No one will ever harm you or your sisters again. You’ll be untouchable.”
I closed my eyes and trembled some more.
“You’ve already begun,” He whispered, his lips were dangerously close to my ear. “This is just the final step. You’ve come too far to turn around now.”
His hand slid up to cup my elbow, and I shivered under his touch. He felt like fire and ice, and the space between us crackled with something dangerous.
“You’ll be free after this.” Leo's voice was honey laced with poison. “And after this. . .you’ll never have to look over your shoulder again. No one will ever threaten your sisters. Lei will see you the way I do—a queen among men.”
I opened my eyes, his gaze was on me; dark and endless.
“Do this, and everything you’ve ever wanted will be yours,” Leo whispered. His hand lingered on my arm, and the touch became even more tender. “It’s not just survival, my little monster. It’s power and it’s yours if you take it. Please. . .take it.”
I knew what he was doing, manipulating me, twisting my thoughts until I believed this was my only option.
But part of me—God help me—felt the temptation curl inside my chest.
Because the promise of safety, of power, of freedom was intoxicating.
And the worst part was, Leo knew it too.
“L-leo. . .I-It’s going to be a lot of killing and blood and bodies and. . .I’m terrified.”
“It will be messy, yes.” Leo tilted his head, studying me like I was a puzzle he was just starting to solve. “But beauty often comes from chaos. Destruction is merely a part of creation.”
I turned my head and looked at the crackling embers in the fireplace.
“Think about it, Monique. Even God, in His infinite wisdom, created through destruction.”
I put my view back on him. “What do you mean?”
He leaned closer and his breath was even warmer against my ear. “Look at the flood. God wiped out everything—drowned the wicked, the innocent, all of them. And why? To start again. To create a world purged of evil, a world with a clean slate.”
I shivered and not from the cold.
“Destruction isn’t the opposite of creation, my beautiful little monster,” His voice shifted to a low hum that seeped under my skin. “It’s the first step. You tear down what doesn’t work—what’s weak, flawed, dangerous—and in the space left behind, something beautiful can rise. Something captivating.”
He brushed his thumb over my elbow, sending a spark down my arm. “The Phoenix doesn’t appear from nothing. It rises from ashes. It has to burn first. It must.”
Those damn words dug deep into my mind, deeper than I wanted to admit. They made a sick kind of sense; the kind that clung to my soul and refused to let go.
“This is your fire,” Leo whispered. “This is where you burn away everything holding you back—fear, weakness, hesitation. And what will rise from that fire?”
“I. . .don’t know.”
“A Mountain Mistress will rise. A queen. A ruler. The kind of woman who commands the world.”
I stared at him, breathless.
He smiled then, slow and wicked, as if he could already see the flames licking at the edges of my soul. “You’ve already destroyed the old Monique. Now, all that’s left is to embrace it.”
The firelight flickered between us, casting jagged shadows on his face and mine. I hated how magnetic he was, how his words wound around me like chains.
The worst part was I was starting to believe him.