Free Fire of a Dragon (Fallen Immortals 3) - Paranormal Fairytale Romance by Alisa Woods Page B

face was pinking up, almost turning red with her anger, which struck a cold, dead fear through Lucian’s heart.
    “No, my love, you’re not.” His voice was a chastened whisper.
    Her fists were balled up, and she looked ready to pummel him. And she was biting her lip hard, as if she had words to say, but was holding them back.
    “Whatever you have to say, my treasure… say it.” He braced himself.
    She chewed on her lip some more.
    He waited.
    Finally, she said, “Do you know why Cara died?”
    He blinked. It was possibly the last thing he expected out of her mouth. “I… I killed her…” He couldn’t breathe. Was this what she feared? That he would repeat that horror with her? “Arabella. I’d sooner fall on an angel blade than… I would never…”
    But she waved him off. “Of course not. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying do you know? What really killed her?”
    For the second time, he wondered if the fever had taken her mind when it left. He just stared at her.
    “It was Zephan.” The biting cold of her voice speared right through him.
    “What?” he sputtered. “Arabella, I was there. I lived through—”
    “No.” She clambered up on her knees, her hands gripping his shoulders for support as she balanced on the bed, face to face, holding him prisoner with her intense gaze. “You tried to save her. But the thing that was killing her—the wound in her soul—that was caused by Zephan. I love you, Lucian Smoke, but I have something I have to tell you. You have to understand this.”
    He just nodded because he had no idea what she was talking about.
    “Zephan seduced Cara.”
    “What?” He drew back, but her hands were locked hard on his shoulders, not letting him go. “That’s not possible…” But the trickle of recognition was already worming its way into his mind. Cara had changed—before the fever, before the baby tried to fight its way out of her body—something had happened, and she had fallen into a terrible despair. All along, Lucian had believed that was the point at which she had begun to doubt his love for her, despite his fervent reassurances. He never knew why. He never knew what triggered it.
    “I’m sorry,” Arabella was saying, again and again. “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you. I don’t know how exactly it happened, but Zephan raped her. That fucking mental rape thing he does where he makes you want it. It’s fucking horrible, and it wasn’t her fault. Believe me, I know that. But afterward, I’m sure it just flat-out destroyed her, from the inside out. That was his intent with it. He didn’t want to fuck her. He may be a fae prince, but he’s just like every other abusive rapist I’ve seen in my practice—he wanted to hurt her. Control her. And he did it in the most devastating way possible. I’m sure she felt like she couldn’t tell you—that’s just how rape victims are. It messes with your head. I’ve seen it so many times. And that… that’s what triggered her doubts. That’s what killed her, Lucian.”
    The horror of it truly seized him. “I failed to protect her.” All the pain was coming surging back. All the dark horror of it. “I failed to keep the fae from her.”
    “No.” She gripped his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her. “You failed to keep the fae from me as well. He’s fucking powerful, Lucian. You couldn’t have stopped him. And now, with me, he’s been doing everything he can to drive us apart. But you know what? He failed.”
    Lucian blinked, still being pulled into that blackness he fell into after Cara died. “He failed?”
    Arabella spoke through gritted teeth. “He tried to seduce me—fucking twice with his mental games and his glamour—and I was able to resist. Able to see through it, somehow. I don’t know how… except I know that my love for you is real. This whole thing about True Love? I believe in that like you can’t even imagine, because I’ve seen it work. Felt it, Lucian. Even