TOP UP

Reading History

Sign out

Get the APP

Reborn From Ashes: The King's Ruthless Queen

Chapter 6

Word Count: 928 | Released on: Today at 17:45

er departure was

y's hair. Emily had her dark curls, but Kenney's

ma?" Emily asked, twisti

aid, smoothing a curl around her finger. "To ensure we

th you," Em

ked. "I can't.

yd marched in. She began rifli

You're going to the Royal Lodge, not a nunnery. You need

she said coolly. "Humility is

n a bottle of French perfume on Imogene's vanity. Before Im

he brat," Lady Lloyd mu

empty space on t

er bedroom door. She could hear his breathing. He wanted to come in. He wanted t

t the Lodge would always be questioned. But a child conceived on

t a crack. Kenney was pacing in th

hispered, her v

d. "Imogene. I thou

let a single tear trace a path down her cheek. "I'm so

ity, worked like a key in a lock. His face sof

e said, stepping into the

t for tonight. Before... before I go. I need t

will not to recoil from his touch, from the scent of his ambition and his betrayal. She

he altar of her revenge. He saw a frightened, dutiful wife seeking comfort. He had no idea

an hour. She walked to the bed and looked at E

iled. She picked up Emily's favorite teddy bear.

out Kenney's minor embezzlements-the ones he had already committed, not the big

er inside the bear a

e," she whispe

e stood by the windo

ied of him. She had been a weeping mess. This time, she knew hi

He wanted a connection

la. But she would give

ke a bruise o

nce. It was black, lacquered, and bore

. He wouldn't look at the coac

ttered. "Don't ke

k with the hood pulled up

elled of milk and sleep. Emily started to

napped. He grabbed Emily'

r!" she hissed,

led, shocked

me, then stood up. She walked out the d

r slamm

away. Kenney was already turning back into the house,

ry. The tear

against the pl

ne," she said t

at the Lodge would be

Chapter End

Claim Your Bonus at the APP

Open

Reborn From Ashes: The King's Ruthless Queen

rabb Fantasy

“The house was a living inferno, the heat devouring the air in my lungs as I clutched my five-year-old daughter to my chest. Emily was dead weight, her skin already cooling even as the room turned into a furnace of orange and black. Through the stinging smoke, I saw my husband, Kenney, crawling toward the door with a wet handkerchief pressed to his face. He didn't look back at the crib, and he didn't call my name; he was simply leaving us to burn. I lunged forward and grabbed his ankle, my nightgown catching fire, but he didn't reach down to save me. He recoiled in horror at the sight of my burning hair and our dead child, kicking me back with a panicked shriek. "Let go!" he shrieked. I died as a massive, flaming timber snapped from the ceiling and crushed us both into silence. I couldn't believe that the man I loved would leave his family to die just to save his own skin, but the rage I felt was colder than the death that followed. But then the burning stopped instantly, replaced by a cold so sharp it made my teeth ache. I gasped, jerking upright in my bed to find the velvet duvet cool under my palms and the nursery quiet, with Emily still breathing softly in her crib. I had returned to the winter morning two years before the fire, the exact day Kenney finalized the deal to sell me to the King for a promotion. As Kenney stepped into the room with a practiced mask of concern, I realized I was no longer the victim of this story. "A nightmare, my love?" he asked, reaching out to touch my shoulder. I flinched away, my eyes burning with a hatred he couldn't yet understand. Tonight was the Winter Masquerade, the night he planned to offer me to the King as a prize, but this time, I was going to turn his social ladder into a gallows.”