Venomous King (Venom #2)

1. Issy

Chapter one

Issy

“I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul.”

Pablo Neruda (100 Love Sonnets)

I once was pitiful, weak, and afraid of my own shadow. Some called me a princess, but if I ever was one, I was the kind that resided in a locked tower, waiting for a so-called prince to set me free. I spent my days waiting to die, hoping that my misery would finally be at an end, and I could have the peace that I had craved all my short life.

Privilege can be a death sentence, just as much as poverty. The difference is only in the casket you are buried in. As I waited and longed for death, trapped in a deep, dark hole of my own making, I realized that I had nothing. Nothing to live for, nothing to die for, I was utterly empty.

Until my desire for death was greater than my need to be loved. Until it was all I craved, and I allowed it to consume me, and change me into this new being. The one that no longer looks at the world in the same way. The one who, in that moment, shed all of her skin and became something else. I am no longer frail and despondent, but righteous in my anger. The need to sprout wings and head for the sky, instead of slithering in the deep, dark undergrowth, is a virus in my blood.

I am a queen made out of ashes, tears, and devastation, and he is a king who ruled absolute until, one day, I escaped his menacing clutches, and discovered that I was always meant to truly fly.

Now, he wants me back inside the cage that held me a prisoner, but my need for survival has changed. I am no longer alone in this world. Now, my life has meaning, and I cannot allow him to further corrupt me, and bring me back to his depth of hell.

The warrior and protector inside of me has risen, and she will not sheath her blade or her teeth. If you come for me, be prepared for me to claw your eyes out. Fair warning, tread lightly. My bite now carries venom, and my claws are sharp, and I am not afraid to use either. I will never lay down before any man again, and be a willing prisoner.

The Queen of Venom.