The Almost One Night Stand

Chapter 99

Balor's POV

I watched in a mixture of horror and shock as Delilah waved her hand and instantly teleported Nimue's husbands out of the room. She smirked, still not realizing I was in the room, then turned her full attention back to the young woman.

"Nimue, sweet Nimue, I've tried again and again to keep you from harm. I offered you a life with the pookas, then a happy life with Laurent, and all you do is resist and complain. Well if you don't want a life away from Avalon, then I simply will have to take your life," Delilah blasted a wave of energy and screamed the curse across the room, "A Nimue, mallachtuighim thú chun báis síoraí, ná athbhreith níos mó! (Nimue, I curse you to eternal death, reborn no more!)"

My eyes went wide and I did the only thing I could think of and shoved Nimue to the ground as I covered her body with mine. Delilah's mistake had been to make the curse specific to only Nimue, and since I'm immortal, it had no impact on me other than to infuriate me.

"What did you do?" she whispered, her eyes wide. I shook my head and moved away from her stalking towards Delilah.

"Have you learned nothing, woman?" I roared, "Time and time again you dare to harm my mate. You escaped before, but not this time." Her eyes darted around the room looking for an escape, but there was none to be had. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, Delilah. You really should have planned your location better." I taunted her.

In her frustration, she made a completely irrational decision and charged me with her spells flying. I held out my arm as she tried to move past and a sickening sound filled the room. Her body still stood for a moment longer then fell to the floor beside her severed head. "Well, that was anticlimactic," I mused. I heard Nimue retching behind me and tried to go to her, but she just scooted farther away.

"Did you know when you marked me?" she asked softly, tears filling her eyes, "Or did you force the bond?"

"No," I snapped, then lowered my voice. "I admit, I didn't know when I placed the mark. It was a strategic move, a way to secure the Isle for myself and Jerron." I took a hesitant step closer to her, "But I swear to you, Nimue, the bond is real. I felt it the first day I visited the cabin. I didn't understand it, not until much later."

"Before or after you tried to have my husband killed? Before or after you forced me to give you oral sex? Before or after I almost died?" She hurled her anger at me along with her magic making me stumble backward. "Do you have any idea how it feels to hate someone so much that you are bonded to? I hate you, Balor. I hate you," she screamed and the windows shattered, flinging glass across the chamber.

I felt her anger flowing off of her in waves, but beneath it, I felt the bond. She hated me because I'd betrayed her and that bond. This was my fault. I had nothing to lose now. "Nimue, has it crossed your mind that you are Arthur's descendant, not just Nate?" She growled, more items flying across the room. "Think about it. You draw every king and ruler to you. You are bonded to them, even when you don't want to be, even if they don't want to be. That is the power of the descendent - to unite those groups who have constantly warred and fought one another over the centuries."

"You're lying," she spat.

"Am I?" I countered, surveying the room, "If you don't believe me, ask your Merlin. He's had the same thought, the same theory itching at the back of his brain when he learned of Jerron's mark. Don't you get it, Nimue - we all love you!" I yelled as she screamed and the room practically imploded.

"You can't," she panted, "You can't love me...you...you tried...you," she crumbled to the floor and I rushed toward her, pulling her into my embrace. She pounded on my chest, sobbing and screaming. "I hate you, I hate you, I can't...I can't love you..."