Break Her

BREAK HER A DARK BEAUTY AND THE BEAST FANTASY ROMANCE TRANSFORMATION TRILOGY BOOK TWO CASSIE ALEXANDER Copyright©2022 by Cassie Alexander All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental. www.cassiealexander.com Cover by the Bookbrander. Interior hardcover art by IV Benjamin. Used with permission. Formatting by Morrigan Author Services. CONTENTS Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Make Her Acknowledgments Also by Cassie Alexander About the Author “Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.” ―William Blake PROLOGUE LISANE I ran to the hallway to stop him, but I was too late—Rhaim had portaled away, leaving me alone in his castle, while he went off to kill my father. I turned to the wall and pounded a fist upon it, and then groaned. I was still sore from working magic earlier. I put a hand beneath my breast to where my ribs ached—the tub’s waters hadn’t healed me completely, but I was out of magic now. And I was trapped here, unable to stop his vengeance. I wasn’t strong enough on my own, because my magic didn’t work unless someone else had hurt me. Rhaim’s name for me was right—compared to him, I was a moth. Something beautiful, but easily crushed. 1 RHAIM I didn’t portal directly to Jaegar’s war tent—instead, I moved from place to place miles away in the surrounding countryside, in the dark, using my magic to pull the wolves that I knew were there closer to the outskirts of the camp and human firelight. And when I was finished, I portaled myself to a spot in front of Jaegar’s tent. His nightly guards saw me, but none of them appeared concerned—they knew who I was, and by now they were used to the odd comings and goings of other mages—and Jaegar likely hadn’t told them they were going to war with one. I summoned one of the owls that nested nearby to eat the rodents that such a large encampment encouraged, and it came to me, still carrying the gold ring I’d bent around its foot the day before. I pried this object off of it and set it free, waiting patiently for my plan to come together, even as I seethed with the need to act. Jaegar had thought he’d take Lisane away from me? After having given her to me in the first place? And all because she had chosen my company over his? I hadn’t read the letter from her I’d delivered to him, thinking myself above it at the time, but now I wished I had—I would’ve read the sentence where she said she wasn’t returning a thousand times. As it was—I reached out with my mind and heard several distant howls. My creatures were in their places. “I call a convocation!” I shouted aloud. Jaegar’s guards, who’d begun to eye me with curiosity, startled. They had no idea what a convocation meant—but other mages would, and I knew Jaegar’s throne-sworn slept nearby. Castillion the Spiked came out of the next tent over, shirtless and half-awake. “A convocation? On what grounds?” “Your king tried to steal from me.” I watched him with glittering eyes, waiting for him to try to deny it. The obvious question would’ve been to ask “Steal what?” but we both knew Castillion didn’t need to guess. He’d been the one to deliver a sleeping Lisane to me two months prior. There were more howls now, as wolves spoke to other wolves, and I heard the clamor and surprise of men waking to the sound. “All-Beast,” Castillion complained, after waving his hand toward Jaegar’s tent, sending one of Jaegar’s guards scurrying inside. “Do you deny it?” I took a broad step forward. My beast hated him to an irrational degree, and I felt its pull inside me, asking to be set loose. Castillion’s jaw ground and I knew the man hated me back. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he spat. My eyes narrowed. I knew Castillion was Jaegar’s closest mage—and it didn’t sound like he was lying. My rational, mannish part wanted to gather more information to understand, whereas my beast thought Castillion would quickly confess if he were made to see his own intestines. Other mages gathered, whomever was at camp and not out on missions fighting the Deathless—the war against the monsters was a round-the-clock operation, seeing that as of yet no one could predict when they’d attack. I heard them murmuring concerns to one another, giving me wide berth, and I saw Sibyi the Rainmaker join their ranks, leaning heavily on his staff, still healing after having recently broken his leg. I waited until my wolves’ howls reached a crescendo, making it clear that the entire camp was surrounded by creatures loyal only to me, and then with a gesture from my hand, their howling stopped, leaving ominous silence behind. “You all know I had no interest in the lives of men,” I said, addressing my fellow mages solely, though I knew soldiers beyond them would hear as well. If this camp had just been full