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“And if I can’t?” I didn’t want to know the answer.

Sebastian shrugged, one of his broad shoulders lifting and dropping. “I have other methods of finding out. And my initial plan was to use you as leverage to get him to agree.”

Shit,I thought. Even though things were shifting, morphing between me and Adrian, we certainly didn’t have the relationship that the public thought we did. Not one that would result in Adrian handing over his power for me.

“Decide you want to help me and we can figure something out where your safety is concerned.” A small kernel of hope bloomed in my chest, only for it to bepromptly killed by Sebastian’s face turning dark. “That is, if I decide that you aren’t just lying to me for Adrian’s sake. You find me his heirs and we’ll talk.”

I swallowed thickly, fear descending heavy over my shoulders. I didn’t know what to do. I was no match for him.

Sebastian stood, his already impressive height even more imposing when I was still seated, and pulled something out of his pocket. It was a thin vial, containing a light blue liquid that immediately made my chest seize.

He stepped up to me in one long stride, his hand forcing my head back.

“What are you giving me?” I asked, knowing deep in my bones it was either going to silence or kill me.

“Just a little something to keep you from talking,” Sebastian said, far too casually. “You get evencloseto in revealing my identity or my plans and this shuts you right up.”

“Great,” I said sardonically. I would be testing that theory.

“It’s quite foolproof,” Sebastian said, and I was half-convinced that he could read minds.

Grabbing my jaw roughly, he tipped my head further back and forced my mouth open with his thumb. The vial he poured down my throat was full of bitter liquid, like a sugary syrup overcooked. I debated spitting it back in his face, but he held me there until I swallowed it.

Because I couldn’t help but fight him, half for myself and half for Adrian, I stuck my tongue out at him, showing him that I did, in fact, swallow his stupid fucking tonic.

His multi-colored eyes pinned me with a stare. “Who captured you?”

“The ghost of my grandfather,” I shot back.

Sebastian crossed his muscular arms, looking at me with raised brows. “Do you want your father to become a ghost, too?”

I grumbled at the threat, rolling back my shoulders to try again. I opened my mouth to say “Sebastian, you fucking ass,” but instead the words broke off in my throat, releasing nothing but a cracked, hoarse sound.

Sebastian smiled ruefully, his work clearly effective. “Well done. Now, did one of the gods kidnap you?”

I opened my mouth again, only for an invisible hand to wrap around my throat, squeezing the air out. Clearly, this worked with yes or no questions too.

Of course, Sebastian thought of everything. No backing you into the corner in a creative game of yes or no questions that revealed the mastermind.

“I assume you’re happy?” I asked in the face of another one of Sebastian’s grins.

He reached down and grabbed my upper arms, lifting me to stand with unnatural strength. “Very. Now, while I have forced your silence, I look forward to gaining yourwillingcooperation.”

Like hell that was going to happen. “You’ll be the first to know.” My plan was to find Adrian the second I got free of him, but I didn’t want him knowing I could reach him in seconds. “Are your goons planning on escorting me home or…?”

Sebastian chuckled, like this entire thing was a joke to him. “Your lovely new guard, Antonio, will be taking you home as I assume you planned. Though I believe under different circumstances.”

Antonio wouldn’t be getting anywherenearmy home after this stunt. “You really think I’ll keep him on my security team after this?”

Sebastian gave me a long look that bordered on impressed. “Fire him and he’ll go right back to your brother. Where he may conveniently turn a blind eye to any number of threats.”

Fuck. “You’re lucky I love my family.”

“Oh, I know,” Sebastian said, his tone slipping back into that almost flirtatious lilt that was so common for him. He grabbed my arm, stepping us through a portal and back into the changing room his men had stolen me from an hour earlier. By now it was dark,toodark for the young night sky. The moon must have been eclipsed by brutal, offensive clouds.

Once the room fully materialized around us, Sebastian leaned down, planting a firm kiss on my cheek. The second his lips made contact, I squirmed away, just barely resisting the urge to fully shove him. “I’m excited to be working together, Reyna.”

After that gross mischaracterization of what the dynamic between us was, Sebastian looked over my shoulder and jerked his chin in a beckoning motion. Antonio pushed off the wall of the dressing room and came up to us.