Page 151

Trapped.

She could do this. To keep her family safe. She would do this. To protect those who could not protect themselves. She would use this to her advantage. She would find out who was targeting the orphans. She would get the information to Nuri. This wouldn’t be for nothing.

Veda stabbing Cassius. Nuri bleeding out. Mikale taking her in an old office. A prince sleeping before a fire. Plunging a dagger into Juliette’s heart. A friend stroking her hair to help her sleep. A dark shadow leaping the rooftops with her. Golden eyes staring into hers. A star going out.

Servants came in to bring her food, but when she wouldn’t answer them, when she looked through them, they left. A few minutes later, Mikale strolled in, took one look at her on the stone floor and smiled one of the cruelest smiles she had ever seen. He had called for her tonic then, but she had refused to take it. She’d rather go into whatever state her body would go into without it. She didn’t care anymore.

But Mikale would have none of that. She thrashed and kicked at him, catching him in the stomach. He called for two guards to restrain her while he forced the tonic down her throat. She could feel where her arms would be covered in bruises where they’d held her down as he’d straddled her. After she had swallowed it, Mikale had dismissed the guards. She had still lain on the floor, rolling onto her side to feel the coolness of the stones on her cheek once more. He leaned down, running his hands down her arm, her hip, her ass. Then he whispered into her ear, “Who would have thought breaking you would be so easy, my pet?” before striding out of the room again, the lock clicking into place behind him.

Alone.

She was exhausted. Her body was so weary. Her eyelids grew heavy, but she didn’t move for the bed. She didn’t move at all. She stayed there, on the cold hard floor, in that dreary grey dress. She thought of Tava and Drake. Then Nuri. Then Cassius. Finally Sorin.

If you go to him, the stars will go out.

And they did. The last star, the last light in the shadows, went out. Darkness enveloped her wholly, and she sighed as it caressed her soul, as it pulled her down, down, down, and sleep found her.

And as she slipped into that dream state, the beautiful man stood before her entirely in black, his silver hair flowing around his shoulders. He smiled at her as she laid on that cold stone floor, even here, in her dreams. He looked regal in such finery. He crouched before her and that Darkness that had enveloped her reached for him, twisting around his arms in greeting. He reached for her arm. The same arm he had healed a few months ago. She didn’t move when he drew a shirastone dagger and once again sliced her palm and his own. He mixed their blood, swirling it in his palm. With his finger, he drew on her forearm. Three stars.

“Get up, Lady of Darkness.” His voice was wicked delight and his silver eyes glimmered. “Get up and play.”

CHAPTER 40

SORIN

“How do we still not know what room of the house she is in?” Sorin demanded. He was staring down at a rough map of the Lairwood Estate. It was the best that Drake could come up with. It seemed hardly anyone had been inside of the house and then only a handful of times and only in the main areas. Even Nuri and Cassius, who had been in the cells below the main house, had had hoods over their heads when led from the lower levels. They’d been scouting the property multiple times over the last three days. They’d figured out there were four main wings, and the wing the family stayed in was in the northeast section of the house, but beyond that, they knew very little.

“What room? We don’t even know what godsdamn section of the house she’s in,” Cassius growled. “She’s in the fucking dungeons for all we know about this place.”

They were meeting in the back room of a local tavern. Sorin hadn’t wanted his presence to be known at the Tyndell Manor, and Cassius had agreed, especially when he had been ordered to start planning wards for the Lairwood Estate.

“I still don’t understand how you could have let her leave your apartment that day,” Cassius said, accusation heavy in his tone.

“We have already discussed this,” Sorin replied through gritted teeth. “It was her choice. You of all people know how difficult it is to change her mind when she is set on something.”

“I do,” Cassius agreed grimly. “Which makes it all the more concerning that we’ve heard nothing from her since I left with Nuri.”

“How couldyouhave left her with Mikale?”

“Enough of this,” Nuri snapped. “You two blaming each other will get us nowhere. Focus on getting her the hell out.”

Lord Tyndell had received word that she was moving to the Lairwood Estate to plan a quick wedding. Something was terribly wrong. The day she’d left with Mikale, he’d felt her somehow. He’d felt her terror and fury and sorrow hitting him all at once in his gut. He’d doubled over with it and had been grateful he’d been in his private office at the castle when it had happened. Since then, though, he’d felt nothing.

Mikale had been a swaggering ass at training all week, and Sorin had let his other men drag him through the most grueling drills. The smug smile never left his face. Mikale was smart enough not to mouth off about anything to Sorin, but when Cassius was around, the comments that came out of his mouth were appalling. If you didn’t know Scarlett’s past, the history, you would never know the underlying messages in them.

“You all right there, Aditya?” Cassius asked tentatively.

There was smoke rising from the places where Sorin gripped the edges of the table. He released his hands to find burn marks under them. “Fine,” he grunted.

Cassius gave him a slight nod, returning his attention to the crude map before them. “Once we figure out where she is, we still have the matter of figuring out how to get to her. He’s not just going to let us in.”

“And there’s the little matter of the safety of our Syndicate,” Nuri said from where she stood, leaning against the wall.

She had spoken little of how they had captured her the second time. Sorin could sense it, though. The rage she was collecting and honing, the revenge she was planning. He had little doubt she would get it,too. Anala help them should she ever meet another vampyre.

“You better figure it out and fast,” came a female voice from behind them.

Tava and Drake ducked into the back room. Drake’s face was grim, and Tava was pale.