Page 38 of Darkness of Mine

FREYA

The second time I blink my eyes open after they drift shut, Oz looks down at me, a ginger curl flopping onto his forehead. “You want to go to bed?”

I shake my head. “I’m good.”

He rubs his thumb over the inch of skin showing between my top and leggings. “You’re practically asleep, Mo Leannan.”

The calm from the movie drains out of me in an instant. “I don’t want to go to my room,” I say, every cell in my body tensing at the thought of being locked in again.

“Let her stay,” River says from the armchair opposite. “She’ll fight less once she’s passed out.”

I grip onto Oz’s t-shirt and glare at River. “I’m not going to run.”

His gaze bores into me. “You said that once before.”

“You can’t keep throwing that in my face.” I push up off Oz’s chest, anger and fear chasing away any trace of sleep. “How many times do I need to tell you I’m not going anywhere? My only priority is finding Harley. I would trade my life for hers in a heartbeat.”

River gives a single nod. “I know you would. Which is exactly why your room is staying locked.”

“Argh!” I throw a cushion across the room at him, but it just bounces off the arm of the chair. “You’re insane,” I hiss.

“Maybe. But until you learn not to sacrifice yourself at every moment, I will be making your decisions for you.”

I stand up and pace away from Oz. “You cannot do this. I won’t let you lock me in again.”

River’s dark gaze tracks me. “You don’t have a choice, Freya.”

“I’ll sleep with Oz,” I counter. “You can even cuff me to the bed.”

“So you can pick the lock?”

I scream in frustration. I don’t understand how he can be so in tune with me that he knows I needed to talk to a friend but so oblivious to what locking me up is doing to me.

River gestures to the others. “Give us a moment.”

The betrayal cuts a little deeper when Jude, Eli, and even Oz leave the room.

I close my eyes and take a steady breath. When I open them, my mind is a little clearer. I see past the anger on River’s face to the black bags under his eyes and the tension in his neck.

“I know I broke my promise. I get why you feel you can’t trust me to stay right now but, River, you can’t keep locking me up.”

River is silent for a moment, and I think I’ve finally got through to him but then his gaze catches on my wrist. Or more precisely the bruises on it from where I tried to tug the bracelet off earlier.

His voice deepens to a growl. “You can either walk up to your bedroom on your own two feet or you can go over my shoulder. Those are your choices.”

“Seriously?” Fire zaps through me, obliterating any trace of understanding because he doesn’t even have the decencyto listen to me. “I thought I no longer got to make my own decisions,” I snap.

“Don’t be a brat.”

“Don’t be a fucking psychopath.”

“Freya,” he warns.

I hold his stare.

River’s teeth tug at his lower lip as he cocks his head. “You know Eli told me how he used his lasso. If you’re going to be a brat, maybe that’s a better option.” River closes the gap between us so he’s looking down on me. “Do you need to be collared, Freya?”

I glare daggers at him, my teeth clenched so tight my head throbs. “Not. By. You.”