Page 35 of Hexbound

By the time he woke, Cleo was gone.

"Your mother found me," she told him. "She threatened to kill you if I didn't come."

"Cleo."Jesus."She wouldn't have killed me. I'm far too valuable a weapon against my father. You should have fought her."

"You weren't there! Morgana was wild, beside herself at the cost of her schemes. I think shewouldhave tried to kill you if I hadn't said yes!" Cleo took a step toward him. Both fists were clenched at her sides, her chin quivering a little as she tried to be brave. He knew how much the world frightened her, and for those brief few moments when she'd been safe under his roof, she'd looked to him for guidance.

And more.

A temptation that had proven his downfall. He should have stayed away, just to prove to his mother that Cleo meant nothing to him and therefore couldn't be used.

"They haven't hurt you?" he asked gruffly.

"I'm fine. It's you I'm worried about. You shouldn't have come! It's a trap—"

"Do you think I don't know that?" He stared at her hungrily, remembering a night when he'd gathered all of his courage and reached out to stroke her spun moonlight hair. The urge to touch her was as strong as ever, but he forced his fingers into a fist. Far better if she never saw him again.

"What did they promise you?" Cleo whispered.

"I've spoken with the Earl of Tremayne this morning."

She swallowed. "Father."

There was a moment of fear in her voice. Sebastian's heart hardened. He knew how beastly her father was to her. And he couldn't allow himself to care.

"The deal is already struck. Your freedom for mine."

"No!" She took another half step toward him. "You cannot do that! I know how much your freedom means to you. I know what your mother has done to you all these years!"

"Cleo." He looked away, feeling the icy burn of the controlling collar around his throat. "I've already put thesclavuscollar on." Once upon a time he'd have done anything to get it off, but this time he had no choice. "As soon as my mother turns you free, safe and unharmed, I'll hand her the ring with which she may control me. Your father gave them to me, along with a choice."

"I'm not going to let you do that," Cleo said fiercely. "Please. Please don't do this."

She'd always been a warrior. His heart ached a little in that moment, but he forced himself to harden his voice. "How are you going to stop me?"

"They're going to hurt you. For betraying them and for destroying their plans. I can See it."

"I expected nothing less," he told her, though his body was restless, remembering the pain that his mother had dealt him through the collar in the past. A flinch reaction that he couldn't quite control. It would be worse now. Sweat chilled his spine. "I've paid the hackney out front to take you anywhere you want to go. You just have to give him directions."

"Come with me," she begged. "We can run. We can go—"

"Where?" he asked brutally. "There's nobody to run to, nobody who can protect either of us."

"What about your father?" she blurted. "The Prime?"

"No." The man was no father to him.

"Your brothers? Lord Rathbourne? And that other one... Mr. Bishop."

"They all left me to die," he said bluntly, seeing the look on his father's face again as Drake de Wynter chose the son he knew—Lord Rathbourne—over Sebastian. For a moment, as Sebastian lay on the floor bleeding, he'd seen the man who had sired him turn, a grief-stricken look on his face, as Drake took a half step toward him. And he'd lived that moment of hope, that moment of disbelief that the father he'd never known would save him—mightactuallycare for him—only to have it turn to dust when the roof started to collapse and Drake was forced to make a choice. Rathbourne. Or Sebastian.

Never again would Sebastian hope for more. There were few things more painful than the crushing decay of a dream he'd never known even existed inside him. "What makes you think the Prime would even give a damn about us now? About me? It's not as though they've come looking for me."

"Well, I'm not going without you."

"Yes, you are." He stepped closer, almost close enough to touch her now. "Else I've given up my freedom for nothing."

"I don't deserve that," she whispered. "Please, Bastian...."