Page 15

Chapter 14

NOPE, I DEFINITELY DID NOT ORDER THIS…

T he veins in Araz’s neck stood out, and his muscles bulged as he strained against the force holding him captive. He ground his teeth, all but frothing at the mouth.

“Be still!” the Shakti ordered.

Golden bands flared to life on his wrists. He screamed, the sound filled with despair and anguish, and something inside me fractured because this was wrong. He didn’t want this. Why were they forcing him?

“Stop!” I implored the Shakti. “He doesn’t want this. Stop it. Please! I don’t?—”

My voice deserted me, stolen by an invisible force, and across from me, Araz, too, fell silent. His chest heaved and his eyes rolled in panic like a cornered beast. I wanted to tell him I was sorry, but my throat was frozen, and my limbs were in the grip of a force more powerful than anything I could ever have imagined. The light around us grew so bright it should have hurt my eyes, but it didn’t, and for a moment, we were alone in a whitewashed space that had no boundaries except for the ones holding us together.

Golden ribbons of energy pushed out of his chest and extended toward me. I imagined that if he could roar in protest, he would have, and a hollow pit filled my belly, because why would they do this? Why bind him to me when he so clearly didn’t want it? But it was too late. The threads were on me, sliding over my skin like hot fingers before sinking into my blood.

Wrath punched me in the gut, knocking the breath from me. I screamed soundlessly as it ate at my heart, desperate to swallow it whole because this was the end of hope, and only darkness remained and?—

The feelings winked out, leaving me gasping and broken.

“It is done,” the Shakti said.

The light flared, and the look on Araz’s face just before it stole my vision formed a block of ice in my belly.

It was death.

It was destruction.

And it was laser focused on me.

The light transported us to a room with gray stone walls, threadbare rugs on a worn wooden floor, and a huge bed piled with furs. There was one window but no drapes to hold back the night, a large wooden desk piled high with papers and books, and a scratched-up armoire parked beside it. There were two exits, both closed.

I’d barely had a chance to take it all in when there was a sizzling pop and Araz materialized a few feet away from me by the desk.

He scanned the room and zeroed in on me with a murderous gaze that had my insides knotting.

I had to do something. Smooth this over somehow. ”I’m sorry. It’s obvious you didn’t want this and?—”

“Shut up,” he said through clenched teeth.

I couldn’t. Not until he understood how terrible I felt. “I understand that you were close to being free, and if I had a choice?—”

He had me by the throat and pinned to the wall before I could blink. “I said. Shut. Up.” Embers of rage danced in his eyes.

I bit back a squeak and swallowed to push my heart back into place.

“Your kind make me sick,” he continued, his voice edged in a growl.

“I didn’t?—”

He squeezed, sudden and sharp, hurting me and cutting me off. Tears blurred my vision.

“Entitled. Superior.” His hand flexed, bringing a fresh stab of pain. “You think you’re better than us. That you’re worth more than us?”

I would have denied it, shaken my head, but I couldn’t move, and he was hurting me while tarring me with a brush that had nothing to do with me. A kernel of heat unfurled in my chest.

“You are weak and useless. You cannot survive without…” He trailed off, eyes narrowing speculatively. His grip eased a fraction.

I took advantage of the reprieve to slip my fingers between his hand and my throat, yanking to try and free myself while kicking out, hoping to hurt him back, to make him drop me.

“Let…go of…me.” I didn’t deserve this. Not from him. Not from anyone. “Get… off me…you—” A coughing fit cut off my words.

He obliged, releasing me so suddenly that I fell to my knees with a yelp which pissed me off even more. I clutched my sore throat, swallowing past the pain as the coughing subsided.

“Pathetic,” he drawled.

Hell no. “Pathetic?” The word came out raspy and broken because it hurt to speak, but I pushed past the pain. “You know what’s pathetic? You are. Hammering on at me about shit I didn’t know existed until a day ago.” I pulled myself to my feet, eyes burning with indignant rage “I didn’t fucking ask to be dragged to your world. If anyone has a right to be pissed off, it’s me.” My voice cracked as the grief I’d been holding at bay surged up to choke me, momentarily stealing my words. “The only family I have was killed by a monster from your fucked-up world. So, fuck you, Araz. Fuck you with a mammoth cactus right up your?—"

He hauled me up by the throat once more, but this time his grip wasn’t as punishing. “You think you’re the only one who’s lost someone they love? You think that makes you special?” His mouth turned down in mock sadness. “You want me to hold you while you cry?”

I grabbed his wrist and kicked out again, this time catching his thigh with my boot, but he merely laughed—a harsh mirthless sound that hollowed out my stomach.

“You know, I could speed this up.” He drew me close so that we were face to face, his breath hot on my lips. “I could fuck you right now. Break you in…Break you.”

And there was that speculative gleam in his eyes again.

“You can’t…hurt me.” The tremor in my belly belied the conviction in my tone.

“Oh, little mortal, I can hurt you. I can make you scream for sweet pain. Beg for it, and if my attentions tear you up inside and kill you then?—”

I slapped him hard enough to make my hand throb, but his head didn’t move an inch.

His jaw flexed, though, topaz fire burning a path across my face. “That one you can have for free. But try it again and I’ll break every bone in your hand, am I clear?”

I glared at him, refusing to respond, and he squeezed my throat until the sharp pain forced me to gasp. “Yes. Okay.”

He released me like I was a bag of trash and crossed to the exit. “You’ll sleep on the floor, and if you touch any of my things, I’ll know, and I will punish you.” He left, slamming the door closed behind him.

My chest shook from the inside, stomach shivering, and then the sobs came, shaking, shuddering things that were a mixture of anger and fear.

Anger at the beast that had taken Nani from me. Anger at Araz for his cruelty and at myself for my mortal weakness. And fear, so much fear that I’d fail at the one thing that mattered the most in my life now…Giving my Nani’s soul the peace it deserved.

I let the emotions roll over me, through me, to shake me until they ran their course, and when the quaking inside me subsided, I wiped my face clean.

Araz was a monster.

I couldn’t reason with him.

He didn’t care about my plight, so why the fuck should I care about his?

And why would the Shakti pair me with him? I tried to recall their words to me, something about a path and unknowns and being guided by my heart or returning a gift? And there’d been something about an anchor and a storm, but it was all muddled in my head, buried beneath the pulsing headache and throbbing throat.

A drohi was supposed to help his demigod, that much was clear, but I’d get no help from mine.

I was on my own.

Jack of all trades, master of none, until now. Now I was going to put everything I had into mastering how to become a god, and if Araz thought he could break me, then he had another think coming.