Page 70

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Ruthless Protection

NYX

“ O nce the Groundshaker returns, we will discuss our next move.”

He was going to nonchalantly carry on as if he didn’t just kneel before me and—

I shook my head to clear it. “Fine.”

Solaris stood on the other side of the high table. “So, you are ready to come out of hiding, then?”

I made a face and decided to dodge that. “Show me your wrists.”

My words took him by surprise. Those dark, arched brows narrowed even more. “The manacles are still in place.”

“Show me.”

“You are commanding me now?”

You did just bend the knee . I cleared my throat and bit my tongue. “Solaris, show me.”

With a long-suffering sigh, he held his hands up, letting the long sleeves of his cloak fall. Lightning struck my heart at the morbid sight. Still as horrific as ever, but the cracks in the iron remained. “I don’t understand. How can death not remove them?”

“Dark magic is imbued with death, so death cannot break it.”

I swallowed, regarding him quietly for a moment. “You haven’t done anything to try and get them off. I would have thought you would make it your life’s mission. But you’ve done…nothing.”

He almost smirked. “I won’t have to.”

“Why?”

“Because!” he hissed, eyes flashing. “Your friends and your wicked little sister did this to me in vain. They had no idea what they were unleashing by cleaving me from the shadows.”

My tongue turned heavy while a sinkhole formed in my chest. The mention of my sister made everything feel dark and damp. “Rashira has your ring.”

Solaris fell still. “I know. It doesn’t matter. It’s useless to her.”

Awful heat prickled the back of my neck. “Well…” I trailed off, unable to find the words. Humiliation invaded my veins as my brain forced me to remember the way Varian and Luc had been shadow-glamoured and how pitifully I’d fallen for it.

“What is it, Firefly?”

I prayed the ground would open up and swallow me whole. Instead, the energy in the room shifted. Intensified. My chest throbbed, and I knew instantly we were no longer alone. Solaris straightened as if he sensed it too.

Seconds later, heavy footfalls carried our way and then Jedidiah stalked into the room behind them.

The sight of him both startled and relieved me. He had cleaned himself up, his hair shiny and washed. He wore new clothes, all black. His expression was hard and unreadable, his guard up. He glanced briefly at Solaris, showing zero reaction to the pile of ash that was now a man. His stormy eyes then landed on me indefinitely.

“You’re back,” I breathed. I moved forward on instinct, my hands reaching out.

He laced his fingers with mine, pulling me into his chest. His embrace was all-consuming. My eyes fluttered closed as he wrapped me in his arms and hugged me tightly. “Of course I am,” he murmured. “Are you okay?”

I nodded into his chest. “Where were you?”

He didn’t reply. We pulled apart, and when I looked up, he was glaring at Solaris. “You’re like a cockroach.”

“And you, a moth to a flame.”

“Don’t start,” I warned, my tone severe. My eyes darted back and forth between them. “Both of you.”

Jedidiah sneered.

Solaris’s expression was nothing less than dismissive. “I want to know what you were about to say, Firefly.”

My brain failed. “What…?”

“About Ra’ah and the ring.”

“Oh.” My cheeks went fire-hot. “It was nothing.”

“What ring?” Jed demanded.

“My ring,” Solaris answered. “It is infused with shadows, and our dear sister has it.”

Jedidiah looked as if he were ready to collapse the entire mountain at those words. He clenched his jaw, breathing hard through his nose. “She is not our anything.”

Solaris rolled his eyes. Again, he dismissed Jed, his attention falling on me, feeling like a physical touch. “As you were saying, Firefly.”

I flung my hands up, making some sort of intelligible grumble. “I don’t know. I think she can manipulate the shadows—at least in some ways. She might not be able to literally wield them, but she can do other things with them.”

I had their full attention now.

“Like…?” Solaris urged, growing impatient.

“Well… How do you think I ended up in her vampire den?”

The way both of their brows narrowed over their glaring eyes had my throat closing up. Ruthless possession took over their features.

“I had assumed you found your way on your own,” Solaris said.

I looked down at my fidgeting fingers. Every part of my body was hot. “Not exactly.”

“What did they do to you?” Jedidiah demanded. His voice was so grievous, it made my head snap up to lock eyes with him. My stomach tumbled. He knew something—I could see it in his eyes.

Solaris drew nearer. The three of us were so close.

“I went into the shadows after you. I never found you, obviously. And when I woke up, I found you two were already awake. Only, it ended up not being you. Those two vampires, Varian and Luc, they…they were shadow -glamoured. It wasn’t like a normal glamour which only alters physical appearance. It was…deeper. They were you. Talked like you, knew things only you should know… They tricked me. I thought it was you guys until it was too late. They fed on me and it made me black out. That’s how they brought me to Rashira.”

Their answering silence was fucking deafening.

My heart was a caged beast behind my ribs, desperately trying to break free. I kept my eyes down. My cheeks were on fire.

Jed’s heavy breathing felt like a chainsaw to my stomach. Long, agonizing seconds ticked by before he spoke. “What happened, Nyx? How did they both get close enough to feed on you without you burning them?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Solaris interjected sharply. “They violated her. We don’t need the details. They were already going to die. Now they will suffer unfathomably first.”

“It does matter,” Jed growled. “I need to know the extent of the—violation.”

I dared to look up. They weren’t focused on me anymore, but instead, were glaring at each other.

Solaris shook his head at Jedidiah as a warning.

Jed ignored him and turned his eyes back to me expectantly.

Guilt swelled inside me. I opened my mouth but nothing came out.

“That’s enough,” Solaris insisted, his voice low and severe. “We don’t need to push this.”

“Answer me, Nyx.”

“We are pretty close right now!” I cried. “All they had to do was close in.”

“No,” Jed snarled. “Don’t lie Nyx, I can see it painted all over you. What did you do when you thought they were us?”

I had never hated him more than I did at this moment. I could see in his eyes, he already knew the truth. Either it was intuition or one of them told him. Either way, he was forcing it out of me, knowing how it wrecked me.

“It was a low moment,” was all I offered.

Jed made a sound of pure disgust and I almost burst into tears. It felt like my face would explode with how hard I had to work to suppress the urge.

“How dare you shame her,” Solaris hissed, his tone icy with fury. “She did nothing wrong. We stand here now, whole and unscathed, because of her . For what they did to her, they will scream for months before they die. Do you object, Groundshaker?”

“No,” Jed answered instantly. “I do not object to that. But I need to know.” His sea storm eyes dropped to me. “Did they fuck you?”

My jaw dropped as a sharp gasp sailed through my lips. “No!” Tears welled in my eyes now, a jagged lump clogging my throat. “You think—I would—?” I inhaled sharply, the room spinning. “It didn’t go that far!”

“Enough.” Solaris stepped in between us, shoving Jed back a step. “That is enough .”

I turned sharply on my heel and stalked out of the war room, my heart swimming in the swallowed tears that flooded my throat.