Page 46 of Whispers of Wisteria (The Garden of Eternal Flowers #5)

Damen clenched his jaw and also stood. “I’m sending Kiania,” he said, glancing at Finn. “It’ll be quicker than Kasai because they’re connected.”

That was probably best.

He called the shikigami. The white tiger stood before him almost instantly, her tail curling, as she asked in a snarky tone, “Why are you bothering me, Huo? You’re not my primary.”

No, that was Finn.

But Damen was faster.

“Find Bianca,” he commanded, not rising to the bait.

She blinked at him, cocking her head, then vanished in a gush of smoke.

Gregory stepped forward, looking between Bryce and Damen. “When Bianca returns, you’re to start tracking her movements. I want to know when she leaves the house.”

“I will not do that without asking her,” Damen replied.

“Ask her if you want, but this is not negotiable. She is fae, and she is my niece. She might not understand her position yet, but she will.”

Damen looked away, scowling, the moment Kiania returned.

“I cannot locate her.”

My heart dropped.

“What?” Damen turned, perturbed, to the shikigami. “How is that possible?”

“Someone with more spiritual power than you has shielded her,” Kiania answered.

Damen stepped back.

My head went light.

Right now, there was only one person more powerful than Damen—at least until he finished his training.

“Jameson?” Finn asked, surprised. “Now, why would he do that?”

We all stared at him.

Of course. Finn had always thought the other Er Bashou was the best thing ever. Everyone else, however…

Jameson was a pain in the ass.

“What I mean is,” Finn snapped, neck turning red, “even if he’s with Bianca and learned who she was, why shield her? He would want to help her.”

Gregory’s phone chimed then, and we paused as he answered. There was a heavy weight when he read the message, and I couldn’t pinpoint his expression.

Finally, he spoke, voice even.

“Cécile has been forced to return to Mr. Lee,” he said. “It seems that Dr. Duff has taken Bianca, Gloria, and Dr. Sartore captive. There’s suspicion that Dr. Ducharme and Ms. Maria have been kidnapped too.”

But wasn’t Titus supposed to be working?

“The Guild,” I muttered, touching my chin. Everyone but Damen—who’d already cloaked his expression—looked at me. “Titus was tracking the Guild tonight.”

The lights flickered as the air seemed to disappear.

“This is now outside your jurisdiction,” Gregory said as a chill descended over the room. “I’m taking charge.”

No one argued, not even Damen.

Bianca POV

There was an almost-secret, damp corner I could barely reach with my chains. I huddled there with my forehead pressed to my knees. The two female shifters conversed in tones I couldn’t follow, and I could probably have read their lips, but at the moment, nothing they might say seemed to matter.

I just wanted to escape this place. My head swam, and my skin crawled as a strange, cold sensation swept over me. The shackles at my wrists hadn’t stopped burning.

Suddenly, the voices stopped.

I shivered as the dungeon door opened, and Jameson entered, his cold gaze scanning the room. He ignored Ada completely, stepping past her as his attention lingered where I had been when he left. His gaze followed the chain until he found me in my corner.

“Why are you hiding?” he asked, his scowl deepening. “Nothing has happened to you yet.”

Yet…

The foreboding in that word had my heart pounding. I pulled my knees closer to my chest.

“What are you plotting?” Gloria asked, pulling against her chains.

“I’m working on a project,” Jameson replied smoothly, rolling up the cuff of his sleeve. “But reserves are low. I require a bit of help.”

“You need help?” Gloria narrowed her eyes, glancing between him and me. “What kind of help?”

Jameson crossed his arms as he studied me in a way that numbed my thoughts.

“I need to borrow from her,” he said, seemingly coming to a decision. “Don’t worry, it won’t be much.”

“That wouldn’t be wise,” she replied. “Then again, you’ve gone and joined the Guild, so I’m reassessing my beliefs about your intelligence.”

Jameson ignored her and stepped toward me.

I squeezed my eyes shut. My thoughts were already slipping. It was hard enough to catch my breath as the knot around my throat grew tighter and the wind moved around my feet.

Could I blink? I wasn’t sure. I had to get out of here. I had to—

My thoughts scattered as white hot flames exploded down my arms. The burning spread under my skin as my rushing thoughts stopped, and I made a sound of pain as I covered my head with my arms.

“Well, that was interesting,” Jameson said, sounding intrigued even through my muffled hearing. “A grand effort, but even the high-ranking fae wouldn’t be able to blink out of those restraints.”

I winced, curling further into myself. Dots flashed behind my closed eyelids.

“Now I’m beginning to see why the Dubois family wanted you,” Jameson said, stroking his chin as he addressed me. “But you’re not mute, are you?”

The shifters tensed, and Jameson closed the distance between us.

“Wait—” Gloria began as Jameson knelt in front of me. I flinched as he grabbed my neck and turned my face toward his. My heart felt like it might stop as his gaze held mine.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said finally, and the pressure released as he looked at Gloria. “Whatever your plan might have been, her inability to speak is real enough.”

Gloria’s eyebrows shot up, and Ada moved closer to the bars.

“What do you mean?” Gloria asked.

He didn’t answer—instead, he looked back at me, considering.

I felt myself shaking, and my pulse raced. The urge to escape became all-consuming. There was a humming in my ears, growing louder. My chest swelled with urgency.

I couldn’t do this. Bianca was useless.

But Mu wasn’t.

Where was he? Why couldn’t I feel him right now when I needed him most?

I tried to pull away. Jameson, who was so much stronger than I, turned my wrist up. His touch was like a white-hot iron against my skin, and a slow haze began to move over my thoughts.

Stop.

I wanted to speak, but no sound escaped my numb lips. His eyes were sharp and unreadable as he pulled my wrist closer to his mouth. His touch burned, and the touch of his breath moving across my skin made my flesh grow cold.

When he ran his thumb over the pulse point, something dark passed behind his expression.

He didn’t look at me as he spoke. “You’ll feel this.”

I didn’t have time to breathe before he sank his teeth into my wrist.

The pain was white and shattering, but beneath it, heat rushed through me.

My back arched as I tried to escape, but his hold was too strong. A dragging wave moved through me as a fiery sensation pulled from my consciousness. He drank my blood, his mouth moving against my wrist, and it felt like I was being torn from the inside out.

There was a light flickering at the edge of my vision. For a moment, a part of me fought back.

But it was no use.

I wasn’t strong enough. There was no way I could win.

They said he was stronger than Damen.

My pulse fluttered, and the light grew distant. A low buzzing filled the back of my mind, dulling the edges of everything. Every sound felt muffled, and my thoughts slipped like sand through my fingers.

And then, all at once, Jameson stopped.

I blinked, struggling to focus, and his form snapped back into clarity. His eyes were wide, shock flickering across his face—but it was only a moment before he ripped away from me like he’d been burned.

He stumbled back, his sleeve pressed to his mouth, and his hand shook as he wiped away my blood. He stared at me with a look of disbelief that quickly morphed into fury.

“You idiot!” he seethed, turning to Gloria. “You should have told me!”

“I did warn you,” she said, an edge to her voice I’d never heard from her before. “You just chose not to listen.”

My attention wandered back to him as I fought to sort my thoughts.

I wanted to ask him why he’d done this to me, but my words had never felt more distant. Everything was lost in the overwhelming heaviness.

Jameson turned without a second look and stalked out of the room, leaving the air thick with his anger.

I didn’t know why, but it didn’t matter. I wanted to collapse. I wanted to disappear.

The ground rushed up to meet me. The cold stone beneath me seemed distant as my thoughts faded.