Page 52 of Whispers of Wisteria (The Garden of Eternal Flowers #5)

My gaze drifted to Gloria. She was still unconscious, bleeding from a wound to the head.

I should move. I needed to find a way to set her free, at the very least.

I had to help us escape.

My legs shook as I took a step, and my ears popped as the breath rushed out of me. It was as if a weight had been lifted. My vision swayed as Spellslayer slipped through my tingling fingers. It disappeared, mid-air, before it could even touch the ground.

I didn’t even feel the floor as my legs gave out, and I fell to the floor on my side.

I held my head and closed my eyes.

The room wouldn’t stop spinning. My face was sore, and my lips were dry and cracking. Even my eyelids ached with the need to keep them closed, if only for a while.

Titus POV

There was a magic humming in the air, in his scent. It was like Jameson’s, but different—more corrupt, darker.

My heartbeat pounded in my ears.

It was hers.

My instincts screamed at me to shift, to find the source, destroy it, and save her. Heat curled from my spine, pooling into my fingers, but I couldn’t release it.

I couldn’t even breathe.

I was trapped.

Albert strode through the doorway without a care in the world. His posture was different, more confident, and his grin was wide as he ignored me and looked at Jameson.

He smelled of Bianca.

“I found your hidden stash,” Albert said, loosening his tie.

Jameson paused, looking up from his tablet, and frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“That cute fae girl,” Albert answered, voice too casual. “Didn’t think you’d hide someone like her from me, though. We’re partners.”

“We are not partners,” Jameson said dryly. His face was blank, but his shoulders were tense. “What did you do?”

Albert smirked and touched his wrist to the corner of his mouth.

He’d taken her energy.

Once was bad enough, but twice?

She wasn’t strong enough for that.

Chains bit into my wrists as I thrashed, a growl rumbling in my chest. I pulled until my shoulders burned and the taste of metal and blood filled my mouth.

“Finished what you started,” Albert replied. “Never tasted anything like it before. I can see why you didn’t want to share.”

Jameson frowned, moving to his feet. The temperature dropped as he shut his tablet. “You were not authorized to do that,” he said.

“What does it matter? It’s not like she was somebody important,” Albert reasoned, as if he weren’t talking about her, someone who, to me, was everything.

Bianca.

I lunged, and my breath turned ragged. But they ignored me.

“It matters because you answer to me,” Jameson replied. “Tell me she’s still alive.”

Albert didn’t look so confident anymore. “She was half-dead when I left, so I told the wolves to have fun and dispose of the rest.”

A static began to play in my thoughts, and my ears buzzed.

“No.” I knew what I heard, but there was no way…

Jameson glared. “You idiot.”

“What’s the problem?” Albert looked between us, and whatever power he’d gained from Bianca must have given him a sense of false confidence. “What do you care about some fae nobody?”

“Don’t talk about her like that,” I told him, hardly able to breathe under the pressure pushing against my chest. “She never should have been brought into this.”

Albert, not realizing that he’d now been marked for dead, turned up his nose. “You know, I’m getting really tired of your mouth.”

I pressed my lips together, trying to ignore my thrumming pulse, to focus on anything other than the darkness rising in my thoughts.

It was getting harder to do.

Bianca. Bianca. Bianca.

Her name was the only thing keeping me sane. She had to be okay.

“Besides, it was Jameson’s idea,” Albert said, vaguely gesturing in the stoic man’s direction.

Jameson narrowed his eyes. “Do not use my name as justification for your delusions.”

“I’m not delusional,” Albert frowned. “This was exactly what we needed to stabilize the spell.”

Jameson’s expression sharpened, the faintest edge of alarm breaking through his controlled mask. “If she dies, it’s a moot point, though, isn’t it. This is why you’re left out of operational decisions. You’ve cost us a resource.”

I saw red as the fire spread through my chest.

“She’s not a resource!” I snapped, pulling against the chains. But I couldn’t break through, and they both remained annoyingly out of reach. “She doesn’t even know what’s going on! She’s not like us! She’s—”

“Expendable,” Jameson interrupted. “Even though her death would be unfortunate, it is not the end of the world.”

It was to me! My teeth sharpened. “I’ll kill you!”

“Unlikely. You can’t even escape,” Jameson replied. “You can’t protect her if you can’t succeed at that simple of a task.”

Albert shrugged, losing some of his swagger. “There’s no way she’s alive anyway. But who cares? Why are you on my case?”

The world was sharpening to a single point. Being imprisoned in this way had made it nearly impossible to reach her, so I had only their word and the most logical conclusion.

She was dead.

“Don’t misunderstand my frustration. Her value is unimportant in comparison to your disregard for the chain of command. Consider yourself lucky I don’t report this,” Jameson told Albert. “Next time, restrain yourself before you turn our assets into toys for your amusement. She wasn’t yours to use.”

Albert glared at him. “You used her first.”

“Not relevant.” Jameson waved.

“But—” Albert began.

“Get out.” Jameson’s order was firm, still, Albert hesitated. “Now.”

Albert frowned but hurried from the room.

“You’ll regret this,” I warned. I wanted nothing more than to kill him. “I never thought you were the type to hurt a girl who’d been trained not to fight back.”

Jameson scowled. “Break free if you want to threaten me. Until then, stay silent.” He didn’t wait for my reply before he turned and quickly stalked from the room, leaving me alone with my failure and the image of her in their hands.