“Is that any way to greet a new acquaintance?” she snapped back.
“We have met before.” He pushed away from the wall and gave her the least genuine smile she’d ever seen. All bared teeth and no joy. “Many times.”
Her top lip curled as he stared at her, like he planned to flay her alive and feast on her blood. “You may have to refresh my memory.”
“The last was the most memorable by far. I know I recall it often.” He narrowed his eyes and goose flesh broke out over her skin. “Come here,” he ordered. When Emmery planted her feet, he snarled, “If you’re going to surrender, you’ll have to listen, you little harlot. Now,comehere.”
Her fingers itched to wrap around his throat and roast him alive while she revelled in his screams. He deserved to pay for everything he’d done to Dez from his childhood, his abuse, the crown, and for the torment he’d inflicted on Brennen, Dez’s mum, and now her friends.
Shewouldkill him.
But it wouldn’t be fast. No, she would peel his flesh from his bones, melt his eyes from their sockets, slice his body into pieces like Dez’s thorns did to him everyday. If it was the last thing she did, he would beg for mercy at her feet.
“That’s presumptuous to assume I’ve come to surrender,” she purred. She unsheathed her dagger and twirled it between her fingers. “I know how this works. I know you have no intention of letting them go.”
“It appears I didn’t give you enough credit. But you did walk in here, alone and unarmed.” He gestured to the dagger in her hand and the other strapped to her thigh. “Except those measly scraps of metal.”
“I don’t need blades.” She flicked her wrists for flare and golden flames twined around the dagger. She repeated Dez’s words in Deimos’s study. “I am a weapon.”
“Though you’re right about that, I don’t see how it works in your favour.” Thellonius snapped his fingers. The creatures jerked as if pulled by puppet strings. Heads cocked, nostrils flared, they scented the air, scentedher. With a wave of his hand, the creatures rose to their knees. “Stand down.”
“Tell me where my friends are, and I’ll consider killing you quickly. I don’t think you want to know the heinous things I have planned,” she snarled.
Thellonius’s boots thudded in the eerily quiet room as he stalked toward her. The crinkle around his eyes indicated he had smiled at one time. “Have you looked around? There are hundreds of them and only one of you.”
“Yes, but none of themareme.” She snapped her fingers and a crackle of sparks erupted in response.
“Neat trick,” Thellonius sneered. He flicked his wrists and orange fire bled from his fingers and parked at the tips. “However, I can do that too.”
Her eyes widened before the creatures converged on her.
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
VESPER
Something was broken. Vesper was sure of it. Maybe a rib or two or, fuck, probably all of them.
He shallowed the rise and fall of his chest, but air felt equivalent to a handful of glass shards in his lungs, shredding him from the inside. He’d become so bloody tired of this cell, he’d rather be shoved naked into a cardboard box and left at the mountain passage than stare at these walls a moment longer.
His cheek lay in a puddle of gods only knew what. It could be his own blood or piss or whatever leaked from the cracked stone overhead. He dwelled on how quickly everything had fallen apart and—
Nef.
Fuck.
Each time he sank back into the moment of finding her likethat—his insides crumpled and he couldn’t breathe. He would never make her laugh again. Gods, she was one of the only people he could talk to. She never judged. Never looked at him as less than. And she would never have her freedom. Never feel the wind on her face or the adrenaline of adventure.
And though all of that felt so selfish, it was her light taken from this world that was the most unjust. Like Izzy’s had been.
He choked back the emotion in his throat and squeezed his eyes closed. Then there was Cal. He hadn’t heard a scream or murmur since he’d sent Quill off. And that was maybe a week ago, though he’d lost all track of time.
Were they still alive? Because after that slice to Briar’s throat, and the spurting blood—
He couldn’t let himself think about it. Any of it. It sent him into a spiralling dark place he knew he wouldn’t rise from.
Then he saw Kyrith’s face and the knife pointed at her eye. Something primal inside him had snapped. And it wasn’t his broken ribs. He could almosttasteher terror, feel her trembling, though her face gave nothing away. There was no way he was letting those fuckers touch her.
He needed to stay strong for as long as he could. To find a way out of here and trick Thellonius—best him long enough to get the upper hand.