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“I cannot tell you what you want to know, Ballzy, even if I wanted to. I am blood bound not to until such a time as it is evident to all and there is no going back. He can do his worst and I will endure, I assure you.”
“Then I fear our path is set.” Weary resignation laced his words, aging him far more than his elegant features betrayed.
“What’s with the other cell, though?”
“I told you yesterday that our ‘guest’ would be bringing a friend, did I not?”
Jezzie nodded in response, vaguely recalling their previous interaction.
“Well, let's just say that Raum likes to keep a pet or two at a time. Other beings he likes to force his peculiar attentions upon. He is bringing along his current favorite. The only information I have is an initial, N, and a list of equipment he wants added to both of these rooms.”
“Demon’s Den is yours though. I don’t see why you even have to let him in. Especially since you so clearly don’t want to.”
“There are things in play here, Jezzie, that you aren’t aware of. A much bigger picture than you can see right now. Lives hang by threads. Centuries of machinations and fated actions are in play, not to mention free will. At some point, we all face a crossroads, and usually we have to go through hell to get there. Welcome to my hell.”
Chapter 15
Fingers wrapped like chains around his upper arm and bit into his flesh. The cold, hard, iron collar burned like ice against his neck. The chain of his leash hung loosely down his spine as he was forced along the narrow path toward the outer edge of the forest he’d called home these past few . . . Fuck, he didn’t have a clue how long it had been. The thought registered and filtered through his tired brain, he should be worried, he should be scared, yet all he felt was weary and numb.
They’d been walking for what felt like days but was probably less than one. His bare feet were blistered and bloody. The prick wouldn’t even allow him shoes for the journey. Not surprising, since he was kept pretty much naked most of the time anyway. But, come on asshole, shoes would have made this trip a lot faster, if not less painful. It would also be a kindness that his master would never show to anyone.
His other half was silent, not by choice but by design. The plan was simple, they’d said. In and out, they’d said. Well, fuck what they’d said, 'cos apparently they didn’t know jack shit about much of anything, and even less about their target.
His master, Raum, was a sadistic fucking monster. Admittedly one of their own making, and still after all these centuries they couldn’t catch the prick. Everyone they’d ever sent in had ended up dead, eternally missing, or probably both. Not that he’d been informed of this before he’d taken the job, no, it would have been too much of a courtesy to have given him that info, and they couldn’t risk him turning them down.
What they also didn’t know was that he’d pretty much had no choice but to take the job. His people had disowned and exiled him. Even his own mother had turned her back to him. It was an image forever branded on his soul. And why? Because he was different, different than the rest of them anyway. The pious bitch he’d loved as a child had turned her back on him when it was she who had lain with his father and conceived him. She hadn’t seemed to mind his mixed heritage as he’d grown from a babe to a man, not until the truth had been too hard for her to hide.
Thank fuck she couldn’t see him now. Thank fuck none of them could. Still, he had hope. He also had a plan. One of the awesome things about being him was his excellent, above average hearing, even for an OtherRealm being. Raum was headed to Demon’s Den. When he’d heard Raum making the arrangements, he’d been well aware this might be his only chance to both escape, and complete his mission. The higher ups had said they had someone in that place, whatever it was, and if things went wrong he was to portal there straight away. Like he’d had a chance to do more than breathe before Raum had him trussed up and stripped down with no way for them to trace his location. Hadn’t mattered though, nothing and no one could be traced in Raum’s forest.
It was a creepy, forsaken place. The sharp stones along the path lay in wait, red and slippery, as though already coated in the blood of countless others. From the stories he’d heard of the Fallen, it was entirely possible they were. Thorny brambles poked and prodded, scratched and tore through skin, his, not Raum’s. Not even the forest dared to harm him.
Gnarled, half dead branches formed a dark canopy overhead, blocking out the light of day. Not that it mattered. Raum seemed to know where they were going, and if a misstep occurred, it was he who stumbled, he who fell, he who flinched in pain as he was propelled forward by the beast at his back. For Raum had learned never to present such a tempting target to anyone. He’d learned firsthand how cunning and brutal the male was after so long trapped in his hell.
Light filtered through the dark up ahead, getting brighter with each step. The fresh scent of daylight and daisies filled his nostrils, pushing away the pungent odor of decaying vegetation and stale air. He could almost feel the wind calling to him, the cloudless sky, the warmth of the sun begging to shine on his constantly cold skin. Just as his filthy foot was about to set down on soft green grass the hand on his arm yanked him back. Like a puppet he snapped back at his puppeteer’s command, his back slamming into Raum’s thickly muscled chest. The hand on his forearm slithered up over his shoulder until it circled his throat and held him still.
“You will not speak unless I permit it. Understood?”
Raum allowed him only enough room for a small nod.
“You will do as I say, go where I say. Understood?”
Another nod.
“Good. You will be a pet I can be proud of. If you are not . . . Well, you will see first hand how much more fun I can really have.”
The maniacal laugh that followed was both chilling and comical. The latter of which he managed to stuff deep down inside himself lest he find out sooner rather than later just how much more of a monster the asshole could be.
Before he knew what was happening, the promise of sunshine disappeared as he was shoved headlong into the disconcerting rush of a portal. His landing wasn’t any less abrupt as his knees hit the ground and his torso flopped like a rag doll tossed aside at great speed. He rolled, twisted, and thumped to a stop several feet from where he’d touched down. Thanks be for soft lavender fields and his innate reflexes.
Unfortunately, Raum had been hot on his heels and had landed on his feet. Meaning he found himself in the steely grip of his captor once more. He wouldn’t have been able to run though, not with the cuff on his right wrist blocking so much of his magic. Not that he knew where he’d go if he could get away. Who’d want him or tolerate him anyway? He was only useful to the Praesidium as long as he was willing to risk life and limb for their purpose. Something he was coming to realize just wasn’t worth it.
Raum once again shoved him forward. This time when he looked up ahead, a pink sun shone over the fields and a large old-fashioned pub loomed in the distance. Not the largest pub he’d ever seen, to be sure, but rather large compared to any outside of his birth realm where they were built to serve fully shifted dragons. At least according to the books he’d seen in the ancient library back in Cathair an óir.
“One last thing, pet,” Raum said, as he pushed him along, his body too close, sending panicked signals of danger and fear to his brain. “Be respectful of our host. Obey him, and report everything he says and does when I’m not present. There’s a good boy,” Raum said at his jerky nod.
Jerky mostly because Raum had forced it, the hand twisted in his long hair making his head move up and down. He felt the shiver of disgust slide up his spine as Raum’s wet tongue licked along the curve of his jaw.
“Later, pet. Once we’re settled in, we’ll have some fun. Now . . . Well, now we have some work to do for my special friend.”
