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“You were out for roughly twelve hours,” Thane told him.
“We don’t know where Fox is being held,” Xerxes said. “I’m sorry, Bjorn.”
Twelve hours. Twelve hours Fox had been with William, the male who’d disemboweled Bjorn. He fisted his hands. Twelve hours with no leads on her location.
Before this, Bjorn would have bet his life the bastard would have died protecting her. Anything to prove he safeguarded the people under his care. Now? After sensing all the evil that radiated from the guy, Bjorn believed he would enjoy harming her.
“We interrogated everyone within the vicinity of William’s attack,” Xerxes said. “We even spoke to the Warrior in your cabin. Apparently, he decided to kill Fox to save you from her influence. He is currently cuffed to his bed. We saved him for you. Everyone else claimed William flashed Fox away as soon as you fell. No one knows where he took her, but he’s been spotted inside his home without her. Actually, there’s another woman in there.”
He will die screaming! Then the rest of Xerxes’ speech registered, and Bjorn went cold. Fox had told the truth. What she’d done to the Sent One, she’d done in self-defense. And I punished her for it.
Who deserved punishment more? The Sent One who hoped to right a wrong, or Bjorn, who’d betrayed her trust?
She’d told him this would happen. She’d even told him what would happen after he realized the truth, too. How he would want her back, but she’d have zero interest in a reconciliation.
Panic clawed at him. I wronged her. I wronged her terribly, and now she’s gone. If he’d done it, if he’d gone through with her murder only to find out she’d told the truth… Would never forgive myself.
“No one can understand why William stabbed you and absconded with her,” Thane said, his brows knitted together.
“I will find out. Whatever the answer, I will punish him.” Sickened and frantic, Bjorn threw his legs over the gurney. He had to find her, apologize and beg for forgiveness.
Xerxes cupped his shoulder to try and ease him back down. “You need rest. Tell us what you want done and we’ll take care of it.”
“No, I must do this on my own.” He’d helped create this mess, and he would be the one to fix it.
Thane’s eyes widened. “You love her.” A statement rather than a question. “She maddens, irritates and annoys you, just as Elin did to me before I admitted my feelings for her. Yet, there is no one else you would rather hold, yes? No one else you’d rather see or speak with. No one else who makes you smile and laugh.”
Yes! “I can’t love her. Not really,” he croaked with a shake of his head. “The second I believed she betrayed me, part of me considered executing her a good idea. A man in love would have trusted his female.”
“Not a man still fighting his feelings,” Thane said.
“Bjorn.” Xerxes patted his shoulder. “I have watched you with this woman. She has changed you for the better. You laugh and you smile. You are excited to start each day. No longer do you dread the morning. You’ve grown. Today, you backslid. Tomorrow, you’ll do better.”
“Not tomorrow. Now. I must find her.” Then, whether she took Bjorn back or not, he would speak with Zacharel. She’d done the ten dirty, yes, but the punishment for the crime belonged to Distrust, not Fox, who’d already been whipped, poisoned, stabbed, and stoned.
If Zacharel still insisted on Fox’s death, Bjorn could demand suppono. He sucked in a breath. Yes. Yes! By demanding suppono, he would have a legal right to be Fox’s stand-in. He could accept punishment on her behalf, ensuring no other Sent One could harm her for the crime…ever. Bjorn would be dead, but Fox would be free.
Perhaps I do love her.
“And William?” Thane asked. “I am surprised he did anything at all. He’s been distracted with his own prisoner.”
“He should have stayed distracted. For his actions, William dies today.” He unfolded to surprisingly steady legs. Judging by the fresh, clean taste in his mouth, his friends had fed him the last drops of Water of Life. A blessing and a curse. If Fox required the Water in order to survive whatever torments William dished... Pang.
Bjorn exited the building, heat engulfing him. Sweat beaded and trickled. He marched through the sea of Sent Ones still building their cabins, menace accompanying his every step. Thane and Xerxes flanked his sides. Wise Warriors jumped out of his path as he made his way to William’s fortress. A few members of his army spotted him and rushed to join the procession.
“What are we doing?” one of them whispered to another.
“Does it matter? If our leader fights, we fight.”
No guards blocked the entrance, and the doors were unlocked. Bjorn stalked inside without pause, entering a large foyer. He noted the layout of the interior—and the obstacles in his way—with a swift visual sweep. Black-and-white-tiled floor, both covered in gold filigree. A mural depicting a battle in Hell probably had a secret passageway hidden somewhere. A side table with crystal vases filled with roses of every color.
No sign of William or the woman he’d been keeping here.
Palming two daggers—he wouldn’t use his sword of fire until he’d discovered Fox’s location—Bjorn stomped up a winding staircase. Midway, voices caught his attention. One male, one female, both out of breath. He tensed. He didn’t recognize the woman’s timbre. Still, he increased his pace, drawing nigh.
When he reached the door—closed and locked—he didn’t bother knocking. No, he kicked the door down and stomped inside, shouting, “William! Today you pay for your crimes.”
In bed, the dark-haired male jolted upright at the same time as the woman beside him—a delicate-looking beauty with a sheet clutched to her chest. Her hair was a rainbow of colors—no, her hair was silvery white. The change baffled him. Her brown skin glittered as if dusted with diamond powder. Her nails grew into black claws. She was a Gothic fairy tale Barbie come to life.
Relief warred with rage. Fox wasn’t in bed with the Ever Randy—a relief. Fox wasn’t here, period—rage!
Rage won.
“There’s a gun in my nightstand,” a naked William informed the female. “If anyone looks at you, give them a Sunny Lane special.”
With a voice as sweet as sugar, she asked, “You mean a bullet to the face?” A wicked, wicked smile bloomed—a smile she leveled on Bjorn. “Excellent idea.”
William surged to his feet, telling Bjorn, “You have three seconds to exit my bedroom, or you will suffer. Three. Two.”
Bjorn remained in place, the rage pulsing from him.
“Very well,” William snarled. “You suffer.”
“Don’t taint your growing bond with Axel by killing his friends,” the woman called. “Just spank them a little.”
Oh, yes. Axel and William. The immoral world was abuzz with news about their recently admitted familial connection.
William ran his tongue over his teeth and returned his focus to Bjorn. “To which crimes are you referencing?” The woman’s words had impact, then. William, a prince of darkness, truly cared about Axel, a Sent One.
“As if you don?
?t know!” The other Sent Ones—everyone but Thane and Xerxes, who knew him best—lined up behind him. “Stay back,” he snapped at them. “William is mine.” Then, he unleashed a war cry.
The others ignored his order to stand down. Either that, or they were too caught up in battle heat to have heard him. They summoned swords of fire and surged forward, attacking the dark prince in unison.
Bjorn hung back. Disobey an order, and suffer. So, he’d let William teach these Warriors a valuable lesson, then he would act.
With a growl, William picked up two daggers that rested atop a pile of clothes. He blocked and slashed the blows launched his way. Blocked. Blocked. Slashed. Then, he stabbed a Sent One in the eye. All the while, a rage very similar to Bjorn’s emanated from the prince. Lightning flashed under the surface of his skin, wings of smoke rose from his back, and claws extended from his nail beds.
“Tell me what you think I did,” William snarled at Bjorn now.
“Do not pretend ignorance.” Adrenaline scorched Bjorn from head to toe as the heat of battle overtook him. Screw hanging back. He shoved another Sent One out of the way to leap at William, slashing. One blade nicked William’s cheek, blood trickling, yet the bastard grinned. The second blade followed, doing the same, and the POS only grinned wider.
Bjorn blocked a counterstrike. William probably expected him to fight like a typical Sent One, but he didn’t. No, oh no. He fought like a True Dread, going for the eyes, throat and groin. The exact same way the dark prince fought.
To his surprise, the male landed as many blows as he received.
William blocked a strike, twisted and tossed a dagger at a portrait on the wall. The moment the blade embedded in the image, spikes shot out from the floor. Multiple Sent Ones stepped on those sharp protrusions and toppled, groaning with shock and pain.
Hissing, Bjorn used his wings to avoid further impaling. Though the massive size of his wings coupled with the limited space worked against him, he hovered in the air. The Warriors still standing followed suit.
