He was broad-shouldered, his shirt half-buttoned and stained, eyes glassy. He jabbed a thick finger toward a door behind him.
“Get in there, now” he growled.
I didn’t move. Before I could react, his hand shot out and grabbed my arm, yanking me forward, towards him. Panic surged hot through my chest.
“No,” I said, gritting my teeth. “Let me go.”
His face twisted, lips curling into something cruel. For a breathless second, I thought he was going to hit me, but then a new voice cut through the air.
“This one’s just for show tonight.” It was the beast. The mountain of a man who had carried me upstairs the other night. “If you’re interested, come to the auction tomorrow,” He said.
The man released me, disappointment flashing across his face. He gave me one last dark look, then turned and walked off with a muttered curse. The beast stepped forward, his lips curved in a grin.
“You’re this eager to start working?” he said. “That’s new.”
Before I could speak, a scream ripped through the walls, sharp, piercing, real. The man’s grin vanished, then he turned and walked toward the sound.
I followed. The halls twisted again, no longer quiet. Boots pounded the floors. Someone shouted and something shattered somewhere ahead.
I rounded a corner and stopped dead. A man was on the floor, held down by three guards. His face didn’t look like a face anymore—just blood and bone and flesh. And then I saw them. The girls.
Carrying someone.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
She was small and limp, cradled like glass. Her head lolled to the side, legs dragging behind. I followed them without thinking, my body moving on its own, not feeling my feet, only the hollow thud of my heartbeat in my skull.
They brought her into one of the bedrooms and laid her on a bed. She wasn’t moving. Her face was swollen, one eye nearly shut, a deep cut splitting her cheekbone. Handprints bruised her throat. And her hair—strawberry blonde. Matted, and tangled. But I’d know it anywhere.
It was her.
Licia.
I’d found her, but I’d been too late. I stayed frozen as they tended to her. Siena pressed a damp cloth to her face while another girl wrappedher arm in bandages. They moved like they’d done it a hundred times before. Then someone called them back to work, and they left.
I didn’t. I stayed by the bed. Her face didn’t quite look like hers anymore. The shape was the same, the outline of the Licia I once knew, but she was paler than I remembered. Even unconscious, she looked afraid. I reached out, brushing a piece of hair from her face with shaking fingers. Maybe I could heal her. I had to do something.
She stirred and her eyes blinked open, unfocused and blurry, then landed on me. Or maybe they didn’t. She stared like I was something her mind had conjured only to be cruel.
“Kera?” she asked, voice cracked and raw.
“Yes.” I exhaled shakily. “I’m here, Licia. I’m here now.”
A tiny, trembling flicker of hope crossed her face. Then it vanished, and she turned her head away.
“No,” she whispered, curling into herself. “I’m just imagining. You’re not here. You can’t be here. How could you be here?”
“Licia—”
She shook her head, gaze flicking back with disbelief. “What would you be doing here?” Her voice turned bitter. “I’m dreaming again. I still get them sometimes, the visions. But they don’t mean anything. They lie.”
I took her hand gently, brushing my fingers across her chilled skin.
“It’s me,” I murmured. “I’m here, I promise.”
A hollow laugh slipped past her lips.
“Why would you be in Hel, Kera?”
