Belle showed them into a large empty space with a concrete floor and a few boxes shoved aside, bare bulbs throwing harsh light overhead.
They’d shackled Tobias to a load-bearing column with a steel chain around his neck, the links sturdy and thick, hinting at their strength. A third thrall stood nearby, keeping watch. They probably made excellent guards, never getting bored or losing their focus.
“Such exalted company,” Tobias drawled. “I’d get up if I could.”
Gabe crossed his arms, observing in silence.
“Has his back healed?” Antoine addressed the question to Belle.
“Perhaps not completely, but I suspect more than he’s willing to admit.”
Tobias only shrugged, like he’d been caught out and didn’t care.
Antoine took a few slow steps toward him, regarding him like a curiosity at the zoo. “Youentombed me.”
“Technically, that was Roberto,” Tobias replied warily. “But yes, I don’t deny I was there.”
“You enjoyed it.”
“Of course I did. You smashed half my face off.”
“Is there a reason I shouldn’t do it again?”
“Because I’ve agreed to help,” Tobias said.
“And why would you do that?”
“Do you think I like being compelled by Roberto?”
Cally stepped forward. “You carry the same bloodline he does. You expect us to believe he doesn’t have your loyalty?”
Tobias curled his lip. “You let your chattel talk for you?”
Antoine moved in a blur, his fist clenching in Tobias’s hair, pressing his head to the column he was chained to. “Yes, I do,” he said coldly. “And now you’ll answer her, and anything else she might ask you. If I catch so much as a hint of disrespect, my thumb will explore the inner workings of your eye socket.”
Tobias sullenly looked away. “No, he doesn’t have my loyalty. I don’t even have any spawns, and I don’t want any either. So what use is my bloodline, other than to make me Roberto’s plaything?” He met Cally’s gaze, anger flashing in his eyes. “You have no idea what it means to—” He broke off and swallowed hard. “Nico didn’t care—helikesboys. I don’t.”
Antoine released him with a muffled curse and stepped back, a flicker of sympathy in his stare, curdled by the disgust he couldn’t disguise. A frown marred Gabe’s brow, his gaze not on Tobias, but on Antoine. A small, tight shadow crossed his face, something thoughtful… maybe even wounded, though he masked it quickly. Whatever had unsettled him, it wasn’t Tobias’s confession.
Tobias appeared so wretched that Cally felt nothing but pity for him. But Belle stared at him intently, eyes bright and lips slightly parted, like she was picturing… Cally didn’t want to finish the thought.
“Why do you stay, if he treats you like that?”
Tobias shot her a glare. “You don’t get it, do you? He cancontrolme. I take a pickup, drive out of the state, and then I find myself pulling a one-eighty on the highway. I don’t have a choice. Iknowwhat he’s doing. I know it’s him. I’m aware—I’m always aware, damn it—but I can’t do anything about it.” His jawtightened. “That wasn’t the first time I’ve tried, but it was the last. He punished me. I haven’t attempted to leave since.”
Cally swallowed bile. “Are there others?”
“Other what?”
“Does Roberto have other spawn in Boston? Besides you and Nico?”
“Minh was his. And Lena. That’s it.”
Antoine jerked back in surprise, catching Gabe’s eye, the name clearly meaning something to both of them.
“How do you know it’s just them?” Cally pressed. “Roberto could have others, right?”
“Sure he could,” Tobias said dismissively. “But if he did, why wouldn’t he use them like he uses the rest of us?”
