He caught my chin between his thumb and forefinger, his silver-blue eyes burning into mine. “Did you speak to Lilith in this manner?” he queried, his tone lethally calm.
I swallowed, his mentioning of my previous master reminding me just who stood before me. He owned me now, and I’d insulted him. It hadn’t been intentional, my observation one I voiced without much thought. Would I have done that to Lilith? “No.” Because I’d feared her retaliation.
Jace didn’t evoke the same reaction from me.Why is that?I wondered.
“Yet you openly disrespect me in front of others. Why?” He maintained that silky tone, sending a shiver down my spine.
Lilith’s anger had been an inferno, exploding without warning and destroying everything and everyone in her path.
Jace’s fury reminded me of an unsuspecting wave, the kind that swelled imperceptibly and took the victim under with a crash of power.
And I’d ignited the slow swirl of water, building it into a crescendo that would swallow me whole if I didn’t make amends quickly.
However, I couldn’t seem to form the words, an apology impossible. He confused me too greatly. “I don’t understand you,” I sputtered out instead. “You don’t do anything as expected.”
His eyebrows rose. “And what do you consider to be expected?”
“Orders. Tasks. Questions.”Not feeding me decadent meals and bathing me after I expel my meal,I thought but didn’t say. “Lilith requested reports. I gave them. She fed. I died. Then I woke up to repeat the process until she returned once more.” That was my life. My purpose. My ritual. And all of it had gone to hell over the last few days, between the protocols and his unanticipated arrival.
My world no longer made sense.
“I want to see James and Gretchen,” I added, needing normalcy. “Please.”
He observed me for a long moment, then glanced at the Southern vampire. “Bring up a live feed for her.”
I didn’t take my eyes off Jace; I couldn’t. He gripped me too tightly to allow deviation in my line of sight, and the clench of his jaw told me he wasn’t about to release me anytime soon. I’d struck a nerve. But some of the flames had left his irises as he slowly returned his eyes to mine.
“Tell me about the server farms,” he demanded.
I swallowed again, then told him everything I knew. Just speaking the words out loud helped me feel grounded, reminding me of my purpose in this world and helping me to feel more comfortable in my own skin.
His magic touch had unnerved me.
But speaking about the reports and the systems calmed me.
I even went as far as to tell him about the backdoor access I’d created for myself, explaining how that had allowed me to circumvent some of the features within Bunker 47’s systems to override surveillance feeds and access my files.
“The back door was through that connection to the server farm,” I concluded.
His expression hadn’t changed, his cheekbones still regal and flared from his jaw clenching.
“I suddenly understand your delay,” the Southern vampire drawled. “She’s magnificent.”
“Indeed,” Jace replied, the word curt and short. Then he tilted my head, allowing me to see a screen that the other vampire held up. “James and Gretchen,” he added flatly, defining the sight before me.
They were in a room without windows, pacing around the furniture.
Untouched food was on the table, and I could tell Gretchen had been crying.
“Where’s their son?” I asked, searching the screen.
“He wasn’t part of your negotiation,” Jace pointed out, drawing my gaze back to him with his hand still on my chin.
My eyes narrowed. “Did you hurt him?”
“Is it your right to know?”
No, but…“If you want me to divulge the location of the server farm, then yes.”
