“Answer it!” Andrei demanded through clenched teeth, forcing me out of my daze.
This was too good to be true. I knew before I even heard the voice that Lo wouldn’t be on the other end of the line.
Pressing the button for the speakerphone, I answered, “Hello?”
“Have an eventful night?” Rin’s voice practically purred through the phone, making my hackles rise as fury welled within me.
“Where the fuck is she, Rin?” I demanded, voice hitching with anger as I forced myself to take deep breaths.
He laughed before muttering, “She’s where she’s supposed to be—at my side.”
I looked up at Drake as I took in Rin’s words. His eyes were black, and his chest heaved with barely restrained anger. His fingers lengthened into gleaming black points, black veins traveling up his hands that matched the ones slowly beginning to show beneath his eyes.
His monster was out to play.
There’s no way she’s willingly there with him and against us now. Absolutely no fucking way.
I know. I’m going to fucking gut him and string him up from his intestines.
“Well, anyway,” Rin drawled, as if this was a relaxed, normal conversation. “That wasn’t what I called to talk about.”
“So then spit it out, you piece of shit,” I seethed as I stared daggers into the phone, wishing I could somehow kill him through the tiny piece of technology.
“Your behavior is unbecoming of someone who is supposed to be Queen of Sanguis, Alina,” he chided, voice taunting. There was a note of laughter in his tone as he continued, “Unless you trade yourself to us, Serena will be killed tonight.”
Andrei’s emotions slammed into me as he let out a hiss of anger, punching the wall he was next to immediately.
My mind raced on what to do.
“We have Silvyn,” I countered. “We’ll trade you for Serena.”
Seeing as they didn’t bother with having anyone free her when they broke into the castle, I wasn’t holding my breath over my barter being accepted. I was willing to try anything, though.
Another laugh boomed through the phone, so long and obnoxious that I scoffed at the phone as I rolled my eyes. “You think we care that much about Silvyn? You can kill her if you want. She’s become weak and dependent on drugs. She is a liability.”
Despite my disgust over Silvyn turning on us, a part of me felt bad for her, hearing their thoughts of her so clearly laid out. When I met her at the party, she was stunning. Regal as could be and quiet as a mouse. Nothing like what I’d seen from her earlier. Drugs were a terrible path to go down, and part of me wondered if she had anyone around her to support her and try to get her help.
“If that’s the way you all treat your comrades, you were destined to fail,” I hissed out, shaking my head to clear it of thoughts of their treatment of someone who helped them.
I already thought they were the scum of Praeditus, but somehow they continued to set the bar even lower than I thought possible.
“Yeah, whatever,” he rebutted quickly, completely unfazed by my judgment. “Text Lo’s phone with your decision within the next two hours, and I’ll give you a meeting location.”
Two fucking hours? Fuck, I didn’t know when the witch was supposed to be here.
“Four hours,” I snapped.
“Nom two hours.” A growl ripped from my chest as he tossed out, “Oh, and Alina? If it’s even a minute past, Serena’s head rolls.”
Fucking hell.
The line went dead, and I dropped the phone onto the bed before I could throw it at the wall. Jumping to my feet, I dug my fingers in my hair, pulling tightly at the roots as I paced.
Andrei sank down the wall to his ass, letting his head fall into his hands.
“What the fuck are we going to do?” I asked, desperation breaking my voice. “I don’t know where to start.”
As if on fucking cue, a heavy pounding sounded through the castle. Drake rushed out of the room with all of us quick on his heels, Andrei scrambling up from his position against the wall to bring up the rear. Glancing at his phone for the cameras he had in place around the perimeter, he nodded once. “It’s the witch.”
