I was the reason they were all suffering. These women would hate me if they ever learned the truth.
I was pretty sure Scarlet already did.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-EIGHT
Ellery
Closing my eyes,I swallowed the thick, coppery tang of vomit filling my mouth. If I threw up here, we’d all be stuck with the stench.
And I was petrified that if I vomited, they all would too. I couldn’t endure the awfulness ofthatin these cramped confines.
I also couldn’t look at Scarlet or Ruby. They must knowIwas the reason we were here.
Scarlet was already mad at me, and that was before she and Ruby were placed in jeopardy because of my actions. I had no doubt, this was going to get really ugly,reallyfast.
What is Ivan going to do with us?
That question battered my brain and made it almost impossible to think through my pounding headache. I swore a hundred miners with their pickaxes had taken up residence in my skull to carve holes through my brain.
“What do you think this is about?” one of the women whispered.
“You know what it’s about,” another hissed back. “They’re looking forher.”
“And how do they expectthisto help them find her?”
“How am I supposed to know?”
“What will they do when they find her?” another whispered.
No one answered while we all pondered the horrors of what they’d do if they discovered who I was.
“They’ll destroy her,” someone finally murmured.
Even if Ivan didn’t kill me outright, hewoulddestroy me.
The miners started jogging through the tunnels they’d created, swinging their axes like batons and singing a merry tune as they went. If they’d been real, I would have choked them.
My shackled wrists made a small clicking noise when I lowered my head into my hands. I wouldn’t change anything about what I’d done that night with the rebels, and I would save Ryker a thousand times over again, but I hadn’t anticipated this from Ivan… whateverthiswas.
I was ashamed to admit I’d been lulled into a sort of complacency. Enough time had passed since the rescue that I’d begun to think Ivan couldn’t think of anything to do to uncover my identity.
I’d beensowrong.Instead, he’d been biding his time and formulating a way to bring a lot of women to him.
But what does he plan to do with us?
That was the question on all our minds, even if no one voiced it.
When the horses slowed to a walk, the lessening of the carriage’s sway did nothing to ease my nausea as I was certain things were about to get worse. The clatter and clink of more wagon wheels outside our vehicle caused me to lift my head.
My gaze went to the window across from me and the other prison carriage outside. I suspected more of the conveyances surrounded me; we’d become one of many.
Did Ivan order all the women in Tempest brought to him? But no, that wouldn’t be possible.
Would it?
There were far too many of us for that. Plus, there was no way the women in the sea communities and the furthest towns could be here now.
That would take so much coordination and effort on Ivan’s part… but hehadalready put a lot of effort into bringing us here.
