“Blood overdose?”
“He attacked and fully drained a demon after he got through the hell portal. I’m sure Ronan will fill you in on everything later. Come on—this way.”
Knowing Ronan, he wouldn’t fill me in onanythinglater, but what choice did I have but to shut up and follow her? I needed to see Darius, and I didn’t know if and when I’d get another opportunity.
We took the service elevators down to the basement level, then followed another long series of hallways until we reached another wooden door. Unlike the last one, this didn’t have any glowing runes or codes. Just a big-ass iron bar bolted across it.
Deirdre lifted the bar, then pushed open the door, revealing another dark chamber inside. This one was huge, though, and hot—nothing like Sebastian’s little meeting room upstairs.
I stepped into the entry, waiting for my eyes to adjust. The floor was a dull, dirt-colored wood that looked like it hadn’t been polished in decades, and the stone walls surrounding us were damp with moisture. Everything beyond the immediate entryway was cloaked in shadow.
Even my breath seemed to echo.
“Your vampire is inside,” Deirdre said softly. “All the way in the back. But… a word to the wise? Keep your guard up. He’s dangerous, Rayanne, despite the restraints and the hawthorn.”
“Restraints?” My eyes welled as I pictured him tied up and sedated. What had they done to him? He’d lost his memories trying to save me, and this was the homecoming they’d given him? “Darius wouldneverhurt me.”
“But that’s just it. This vampire isnotDarius. You must remember, he’s—”
I cut her off with a harsh glare, and she pressed her lips tightly together, as if she had to physically restrain herself from speaking her mind.
Darius had suffered memory loss. That didn’t make him less deserving of respect and kindness. It didn’t make him broken or some wild, untamed beast that needed to be restrained and beaten.
Deirdre hovered in the doorway a moment longer, as if she were still trying to decide whether to leave me alone with the man I loved. The man who’d saved me in the Shadowrealm. The man whose touch still smoldered on my skin.
“I love him,” I informed her, ending the argument before it devolved into something worse. “I’m not leaving here until I know he’s okay. Until I see it with my own eyes.”
Her eyes softened, and she reached up to touch my cheek. Her palm was warm and soft, her touch kind.
“I understand.” She smiled softly, then slipped outside with one final piece of advice trailing in her wake: “Just… don’t get too close.”
The door closed and bolted behind her, and I stepped deeper into the room, waiting for my eyes to adjust. It seemed the only light came from a sparse collection of electric wall sconces.
Everything about this room felt forgotten.
I turned to the hounds that’d followed me inside. “Sparkle,” I whispered. “Sunshine. You two stay here and keep an eye out for me, okay?”
“Ah, there you are, lovely,” Darius said. His voice came from the darkness, smooth as silk, sending a ripple of warmth across my skin. “Come closer so I can see your beautiful face.”
“Darius,” I breathed. Was that recognition I’d heard in his tone?
Or simply the charms of a smooth-talking vampire, just like the one I’d allowed to taste my blood that first time in Black Ruby?
That was the night we’d become blood bound, and it felt like a million years ago now. So much had happened since then. It was a wonder any of us was still alive.
But wearealive, I reminded myself. We’d already fought and survived so many battles. This was just one more.
Leaving the hounds at the door, I approached the back of the room cautiously, my heart thumping louder with every footstep.
Slowly, painfully, Darius came into view. He was seated on a long bench, his feet chained and bolted to the ground, his wrists chained and bolted to the wall. A hawthorn stake had been shoved through his left hand; the skin had partly healed around it, leaving a ring of dark blood.
My stomach twisted. I hated seeing him like this. Bound. Sedated.
I took another step closer, still assessing him.
His clothes were clean and looked new—dark sweatpants and a Vegas Golden Knights hockey jersey I was pretty sure he hadn’t picked out from the souvenir shop himself. His face looked gaunt beneath a few days’ worth of stubble, his eyes glassy, his brown hair wild and unkempt.
He flashed me a grin as I approached, as smooth and smokey as fine whiskey, but nothing like the real Darius. Nothing like the vampire I’d fallen in love with.
