At my name.
At the word home.
Something cold and vicious settles inside me.They think I am still theirs.They think fear will bring me crawling.
My hand stops shaking.“No,” I whisper.Knox looks back at me, and I lift my eyes to meet his.“They don’t get to call it home.”
His beast stares out through his eyes.For once, I don’t look away.
“They want the girl they lost?”I say.“Fine.”My fingers close around the card.“Let’s introduce them to the woman who survived.”
Chapter Six
The Door Beneath the City
Knox
The girl we lost is invited home.
The words burn behind my eyes long after Aldron takes the card from Briana’s hand.Home.
The beast inside me doesn’t understand language the way I do.Not all of it.He knows commands.Threats.Names.He knows the difference between a plea and a lie.But that word, written in blood on thick black paper, sinks into him like a hook.
Home.
They call the place where they hurt her home.They call their chains home.Their teeth.Their velvet rooms.Their hands on her skin.
A growl scrapes up my throat before I can stop it.
Aldron looks at me across the bar.“Knox.”
I drag in a breath through my nose, but it doesn’t help.
The Gin Room is too crowded now.Not with customers.With power.Ari glows with fae fury near the bar, Malichai at her back like a shadow with fangs and dragon fire beneath his skin.Akasha stands beside Korvin, her magic moving around her fingers in soft gold sparks that make the air smell like ozone and herbs.Cruz leans against a barrel table, arms crossed, watching me too closely.
Briana stands beside the bar, chin lifted, face too pale.Not broken, never that, but pale as fuck.
