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I'd been in that position too many times to count. I'd seen vampires drinking from every vein of the thralls I shared a home with.
It never felt strange to witness it before.
But as I stood there with the demons and Arick, I felt my gaze sliding away, oddly embarrassed, like I was witnessing something private and too intimate.
"Well, I was anticipating a visit," Renwick's voice called, making us all turn to find him walking in from somewhere in the back of the house. "I can't say I was expecting so soon," he added, looking at Ace.
There was a chilly sort of animosity between them. I wouldn't pretend to understand the aversion some evil creatures had for other evil creatures, since it seemed they had more in common than not, but it was clear that the distaste was mutual, and likely long-held.
"Nova," he said, my name on his lips making me stiffen. "You seem... well," he said, one of those perfect brows of his arching.
I never really noticed before how perfect he was. Too perfect. Just like the others. Just a bit too beautiful. It was off-putting now that I could see it for myself.
Maybe that was why I liked looking at Drex so much. The careless imperfection. The lack of perfect symmetry. I liked his brows that didn't line up to the exact millimeter, that his nose had the smallest of curves to it from some fight or another in the past. I liked the scars on his hands and the unruliness of his beard.
"I am," I confirmed since he seemed to want an answer.
"Interesting, that. Don't you think? When you should be screaming in pain, nearly driven mad by it?"
"It is interesting," I agreed, feeling bolder than ever before when flanked with so many powerful creatures.
"You'll understand my confusion," he went on, barely sparing any of the others a glance. Until, of course, he noticed Arick.
That was when I saw a flash of some emotion on his cooly beautiful face.
"Renwick," Arick greeted him, something about the greeting seeming to make the air around him spark a little. Like static electricity. It pricked at my skin, made the little hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand on end.
"I wasn't aware you were an ally of the demons."
"I wasn't aware you opened your home to those who would abuse your hospitality. Yet here we are, now knowing those things."
"That is a serious accusation," Renwick snapped, making the others in the room stop feeding, pushing their thralls away, and moving to stand as they wiped the blood off their lips.
"Yet an accurate one," Arick said, waving a hand toward me, making Renwick's gaze follow.
There were several long seconds then. Both of us just standing there, looking at each other.
My former master's gaze was penetrative, seeing things I didn't want to share with him. All the pain and humiliation I'd endured at the hands of Davor.
"You should have come to me," he said, voice a hiss as he realized Arick was telling the truth.
"He never crossed that one unforgivable line," I said, lifting my chin a bit.
"Any line crossed should have been reported. I have always done right by my thralls, have I not?" he asked, sounding offended at the idea that anyone would think otherwise. "Have you not witnessed with your very eyes how I handle those who take liberties against what belongs to me? I should have been informed."
"And if I'd told you what he'd done, and you didn't deem it worthy of having all of his parts severed off, wouldn't I have been put right back into his hands? To likely suffer worse?" I shot back.
"You should have trusted me," Renwick snapped. "I've never given you a reason not to."
He wasn't exactly wrong about that, I guess.
"When, in the history of this world, has someone enslaved been able to fully trust their enslaver?" Ace shot back.
"They come to me willingly," Renwick snapped back, a hint of anger slipping into his voice, the heat of it at odds with his usual chilly demeanor. "I have never taken someone against their will. I have never lied to them about what was in store for them."
"But you did make it impossible for them to leave," Ace shot back.
"Apparently not," Renwick said, looking back at me. "Care to explain that?"
"If I explain it to you, will you set Drex free?"
"You ask for a lot."
"I'm asking you to release someone you have imprisoned for crimes he didn't commit," I shot back.
"Irina, Alice, Taylor," he called, rattling off the names of the thralls in the room. "You're dismissed until further notice," he told them, and there wasn't even a pause before the women jumped up and rushed out.
"Explain," Renwick invited, moving toward his desk to lean against it.
"He didn't take me against my will. Or keep me against it. Or drug me against it. I wanted to leave. He figured out a way to make it happen after watching Davor beat and humiliate me without my consent. Right in front of your eyes," I added.
