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“Then why did you tell me his location?”
“I thought you’d be careful. I thought your men would kill him on the spot, like civilized men, not capture him along with his wife, when your intention was never to hurt the lady!”
Hades growled and slammed his hands against the table. “I don’t need a lecture from you!”
William removed his feet off the table and raised his brow. “Interesting,” he said slowly.
Hades straightened. He had never lost his temper with William before. He had not lost his temper with anyone since he was eighteen years old. He’d tried to rein in his emotion, and he always succeeded. But the interlude with Eloise seemed to have let out the beast in him.
The truth was, William was right. But his idiotic men had brought St. John along with his wife, and there was nothing he could do about it now.
“Since you don’t want to help,” Hades said, calmer, “and you seem to be in good health, you are free to leave. Besides, you have your other assignment to fulfill, don’t you?”
William watched Hades for one long moment before grinning in his usual way. “That I do.” He tipped his hat and walked away.
Hades turned toward his men. “Where are they?”
“The man is in the dungeon as you asked, and the woman is made comfortable in the guest chamber, although she hadn’t stopped shouting since she was situated there. She’s asking to see her husband.”
Hades scrubbed his face. The last thing he wanted was to deal with a hysterical lady. He wasn’t used to imprisoning women.
Eloise was the first one he’d ever captured. But he wasn’t thinking clearly when he gave the order. The white mist of revenge was veiling his mind, and he also wanted to fill the void in his heart that had been left by Ava.
Hades shook his head. Now was not the time to be distracted by the thoughts of his dear sister. Now was the time for revenge.
He walked toward the dungeon. He needed to see the scum who was the reason for his sister’s death.
Hades curled his fingers into fists, trying to keep his emotions at bay. It was getting harder and harder to keep himself in check. He knew that if he didn’t, he would just rip the bastard apart. He descended down the stairs, and the guards opened the door to a dungeon chamber.
Hades walked in first, the guards stepping in behind him, holding torches to illuminate the room.
The horrid stench of vomit and unwashed male assaulted his senses. Hades scowled and looked around the room. In the corner lay a man—if one could call him that—covered in his own discharge. The picture was pitiful at best. The man had probably been drinking non-stop for a few weeks, if not months. He was thin, and his hair was mussed and greasy.
He looked up, squinting at the torches, and Hades could clearly see the gray skin, the bags under his eyes, the bloodless lips. If that man had ever been charming, or capable of seduction, it must have been a few hundred glasses of gin ago. Because nobody, not even a guileless young girl like Ava, would fall for the ghost of a human lying at Hades’ feet.
Taking revenge on a man as out of his mind as this one would bring little satisfaction.
Hades looked at his guards. “Feed this man, bring him ale and water to drink. Wash him and make sure he is back to a semblance of a human before you call for me again.”
St. John looked at him with blood-shot, glassy eyes. “I do not deserve mercy,” he croaked.
“No,” Hades agreed. “And killing you now would be too merciful.”
He turned on his heel and walked away.
* * *
After Grace left her room, Eloise only had time to put on her day gown when she heard steps and muffled noises in the corridor. Eloise cracked the door open to observe the goings-on.
“Let go of me! Let me go to my husband, please,” a lady pleaded with the guards.
Eloise could not see much through the crack in the door, but she did not want to draw any attention to herself by walking out into the hall. Instead, she listened to the naked pleas of the poor lady begging for her husband. The guards disappeared from Eloise’s sight, and then there was a sound of the door being locked. Continued sobs and pleas of the lady did not desist, they only sounded muffled now beyond the thick door.
Was this how Keyon amused himself? By snatching unsuspecting ladies, locking them up in one of the guest rooms, and then seducing them?
Deep down, Eloise knew that wasn’t the case. But the way he had dismissed her earlier hurt. He didn’t owe her anything. They weren’t a courting couple, and he was never going to be her husband. However, she’d believed that they established a level of trust between them. He had told her things she was certain he had never told anyone else. She had trusted him with her body, the way she had not trusted anyone before.
And after all that, he just kicked her out without any explanation for what was going on.
