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But there had to be a way out of here.
I looked down at my hands and forced my wrists apart. The rope bit down on my skin, but didn’t budge. I tried again, this time calling my darkfire to aid me, but only a flicker answered. Were these ropes magic repellent? That was the only explanation I saw.
Still, I tried again.
And nothing.
I could hop to the window and see what was out there. I would probably fall on my face and worm my way there, but it was better than waiting for my doom.
I stood, and promptly sat down as the door across the room opened and Roman walked in, a silver tray in his hands. He closed the door with his foot and walked toward me, a small smile on his lips.
Anger seethed in me. This man had helped Nortrix and Paimon. He had sent Shane to his death, and brought me here to play lab rat to Dot and her spells.
He sat beside me and I scooted to the other corner of the couch, glaring at him.
He sighed and put the tray on the table in front of us. “Raika, I know you’re mad at me right now, but you won’t be. Dot will spell your mind again.” He reached for me. “We’ll go back to being a cou—”
“We’re nothing!” I slapped his hand away. “Don’t touch me!”
Another memory came back to me. Roman in my house when the demons attacked. He tried getting my mother and me out, and ended up being thrown across the room. I thought he had died, and I had felt sad.
“I thought you were my friend,” I whispered.
The gleam in his eyes changed. Hardened. “I don’t want to be your friend. I’ve been waiting for you to see me for at least five years, but you haven’t! I was always a friend to you, and I was fucking tired of it!”
“If you really cared about me, you would have let me go.”
“I thought I could, I swear I did, until I saw you and Shane exchanging glances. The more I paid attention, the stupider I felt for not seeing it before. All the stolen glances, the almost touches, the way he spoke to you, the way he included you in everything. Now I know why he wanted to promote your rank in the pack.” He shook his head. “The guy who had always been such a jerk to you was your fucking mate? I couldn’t stand it.”
“So, now you’re the jerk? You’re the one playing with me? Don’t you see how wrong this is?”
He clenched his teeth and reached for the tray. “It won’t be. Soon, Dot will fix this.”
I stared at him, my face slack.
Bits and pieces of images rushed in my mind now, of Roman being by my side since forever. He had always been there for me. He had tried making my life less miserable. And now, he was ruining everything.
Roman grabbed the tray and placed it on his lap. “You should eat something.” He grabbed the utensils and cut the chicken pot pie.
How could he sit here and pretend everything was fine?
I lunged at him, grabbed the knife from the tray before flipping it on top of him. I reached down and half-cut, half-tugged the ropes free from my ankles. I smiled when they snapped, and I could move my feet.
Before I could use the knife on the ropes around my wrists, Roman put the tray aside and glared at me. “You want to play dirty? Then I’ll play dirty too.” I shot up and ran to the other side of the room. “I’ll tie you to a chair and gag you until Dot comes back and spells you!”
He came after me.
I dashed out of the room, and into a large basement with cement floors. A long, foldable table and several chairs stood to the left, a rickety desk with two monitors and electronics to the right, and several hanging naked lights. What was this place? I didn’t care, as long as I got out of here.
A set of stairs leading up were along the farthest wall. I ran to it.
A door to the side opened, and Ivy and Rotgar stepped out.
“Raika? Wait!” Ivy yelled.
I didn’t stop. A second later, I ran into a darkfire wall and fell back, hitting my hips and shoulder hard on the rough floor.
I groaned, pushing to my knees.
