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His face was busted, black and blue, bleeding. His bottom lip was split, and a mixture of blood and saliva dripped down his chin, falling into small puddles on the ground. His left eye was bruised, almost swollen shut. His body looked as if it had endured countless punches and kicks.
I stumbled back out into the hallway, pressing my back against the wall as I heaved through the panic. My hands involuntarily rubbed my wrists, the bruises still fresh from my own imprisonment. For a moment I could feel the cold metal of the shackles as if they bound me once more, the searing cold chill of Marcus’ knife, the sting of his cigarettes.
Damien rounded the corner of the doorway, stepping before me. Fresh concern painted his expression. My hands shook and he cupped my face, but I couldn't meet his eyes. If I looked at him, the truth I wanted to avoid would be clear. He'd know. Somehow, he'd know, and I wanted so badly to forget.
“Mea luna?”
I didn't respond at first. I didn’t want him to know. It was still too fresh. He pressed, and my eyes jerked to his. “I’m… I’m sorry, Damien. Seeing him like this it’s… it’s too fresh.”
A sort of realization danced across Damien’s eyes as he put the pieces together.
“This is what he—” Damien couldn’t finish his words, couldn’t let the reality of the things Marcus had done leave his tongue. “I’m taking you home. I’m not putting you through this.”
“No, please.” I stopped him as he grabbed my hand. “I just… I need a moment. I wasn’t prepared to see this. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize,mea luna. You did nothing wrong.” He held me tightly, and I feared he might change his mind, take me home where I wouldn’t be able to help. “Take however long you need. He isn’t going anywhere. If anyone will have information as to Marcus’ whereabouts, it’s him.”
I leaned into him as he held me, calming my nerves. His heartbeat was a racing hum in his chest that filled my ear.Focus on that, Cas.One…Two... Three... Four... Five...I coached myself through the breaths, combatting the panic that gripped me. It took a moment, but when I finally gripped a sense of control over my fear, I stepped back inside.
My eyes fell on Cole. He groaned before he lifted his head, breath ragged. Cole’s eyes met mine, as if taunting me. “Decided to bring in your demigoddess bitch, did you?” He spit blood on the floor at my feet, and I fought the urge to flinch at his movement.
“So, youdoremember how to talk.” Barrett planted a firm hand on his shoulder before slamming his knee into Cole’s face, and my muscles involuntarily braced at the hit he took. Cole slumped to the side, the chains catching him before he hit the ground. “Show a little respect,traitor.”
My eyes followed him, drifting over his wounds, the depth of my resentment and hate pouring out of my gaze. He knew how I felt about him, knew that I had the same level of sympathy for him as he’d had for me when they tormented me in that chamber.
He deserves it.
I winced at the words that crossed my mind, and I forced them back. I didn’t want to think like that, that wasn’t me. I wasn’t like him and Marcus, wasn’t cold and cruel.
Was I?
A part of me wanted to know why he did it, why he harbored such hate for me, a person who had never done anything to him. “Why?”
His face remained low, but he tilted his head, those black eyes rising to me. I could feel the anger, the hurt inside him. “Anything to get back at Selene for taking my parents from me, for taking everything from me.” His voice was raspy, parched.
I swallowed. His parents had been killed in the war with the darklings. Of course, he would hate me—the reincarnation of Selene’s daughter.
Every conversation I ever shared with the sweet boy I’d come to know crossed my mind, leaving a hollow pain in my chest. "Was any of it ever real?"
A cruel grin spread across his face, and my stomach twisted. A darkness coiled inside those eyes, unlike anything I’d ever seen. "Why? Do you miss me that much? Is it a friend to share all your woes that you want, princess? Or more? I mean, I’d warm your bed if you’d like, but it seems someone else already did." His eye slid to Damien, and my cheeks and ears heated. “Tell me, Damien. Was she any good? What did she taste like?”
Barrett and Damien launched at him, and my heart sank at the faintest sight of Cole’s hands twitching in the chains. He could kill them with a single touch, burst their hearts if he wanted, and Damien and the others didn’t know.
“Stop! Watch his hands! Don’t let him touch you.” Barrett and Cole froze. Damien grabbed onto the collar of Cole’s shirt, fist primed to punch him, but he stopped short, eyes flickering between Cole and me.
Cole’s eyes hardened as they shifted to me, muscles and veins straining against the skin of his neck.
I didn’t let the look on Cole’s face scare me. “He can do something to your blood if he gets his hands on you.”
Damien’s head snapped toward me, eyes flaring. “What did you say?”
I hesitated on the spot as they all looked to me. Cole’s eyes popped as I revealed his secret, and he jerked against the chains. I flinched. “I-I can’t remember what Marcus called it. It… it started with an A.”
Vincent answered. “AÌma.”
I nodded. Damien’s eyes fell on Cole. “But you’re half-blooded.”
The look in Cole’s eyes gave Damien his answer.
