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What did Noxx mean? Had the woman misunderstood the deal? Not possible. It’d been clearly stated before Joelle allowed them to chain her and leave the shore. “You have me instead. That was your agreement. My life in exchange for his and Kyle’s.”
Noxx smiled a bitter, nasty flashing of teeth. “Ah yes, the demands of Yulia Sidorich. Selfish demon hybrid, isn’t she? Handing you off like trash when you’re worth a hundred of her. Her eagerness to be rid of you merely confirmed my suspicions and my sniper’s observations from the witches’ premiere party—the Maronov prince wants you.”
Oh gods.There had been a sniper watching them at the party when she’d rushed Alexei to the SUVs. It hadn’t been her imagination. She pushed down all emotions, keeping any revealing expression off her face. “Why not order your sniper to fire then?” The coolness of her tone masked the screaming in her head.
“And waste the possibility of such a valuable acquisition? Not a chance. He might even think you’re his fabled mate if he believes in those fairy tales. He’ll come for you. I have no doubt.”
“He won’t. He’s told everyone that I’m not his mate.”
“We’ll see about that.” Noxx sounded almost gleeful which meant she was up to something terrible. “Come along. The specimen I’m experimenting on won’t last much longer. Just in case you get any ideas about begging me to keep him alive, you won’t find any compassion here, my little runaway. Not after the trouble you’ve caused me in tracking you down.”
“I wasn’t aware you’d ever been merciful.”
Noxx shot her a disapproving look. “I’m a benevolent guardian. Remember when you tried to hunger strike?”
She did. Her brother had been tortured, she’d been force fed, and she’d learned again that fighting Noxx while in captivity was futile. The memory had her wanting to claw at the places where she’d had tubes shoved inside her and extra chains binding her. “Yes.” Her voice came out quiet and meek—as it always did around Noxx.
“Good. Let’s not have a repeat of that.”
Joelle fought for the false sense of calm she’d clung to for all those years when she hadn’t believed a rescue was possible. The subtle sway of the ship seemed less obvious here below deck. They might as well be on land in one of the many facilities the Order owned around the world. The walls of the narrow corridor seemed to close around her. Steel doors on each side had bolted doors like a prison.
She’d beenfree. If only for a few months, she’d been away from the atrocities of the Order. But it would be worth sacrificing her freedom if it meant saving Alexei and Kyle. She had to cling to that motivation if she had any hope of keeping her sanity.
The smell of death and ammonia stung her nose. Bodies had been piled in an open room that might have been a bunk once upon a time, before Noxx took over this ship to create her own version of hell.Don’t look. She knew better than to attach herself to those poor people who had suffered and died for being supernaturals—murdered for nothing more than circumstances of birth. Grief and horror spiraled through her, swamping her brain until her thoughts became scattered, jagged pieces of an awful puzzle that her self-preservation wouldn’t let her put together.
One woman slumped against the wall with no marks of experimentation or torture except blood smeared up her hand and wrist where they had cut off a finger.Dear gods,she looked like an older version of Kyle from her baby face to her hair that curled in every direction. Nooo.
Nausea rolled through Joelle, and sour bile coated her tongue. She swallowed fast, over and over, fighting to push down the sick. They’d killed his mother for nothing more than loving those who hadn’t been entirely human. He would be devastated. She’d bargained herself to rescue him, and for what? So he could spiral into mourning his mom, into blaming himself for her senseless slaughter?
Resolve stiffened Joelle’s spine and had her straightening her shoulders despite the burning stab of pain where the cuffs bit into her skin. She would save him so he could live. Her sacrifice would be rewarded with knowing he made it out of this. But first, she had to witness the torture of another stranger.
Noxx flung open one of those heavy doors with a startlingclankof metal on metal.
Joelle’s heart sank to the blood-spattered floor, and a moan rattled in her tightening throat, cut off by terror. “Kyle.” She hurried forward, slipping out of the guards’ attempts to hold her back. He’d been bled almost dry, a living dissection in progress. “No.”
His arms and legs had been fettered with manacles so tight they’d cut into his skin. Burn marks—red and raw—traced from each shackle. She reached for the latches, but they’d been welded shut. She couldn’t breathe, pressure cutting off the air from her lungs the same as if they’d strapped her beside him. Tears burned her eyes, spilling hot down her cheeks. They’d fixed him to the table permanently. He would never leave this place. She’d come here; she’d tried so hard to save him.For nothing.
Except she could comfort him. Magic flooded her skin, pushing healing into him as she held him. “Kyle, can you hear me?”
He blinked his eyes open—his gaze drugged and hazy—and stared at her before curving his mouth into a weak smile. “I knew you were my guardian angel.”
“Not quite.” She pulsed more of her powers into him, but he seemed so far gone.
“They…” His voice came out raspy. “They let my mom go.”
Oh no, he didn’t know. He’d come to save her, and they hadn’t told him that she’d probably already been dead. Joelle forced her face into a tight grin. “That’s right.” She would ask him to forgive her for the lie later if they made it out of this alive. “You concentrate on getting better now.”
“Can’t. Too late. Tell the prince…” He wet his cracked lips with his tongue and glanced around the room, but Joelle moved to block his vision so that she would be all he could see.
“Tell Alexei what?”
“Let your mate know that guards said they have kids as prisoners. He has to save them.” Kyle’s eyes rolled into the back of his head. His breathing had gone shallow, his pulse slow beneath her fingers on his neck.
She glared at Noxx. “Why have you done this to him? What could you be looking for that you thought you might find in him?”
The woman cleaned her scalpels, wrapping each and packing them into a portable toolkit as if a man wasn’t bleeding out in the same room. “He’s telekinetic.”
“Which meanswhatin terms of bleeding someone?”Nothing.
