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“We aren’t going to leave for another two days,” Nem said.
Those words made me frown. “Why? You seemed in a rush yesterday.”
“Things change. It seems yourfriendshave a plan coming up. It’d be good for us to stay here, off the radar, until they’re done.”
The use of ‘friends’ made it clear she meant, and I sat up straight at the mention. “What do you mean?”
Nem’s red lips curled into a smirk, as though she liked the fact I showed some spark. “That got your attention, did it? I heard about an hour ago that they’ve got something set up. If we get spotted flying out of town, it might mess with their plan. It makes more sense to just stay here until they’ve finished.”
“Untilwhat’sall done?” I gripped the fork in my hand, squeezing tight as anxiety ran through me.
“They’ve set up a trap, from what I understand.”
“What sort of trap?”
“They’ve planted the story that they’ll hand you over to a transporter to get you away and hide you. The handover is supposed to take place tomorrow night at the next auction.”
The mention of the auction made my heart race, my palms sweating immediately. If the men’s house felt like home, the auction house was my own hell. The darkness, the thick bars of the cage, the way the lights on the massive stage blinded me, it all came back to me.
Except…I couldn’t let myself focus on that, so I closed my hands into tight fists. “Are you serious?”
“So they say,” Nem said, shrugging as though it wasn’t her problem.
“That’s a horrible idea,” I argued. “Lorien iswaytoo smart to fall for something like that. Even if hedidbelieve it, if he went with it, if they attacked him there…” My voice trailed off as the truth hit me.
If they attack Lorien, Bradley will have them killed.
It meant there was no way out for them. Even if they did everything right, even if they got the upper hand and took Lorien out…they would still die.
I’d thought the auction was the scariest thing, but it turned out worse things existed in the world—like the idea of losing the men I loved.
“They can’t do that,” I whispered, fear gripping me and making it hard to pull in full breaths.
Bray spoke next, no food left on his plate, his tone of voice flat as though this didn’t involve him at all. “They aren’t foolish men. They know what this course of action will lead to and they’re still choosing it. If this is their plan, you should sit back and accept it.”
“Even if it’s a bad idea? Even if it’s dangerous and stupid?”
“Even if it is, what are you going to do?” Dane asked, his tone gentle, as if he knew damn well what he had to say would insult me. “There isn’t anything for you to do about it, and if you got involved, you’d just cause more trouble. If you try to interfere, you’ll just give them more things to worry about. You’ll only cause more problems.”
I dropped my gaze, the words hurting more than I thought they would.
It took me back to all the times when I’d felt useless, when I’d been unable to do a damn thing but watch as others decided my entire life. I recalled when my father had pointed that gun at Nem and pulled the trigger, when Jarrod had taken that bullet. I remembered when Hayden had gotten hurt protecting me, when Vance had been willing to get shot just to keep me safe.
How many times in my life had others suffered for me?
It made me feel useless and pathetic and Ihatedit. Dane’s words brought all that impotency back up. It poured alcohol into the wounds I’d carried around, the feeling that I was supposed to just sit back and accept that I couldn’t help.
I couldn’t fight, couldn’t protect the things I loved, couldn’t do anything for those who mattered to me.
“I know this is hard, Kenz,” Rune said, his voice so gentle that it sounded strange, like it didn’t belong to him at all. “But sometimes the best thing you can do is just sit down and wait. Just be a good girl, and we’ll have you home in a couple days. You can get back to your normal life with us, then.”
Be a good girl.
Those words rang in my head like a bell, one that crashed against the insides of my skull. I’d heard that my whole damn life.
My mother had said it, my father, all the men in my life. They’d all told me to be quiet, to behave myself, to do as I was told, tobewho they wanted me to be.Even Nem, even the Quad and Jarrod, they all wanted me to be good, to listen, to trust them and not make a fuss.
And I’d accepted it each time. Even if I scoffed, even if I hated it, I’d folded and bent to their whims.
