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His hand is over my mouth again and he maneuvers himself in front of me. “Stop screaming, damn it. I’m not going to hurt you.” He tilts his head a bit as if to suggest, okay?
I don’t give him the satisfaction of a respond. Instead, I lift my brow and stare back at him.
Shayde slowly removes his hand. Satisfied I won’t make a sound, he takes a step back and stands to his full height.
“You tried to have me killed. Why the fuck should I do anything you say? Why am I tied up? And why did you jump in front of a fireball for me?” The last question I didn’t really want to know the answer to, but I also did. It will tell me if he still cares or if it was all an act. Even if he does still care, I don’t give a shit.
He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “All of it was before I knew you. All before…” He trails off and I hope he chokes on his tongue.
I look around the room again, trying to figure out where I am. If I can find a way to get out of here, I can mirror back to the academy and warn the Dean about what I’ve learned. The room is dark and there’s a few candles lit around us. Convenient for Shayde and his shadow powers. It’s musty and gross inside, smelling of old, stale air, and maybe mildew.
Are we alone?
Are others here with us?
I need to get him talking to find out what all he knows.
“Shayde,” I start and try to keep my voice as calm as I’m able under the circumstances. “Please, be honest with me. Was I a target in a game? To get in my pants and make me fall in love with you? Like some monster’s magic?”
“What? No,” he shakes his head. “Absolutely not. All of this, everything we shared, every moment of it was real for me. All of it. I am in love with you, Teagan. I never expected that to happen.”
What the fuck did you expect then?
Puppy dog eyes, Teagan. Puppy dog eyes.
I make my bottom lip tremble and my next words spill out in a whisper. “Then, please, let me go. “If you love me, let me go.”
He closes his eyes. “I… I can’t.”
“Why,” I plea and try not to scream it out. Gods, I want to scream at him.
He falls to his knees in front of me and lays his head in his hands on my lap. “They’ll kill me and my family, Teagan. Understand, you’re not the only one at stake here.” He lifts his head and his eyes meet mine. There’s genuine fear behind the flames and dampness… tears maybe. “They threatened death to my family if I didn’t go along with their plan.”
A part of me feels empathy toward him and his family I’ve never met, but it’s no excuse to kill my family and hold me hostage. “I’m sorry you had to experience that, I truly am, but turning me over to them gives you what? They’ll still kill and because you’re a witness, they will kill you to clean up any loose ends. Don’t you see that? How is this a win-win for you?”
I can see the thought process churning in his features as he sits back on his heels. Shayde starts to open his mouth to say something when a door to the room opens. Shayde leaps to his feet and puts distance between us.
“Ahh, she’s awake!” It’s Dafni fucking Frangidi.
The moment she comes into the light, she has her mother next to her, Davanna Frangidi, the self-appointed leader in the necromantic community.
“You remember my mother, right,” Dafni asks.
Davanna strolls across the room wearing a very fitted a-line dress, cut very low in the front, to stand next to Shayde. She slips her arm around his waist, then leans against his side. “You did a good thing bringing her to us, Shayde.” She reaches up and pats his cheek. “Good boy.”
He pushes her away, followed by, “Get the fuck off me.”
Davanna grins, and I can’t help the rage I’m feeling toward this cunt-monster. I want to rip her face off for touching what’s mine, but also for holding me hostage.
And fuck me for admitting Shayde belongs to me. I hate him, yet I still love the fucker.
Fucking idiot.
“Having control over everything in the necromantic community,” Davanna says, “gives me the edge I’ve been needing to fulfill my own prophecy.”
I find it almost humorous when her own daughter, Dafni, rolls her eyes. “You can’t make up something and call it a prophecy,” she mumbles.
“What was that,” Davanna asks her.
