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“You want to talk to me in that condescending tone?” Amadeus asked me through gritted teeth. “You think I’m ignorant? You want to act as if I didn’tlivehere for the majority of my life? Like I wasn’t forced to grow the fuck up here?”
I swallowed down a small, sudden lump of nerves. Half of me panicked, but the other half was oddly calm. I knew Amadeus was passionate about taking Purgatory down, or at least forcing everyone to abandon it, but I firmly believed that he would never truly act on it.
Although my mind was trying to think rationally, my body was not. I held my breath deep in my lungs, careful to not do anything that would cause my throat to press against the blade.
“Dey, I swear tofuckingGod—”
“What,Cai? You talk to God now? You guys are finally on good terms?”
Caius wasn’t taking any of Dey’s shit. Not now. I watched as he clenched his jaw so hard, his teeth looked like they could break behind his cheeks.
With his arms still tightly wrapped around me, Amadeus pulled me closer, forcing my back to bend slightly. As much as I hated to admit it, his body felt similar to Caius’. They had the same hard chest and strong arms, but there was no comfort with Amadeus. Only captivity.
His mouth leaned in close to my ear, and he whispered quietly enough where the others couldn’t hear him.
“What has he done to you?” he asked, referring to Caius, his words coated with a light layer of sympathy. “You’re not the same person from the party. He hasruinedyou.”
“Fuck off,” I mumbled in return.
“Are you promised here, too, little Miss Dalmatian? Did you sign your soul to the Grey Devil?”
“You better watch your goddamn mouth, Dey,” Caius barked, but Amadeus ignored him.
“Huh? You got a cut on your hand? Let me see.”
“No,”I replied, keeping my hands low. I didn’t want to give him any ounce of information, even if it could benefit me or relieve this situation.
Ace moved to step closer, and Amadeus pushed the steel harder against my throat in retaliation. Ace froze.
“Amadeus, you better let herthe fuckgo, rightfucking now.”Caius’ voice sounded more broken with each word he spoke, and that brokeme.I couldn’t bear to meet Caius’ eyes now, in the chance that my strong stance would completely crumble.
“You know,” I added, my body gaining composure as we all ignored Caius, “you come here a lot for a guy who doesn’t want anything to do with this.”
“What good would I be if I wanted to put a stop to something but didn’t act on it? There’s not much I can do without coming here. I can’t call, I can’t text, I can’t even fucking email.”
“Dey,” Caius spoke, his voice softer this time. “You need to let her go. We can talk about this.”
“Yeah, okay,” Amadeus let out a dry laugh. “You’re only saying that because ofthis.”Amadeus flashed the knife, letting it catch the light’s reflection as he added a small amount of pressure to my windpipe.
“No, I’m not, Dey. You got my attention, now let’s talk about it.”
The sincerity in Caius’ voice had me choking back an onset of tears. If he was nervous, he was hiding it well, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him and check. My focus remained on the steel blade under my chin, and I could feel Amadeus tense behind me. There was a hesitation at Caius’ words, I could feel it, but I could also feel some sort of consideration.
Amadeus’ grip on me loosened, but only by a fraction. The arm that was tightly wrapped around my torso eased up slightly, but it was enough to give me breathing room.
And in that newfound freedom, I knew what I had to do.
Run.
Run like the first time I saw the ghosts. Run as if I saw my uncle’s spirit for the first time again, and that’s all my body wanted to do.
Run.
I finally looked up to Caius, whose gaze never strayed away from me. I sent a plea to him, to catch me when I came running.With a barely noticeable nod to me, I knew he was aware of what I was about to do.
So, with all my might, I attempted to slip out of Amadeus’ hold and run to Caius.
But the second he felt me move, his arm around my torso tightened again.
