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Kane opened his mouth, then looked sideways at Deimos and closed it, but Demolition Man either didn’t see the danger or thought that it would only be aimed at Kane. Neither of them was great at reading a room for emotional context, and if I was lucky maybe it would get them hurt by their new king. I hoped so.
“The people you sent after Anita’s family ran into Richard and his bodyguards. The fight attracted the police. Once the cops realized that someone had tried to grab a fellow officer’s family member, they put their own guards on the hotel. Deimos ordered all of us not to engage with the police, so once they were on site the family was out of reach.”
“Was my family hurt?” I asked. Suddenly all the problems I had with them didn’t seem important.
Demolition Man ignored me. Deimos told him, “Answer her.”
“They’re fine,” Kane said, and helped Rodrigo get Richard’s upper body over the rugs, then let go, saying, “He won’t bump his head now.”
“Your brother recognized Richard from old pictures when youwere together, so he ran to him for safety, or they might have grabbed him and run before the police arrived,” Demo Man said.
“The job is only half done,” Rodrigo said.
“We don’t need the kid anymore, we have Richard.”
“I don’t mean kidnapping her family, I mean putting Richard higher on the rugs.”
Rodina made an exasperated sound and took the arm Kane had dropped. They pulled Richard up higher onto the rugs until he was lying right beside me. He was still on his stomach with all that wavy brown hair hiding his face. I knelt down beside him, but my hands were still chained too high on the pipe for me to touch him. “What if he suffocates facedown like that?” I asked.
They exchanged a look; Rodina eye-rolled, and made sure I knew how much a hardship it was for the two of them to grab Richard and turn him face up beside me. His hair finally spilled to either side of his face so I could see him. The left side of his face was already red and puffy where I was assuming Demo had hit him.
I walked on my knees until I could touch my leg to his shoulder. He didn’t react at all. It made that leftover anxiety about Nicky flare so that I studied Richard’s chest to watch it rise and fall. He was alive, and I had to believe that Nicky would stay alive, too. We would all be all right. I had to believe that as long as I could, because to think anything else would take the heart out of me, and I needed to hold my shit together so we could get out of here.
“We will start with harming the Ulfric, but we cannot kill him, for that risks Jean-Claude’s life and hers.”
I felt relieved, but I should have remembered that Deimos could feel emotions. “It is not your hope I feel, Anita, it is the lack of despair I miss, so I know that learning I dare not kill Richard for risk to Jean-Claude and you made you feel safer for the two of you.”
What could I say, he was right. “Yeah, death being off the table is hopeful.”
“If we cannot do the ultimate threat with you or Richard, then Iwill send different people after your little brother, or perhaps your sister, or stepmother. They look lovely in their photos.”
My gut tightened up at the thought of any of them at the mercy of this thing. I wondered why my father and grandmother weren’t on the list, but I didn’t want to ask in case it was just an oversight. Three of my family in danger was plenty.
“The police won’t leave her family unguarded,” Rodina said.
“Perhaps we could take some of the Ulfric’s family. I am told that Anita went to extraordinary lengths to rescue them years ago,” Deimos said.
I stared up at him because that had been at least nine years ago. None of the people who had betrayed us had worked for us back then, or even been in town as far as I knew. Did that mean we had a traitor that had been with us with us for that long? Someone we’d trusted for nearly ten years? Shit, who could it be?
“Your pulse has sped up again, you are on the verge of fear again, almost panic, why?” Deimos asked.
“She’s wondering which of her longtime people betrayed her,” Rodina said.
“If you’re still enough of my Bride to read my thoughts, then how the fuck were you able to betray me to him?”
“Rodrigo is no longer your Bride, but my ties to him still exist. I am pulled in more than one direction now.”
“And what of me, sister?” Ru asked.
I admit that I’d almost forgotten about him. He had to know that, and that made me feel bad about it. “You aren’t the one who should be apologizing to me, Anita.”
“If you would only join us, Ru,” she said.
He struggled against the rope; it had to be uncomfortable or worse by now. “Are you sure you’re not cutting off his circulation?”
“I will adjust his bonds, if we’re not torturing him tonight, but he should be fine for at least another hour,” she said, sounding asmatter-of-fact as if she were talking about needing to put away the groceries if they weren’t going to cook tonight.
Richard woke up, blinking around as if he wasn’t sure where he was, which meant that Demo Man had hit him harder than he should have, but no surprise there since the big werewolf had made it clear he thought Richard was too nice and not violent enough to rule the pack.
