Page 29 of Red Lace Manor
“Lux, youdon’thave to do this.” Seth’s voice seemed completely disembodied to me. I couldn’t pinpoint where he was, and I didn’t care to look.
If I were going to die, it’d be on my terms.
My only response was pulling the hammer of the gun back. I exhaled, closing my eyes, and wondered what was going through the men’s heads. With how quiet they all were, I wondered if this was yet another first for abride.
My finger wrapped around the trigger, but just as I went to pull it, heat smashed into my back. Golden sunlight filled the dusty room, and the predators around me shrunk away into the shadows. And though I had no idea if the sun hadactuallyrisen, it felt like I’d won.
The gun fell to my lap, and I didn’t have the strength to lift it again. Masculine voices came from around me, but they weredistorted, as if I were trying to listen underwater. And, while if Iwantedto, I could have fought against the current and potentially risen to the surface.
I was sotired, plus, those sick bastards probably wanted to see me struggle.
So, instead of continuing to fight, I let myself go numb and vanish into a deep, blissful, painless sleep.
Chapter 11
Lux
For a while, my body was weightless. I couldn’t feel anything, I couldn’t open my eyes to see anything, and I assumed this was death. No heaven, no hell, just an absolute sea of nothingness. The spiteful part of me wished I had a way to contact my family. I’d accepted their religion out of love for them, but I’d never believed in it. And, I felt like a big, fat,I told you so, wouldreallyboost my morale.
Then, ounce by ounce, the weight returned.
A deep-seated ache embedded itself in my bones, and the scent of antiseptic flooded my nose, and nearly caused me to gag. A painful breath rooted itself in my lungs, and, begrudgingly, my eyes opened.
I expected to see a hospital room, or maybe a dungeon, but instead, I was in a bedroom?
Not one I’d been in before either. The walls were a clean white, and wooden furniture decorated the space. It was like someone had taken a photo from an interior design catalog and made it a reality, down to the lack of anything that made it feel like home.
The soft clink of metal on metal greeted me, and I tried to sit up, only for a strong arm to appear on my chest and push me back down.
“Hey, can you maybenotdo that?” A deep but playful voice called from beside me.
My brow furrowed as I turned toward the sound. Cassian sat beside me, a metal tray loaded with bandages and a pair of scissors perched on his lap.
There was no jester mask or harlequin costume today. Instead, he wore a grey T-shirt that clung to his biceps and a set of dog tags.
What the fuck was going on?
I tried to open my mouth and ask him just that, but my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth like it’d been glued there. My eyes shot to his in a near panic, and he sighed.
“Water?” He asked, as he leaned over and grabbed a glass from the nightstand.
Condensation beaded on the sides, rolling down as he moved it. My heart skipped a beat at the idea, and I nodded, or more so, I triedto. A sharp pain in my neck stopped anything of the sort.
Cassian shot me a half-lipped smile and fished an ice cube out with a gloved hand.
“Open up,” he ordered, holding the cube to my lips.
I did as he said, not really caring if it was a trap or not. My entire body relaxed as the ice hit my mouth and started to melt.
“Take it slow, you’ve been out for a few days, and if you drink too fast you’ll–”
CRUNCH.
My teeth cracked through the ice and Cassian rolled his eyes.
“You were supposed tosuckon it.”
“You should’a specified.” My voice was husky and weak as I swallowed down the ice chunks. “Can I have more?”
