“You’re wrong,” I said again in a stronger voice. “About everything. Why should I believe a word out of your mouth if your abilities include deceit and manipulation?”
His nostrils flared as he scowled at me. “You disgust me, Alexander. Olivia will grow tired of you. She’ll come to love the darkness of another and find nothing about you that appeals. Yes.” He stroked his chin. “There will be another darkness who will come to her and sweep her away from you, mark my words.”
A sharp stab lanced my heart. Could this be true? Could one of these foul demons who roamed the earth seduce Olivia away from me?Already I’d experienced how Balthazar had entranced her, and I had the gashes to prove it. How easy would it be for another man with the same demonic characteristics as Balthazar to seduce my wife-to-be?
“There aren’t many others left here,” Balthazar mused as if talking to himself. He sighed, dropped his rump to the ground, and brought his knees to his chest. “No, I have killed most of the darkness left on this earth. You saw it—you saw my wall of daggers in the other room.” He swept his hand toward the wall to my right. “So many lives….”
His voice sounded plaintive as if all these killings had left a mark on his soul.
Except that he has no soul…
“Even Dahlia’s usefulness will end, and I’ll be forced to murder her.”
His eyes fixed on me like a bird of prey on his next victim. A chilling smile curved his lips. “Unless, of course, Olivia kills her first. But she is too weak to harm even a fly.”
I glared at him. “Olivia will return. Together we will destroy you. We will find the weapons and murder you, Balthazar.”
“Weapons? What weapons?” Balthazar’s gaze bore into me.
I realized my mistake and said nothing.
Balthazar pressed his hand to my torso.
Like a brand, it seared me, burning through the leather and blistering my skin. I roared with the white-hot pain that ripped through me.
“Stop. Stop!”
He removed his hand with a flourish and snarled, “That’s just a taste of what I can do to you, gladiator scum.”
The acrid smell of burnt leather assaulted my nose as agony tore through me.
Balthazar rose up and stood over me. “You’ll never survive me. Death will come to you sooner than later. It’s coming your way, and you can do nothing about it.”
“You lied to Olivia!” I rocked back and forth on the stones.
“Of course I did. No one knows where you are. No one will find you here. But while you’re here, let me have a little fun. It gets so lonely being a demon.” He let out an exaggerated sigh as he sauntered toward the door. He exited and shut the door behind him with a soft snick.
Keys rattled and shook in the lock, and I was again secured in my prison.
I let out a long, low moan. I was in so much pain I couldn’t think coherent thoughts. Everything inside my head was a jumble.
Then, I noticed Olivia’s dagger on the floor, where Balthazar had placed it. Did he know he’d left it?
It took much effort, but I managed to crawl across the room. When I gazed down at the polished blade, I saw her beauty reflected in the shiny metal. There sat Olivia, slumped against Marcellious’s torso on his horse’s back.
How was it that Marcellious was the one comforting her? Was she ill? Injured? Strangely, I felt no jealousy toward my brother, only gratitude for this show of kindness.
Oh, Olivia. I’m afraid I’m dying. I can’t survive these injuries, let alone those that madman will inflict on me when he returns. I am a broken man.
The heat of fever resumed, matching the burning warmth of my scorched skin. Slowly, I rolled to my side and brought my knees to my chest. I kissed the handle of Olivia’s blade, clutched it to my chest, and curled around it, imagining her tucked against my belly as we spooned in slumber.
I fell again into delirium. Feverish thoughts of dying, cockroaches, rats, and never seeing Olivia again wracked my brain.
“Roman,” a soft male voice said. “Wake up.”
I jerked awake and peered into the darkness, seeing no one.
More fever dreams.My eyelids fluttered shut.
