“You…”
I’m on my feet in an instant, my body moving before my mind catches up. The instant he steps into view, all control evaporates.
“Relax.” Alaric puts his hands up in defense. “I’m here to help.”
I swear I nearly forgo the warning about the bars and lunge for his throat. My hands twitch with restrained violence as my voice cuts through the heavy air. “Why am I in a fucking prison?”
I could punch through the walls if I wanted to. Shit, I could rip these metal bars apart, but I’m unsure of what would be beyond them. More pressing is the fact that Sydni isn’t here. That’s a bigger problem than this cell could ever be.
“You were healing a lot faster than we thought you would,” he says, unfazed by my fury. His hand lifts, fingers splaying into four distinct points. “Did you feed off Xeraphine?”
The sound of her name cleaves through my chest like a hot blade. I can’t tell if it’s the bitterness of hearing it from his lips, or the hollow ache of knowing she isn’t here with me.
“How long have I been out?” I don’t owe him shit. If anyone here should be answering questions, it’s him.
He sighs, dragging a hand through his long, white hair, the strands tumbling over his shoulder. His glowing blue eyes seem almost unnatural against the dimness of the room. Or maybe it’s just the shadows playing tricks on me.
After a moment of silence, he finally speaks. “You’ve been out for only three days.”
Three days. That’s impossible…
There should be absolutely no reason why my arm is completely healed after that short of a time. The timeline doesn’t add up, and I hate that his answer gives me more questions than it resolves.
“You drank from Xeraphine.” He doesn’t question me this time. “Do you know how dangerous that is?—”
“Who are you…” I cut him off, furious that he even knows what my Xera is. The rage surges in my chest, threatening to overpower me. I’m on the edge of caring about nothing but escaping.
“I will tell you everything.” He lowers one of his held up fingers, bringing the count to three. “Will you behave?”
He speaks to me as though I’m some feral beast. As if the chaos I’m prepared to unleash isn’t entirely justified.
My glare sharpens, radiating all the malice I’m holding back, ready to unleash on anyone who dares stand between me and getting her back.
“No.”
He drops another finger, now holding up only two. “I’m here to help, Kairhyse.”
My nose twitches as I wrestle with my need for answers. Who is this guy, and what connection does he have to Xera?
Now he’s down to one finger. “I’ll take you to Sydni, and we can all go find her.”
Fuck him. The moment I have Sydni, we’re gone. She’s going to help me burn this fucking world to the ground to get our girl back.
Chapter 2
Kairhyse
The second the gate opens, I have to remind myself not to sprint out and leave this forsaken dungeon behind. As much as I need to get Xeraphine back, I can’t leave Sydni.
I move alongside Alaric, who walks with his hands clasped behind his back. He says nothing, and neither do I, because I couldn’t care less about anything he might have to say. The fact that he was at the crash tells me something I need to know, but don’t want to acknowledge—he’s been tailing either me or Sydni, and that’s a problem.
We pass the cells and ascend a flight of stairs. When we reach the top, the door opens into a modern home. Glancing back, it’s as if I’ve stepped through a portal from another time.
“Do I even want to know why you have a medieval dungeon in your basement?” I ask.
“It came with the house,” he replies, grinning.
My nose twitches. No one should be smiling. It pisses me off because everyone should be hurting right now—just like my girl is. Just like I am.
