Page 26 of Born Free

Santiago lets out a bellow that will surely wake the entire town.

“I might not remember you, but I’d guess you never were a very smart man, were you?” Roman glowers. “You may have only gotten twenty seconds of evidence, but you should know, when it comes to Juliet, neither one of us is very reasonable. So, you’re going to answer my questions, aren’t you?”

Santiago breathes hard, feral huffs as he stares at Roman without saying a word.

“Why have you brought Juliet to Roter Himmel?”

My hands instantly feel icy when it’s finally confirmed where I am.

“You know what she can do,” Santiago says, not really a question.

Sebastian’s eyes flick over to me, and in them I see an entire conversation. I never told him myself. I never admitted to the man I was going to marry that I can’t die. But he’s witnessed it with his own eyes. When he staked Roman, and I learned about my gift, the ability to die for people. And then he witnessed when I woke from death once again, just minutes later.

I see it in his eyes, he knows the whole truth now, and somehow I know Roman had no choice but to tell Sebastian everything.

“I know what she can do,” Roman says, his words low and dangerous.

“Then I don’t have to explain why I have brought her to Roter Himmel,” Santiago says between clenched teeth.

Roman lops his index finger off. Santiago roars in agony again as the digit falls to the ground with a wet thud. “You really do. I ask you a question. You answer. That’s how this works.”

Santiago breathes hard through his nostrils, his eyes sliding over to where his two fingers are lying in a pool of blood. “King Cyrus will do anything to get Sevan back. He’s done it over and over, but over and over, he’s always lost her to death. If what Juliet can do can be replicated, I know Cyrus would do anything to get his hands on it.”

In two long steps, Sebastian crosses the cottage. He cocks a fist back, and it collides with Santiago’s jaw.

I hear a crack.

“You were going to sell her to the King and let him experiment on her?” Sebastian seethes. His entire body vibrates, barely under control.

“And you thought he’d make you a Royal as a reward,” Roman states, evidence he overheard the earlier conversation.

“Stranger things have happened in this world,” Santiago grinds out.

Sebastian curses under his breath. “Idiot. The King would sooner make you his court’s pet just for the hell of it.”

“Who have you contacted?” Roman breathes as he leans on the man a little harder, the tip of the blade digging just a tiny bit deeper into his chest. “Who else knows about this plan?”

“Just Isaiah,” Santiago barks out, sounding panicked. “I had no reason to share the reward with anyone more than I had to. And now he’s dead.”

“Did anyone see you come into Roter Himmel?” Sebastian demands as he stares down at Santiago.

The man pauses for just a second too long. “Three cars passed us on our way into the valley.”

I think he’s lying based on his hesitation, but we can’t count on that. If anyone did see him and Isaiah enter Roter Himmel, we need to move. Soon.

“Cyrus will have guards, spies watching the valley,” Sebastian says as he walks to the now broken windows and looks out. “This scumbag is lying, but it seems doubtful they would have entered without anyone knowing.”

“No one has come bursting through the doors yet,” I point out. “We’re not exactly being quiet.”

“At least you picked a secluded spot,” Sebastian says. I don’t know what the layout of the valley is. But we must not be too close to the castle. And whoever else lives here.

“Does Orlando know just how much you resent him?” Roman asks.

And I see Santiago’s expression go slack. I see panic creep into his eyes.

“I would imagine he would see your actions as treason,” Roman continues. “And I have a feeling everyone else in this valley would see it the same. But that isn’t enough reason for me to kill you.” His blue eyes slide over to meet mine. “How many times, Juliet?”

I know what he’s asking. He’s asking how many times Santiago killed me between when I was taken, and now.

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