Page 36 of The Labyrinth

Ten bent his head, pressing a kiss to my leg. “Good. I wouldn’t let you leave anyways.”

And as we lay there, I couldn’t help feeling like I had just betrayed my family in some way. Maybe we weren’t ever a “normal” family, like the stories my mom told me from before, too focused on survival to really love. But when I thought about Bear’s sweet face, coming home from the mines with a special treat for Ettie tucked in his back pocket, or the smile on Ettie’s face when I picked her up from school…maybe we weren’t perfect, but we were still a family. I wanted to ask Ten if they were still being supported, even though I wasn’t in the camps, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask. I couldn’t just give up on them. What I told Ten was true. I didn’t want to go back. Not permanently at least. But maybe I could talk him into letting me visit.

Maybe. After this moment drifted away. For now, I was here. And that needed to be enough.

Chapter16

Ten

Had I ever experienced delirium? Felt the poison seep into my bones, clouding my vision and bleeding into my brain. Had I ever tasted obsession? The bitter wine that stained my teeth, lingering on my tongue until I could taste nothing else. My foundations had been shaken, my morals, cracked. I couldn’t be certain of much anymore, but I knew this one fact to be true. I was madly and deliriously obsessed with Rissa, and it was going to damn us both to Hell.

I couldn’t be certain when the change had taken over my body. The sudden switch where my brain was only capable of thinking of Rissa. I was a man possessed. I wanted to be with her at all times. Fucking her. Hurting her. Rebuilding her. I wanted to know more about her. What made her tick. What made her,her. There was something special about my deliciae, something so utterly pure that I wanted to corrupt. I wanted to bottle her essence whole, and to consume it with every chance I got. Instead, I often found myself with my council, listening to them drone on about city business that I knew I should care about when my mind was drifting toward the woman who sat inside the locked bedroom upstairs, waiting for me to return.

I told myself I kept her locked in for her safety. In case the house was attacked, it would offer some sense of protection. In reality, I knew it was because I was terrified of her running away. I also knew that if she did so, I’d search the world a thousand times over to find her and bring her home. I’d burn down anything in my way, pawing through the ashes and rubble to find her body. Even if I hadn’t memorized the curves of her body, she was marked now with my initials. My claim lay on her body, clear as day. I had opened it up twice since the initial time, and each time was just as sweet as watching that first slice of Rissa’s perfect skin.

She enjoyed the pain in a way I hadn’t expected when I took her from the villages. I knew she was strong. I knew there was something that lay beneath the surface. I hadn’t expected this, hadn’t expectedher.

And now I was delirious in my obsession. Everything I did, I did for her. Everything I took steps toward, attempted, was for her. The Ravens encroaching on my territory threatened her safety. The council that met every day in my living room did the same. They were here now, as we discussed a stronger perimeter we could enforce to keep the Ravens out of the city center. The problem being where did we draw the line? Which parts of the city did we choose to keep safe, and which did we allow to be consumed by the Ravens’ greed? It was a delicate topic.

“If we set the perimeter up around Solaris, I think that should be fine. We could move anyone who wants to be closer inside the perimeter. Any area larger than that, and we’ll struggle to maintain the boundary.” Hades shrugged, offering up his opinion as fact, as he so often did.

Draven was already shaking his head. “And what about Panshaw? We can’t just let them suffer because they’re on the outskirts of what we deem to be the city true. They’re our people, too.”

I sighed, pressing fingertips into my eyes as if doing so could stop the blossoming headache. “Does anyone have a suggestion that doesn’t require protecting only half of the population?” Draven was sensitive, but he was right. The people of the Panshaw outskirts were our people, too. They deserved to be protected from the Raven’s reach.

Griffin rocked his head side to side. “We could make it less of a complete circle. So there will be breaks in the perimeter. But we’d be able to stretch out the men further that way. Encompass Panshaw, too.”

I nodded. “How much of a gap are we talking?”

“Couple blocks, maybe. But it’s the only alternative, really.”

Fuck. A couple blocks was a big opening. Big enough for a bunch of Ravens to get through. But the alternative was leaving an entire population of people unprotected, which would be an uprising in itself. Allowing the Ravens to get through would risk Rissa’s safety though. The mere idea of one of their meaty palms on her delicate skin…

There she was again. Invading my every thought, my every decision. “Do it. But alternate where the gap is every shift change. If we keep switching up where the gaps are, it might be enough to dissuade the Ravens from trying to enter.”

“Consider it done.” Griffin got to his feet, and the rest followed. “Same time tomorrow?”

I stood. “Same time tomorrow. I want a report back on exactly where those gaps will be, and at what time. Fletch, I want you to double the amount of patrols at the Camps. We can’t afford to leave the women unprotected.”

Fletch grunted in response, but I could rely on him to get the job done. I watched them leave one by one, Griffin the last. He gave me the same funny look he always seemed to shoot me when we were alone—like he wanted to say something and thought better of it. He closed the door behind him.

I waited until I was certain they were down the street before I locked the door with a sigh.Finally. They were gone. I could be with Rissa once more. I took the stairs two at a time, smoothly inserting the key into her doorknob.

She reclined on the bed, staring up at the ceiling, as if there was something there I was missing. As soon as I entered the room, she sat up with a smile. “Master.”

My cock pulsed with the title. The word slipped smoother and smoother from her lips, and every time it shot a rush of adrenaline through my body. She was mine, every last bit of her. But she shouldn’t be just staring at the ceiling waiting for me to return. It was too dangerous for me to let her out without me there, but maybe there was a way to fix her boredom. I just wasn’t sure if she would like it or not. “Come with me.”

Rissa curled her knees to her chest, the light dress she wore covering most of her delicious body. “Do I need shoes?”

I shook my head. “No. We’re staying in the house. Come on.”

She jumped out of bed with an eagerness so youthful and childlike, so unlike any emotion I’d seen from her so far. It was almost like her strong exterior was a protective shield, only exposing the most vulnerable parts of her when it felt safe. We both wore armor, it seemed, to protect ourselves from each other.

I took her hand without thinking, and led her out the bedroom door. She hadn’t left the house since I had taken her to the church, and I had come to think of the house as our castle, keeping us safe from people who might not understand our relationship. People who might not understandus. We walked down the hall, deeper than she had been before, where the doorways were further apart. We passed my room, the door tightly shut, a sanctuary still. I worried that if I allowed her to penetrate my armor fully, she might not like what she found underneath. While Rissa’s skin defended a wonderful innocence, a purity I wanted to ravish, mine hid nothing but darkness.

Finally I stopped in front of a set of double doors, and reluctantly let go of her small hand. She was so delicate in my touch, yet stronger than iron when she needed to be. “Come,” I whispered, opening the doors. “Welcome to the library.”

We stood inside a room grander than her bedroom, for it was my father’s pride and joy. Wall to wall oak shelves lined the exterior of the room, while a fine oak desk sat in the center. Worn leather chairs hugged the walls, two per corner. My father liked to retire to his library at night when he entertained, and it was often that he and his company would stay up late here, discussing things I was never privy to. Everywhere you looked, there were books of all shapes and sizes.

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