Page 47 of Seized to Sacrifice
Rye produced the flame in his hand and looked at the woman sleeping in the bed. ‘It’s her. Perhaps it’s because …’
‘Because you fucked her,’ Nyx ground out.
Rye winced but nodded. ‘There’s no other explanation. Do you think she did it intentionally?’
‘I doubt it, but we can ask her.’
‘I doubt she’ll tell us the truth,’ Rye said. ‘There’s something else too.’
He hesitated, knowing that this would be a point of contention between them, but it had to be discussed. ‘Leia came to me last night. She told me you dismissed her and Rosalie.’
‘Aye, I did.’
‘You can’t just decide—’
‘One of them slapped Elle. They were going to cut off her hair,’ Nyx interrupted.
‘What do you mean?’
Rye’s eyes narrowed. Leia had told him she’d make a mistake with Nyx’s bath, nothing concerning Elle at all. ‘When?’
‘Last night, I left them alone with her for a few moments. While I was just outside the room, I heard them speaking ill of her, then one of them slapped her face.’
‘We told the servants to treat her as a slave,’ Rye began, but Nyx cut off his words.
‘What I heard was more malicious than servants ensuring a slave knows their place, Brother,’ he said. ‘The blonde one had a knife to Elle’s hair when I walked in on them, and I don’t believe this was the first time they’ve treated her thus. I can’t prove such a thing, but I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that they’d ensured Eruk could attack her undisturbed that night. They could easy have done so.’
Rye looked incredulous. ‘And what was Elle doing while these women were being so cruel?’
‘She was in a deep slumber. I’d given her a sleeping draught. She couldn’t defend herself, nor call for help.’ Nyx went to Elle and played with a lock of her long, red hair. ‘Aye, it’d grow back, but that isn’t the point, is it? I’m sure the irony isn’t lost on you that cutting off her hair was one of my suggestions of ways you could effectively torture her, and you couldn’t do it.’
Rye didn’t show his anger, but he’d told both the servants that they could stay, taking Leia’s word that it was a simple misunderstanding. It clearly wasn’t and now, for the second time in as many days, Rye had been burnt by a human he’d brought here to help.
‘I've sent Thorne to Evesmere. I wanted you to know,’ he said, changing the subject, but he silently vowed he’d be ensuring both women would never be near Elle again.
Nyx’s jaw tightened. ‘We should have spoken about this. All of us.’
‘Your mind is clouded,’ Rye volleyed.
‘As yours is. As Thorne’s is. Have you not given any thought to why she's here in this realm? Perhaps this was meant to be an olive branch. But you're about to throw it in the fire.’
‘Aye,’ Rye conceded, ‘but can you really stomach the thought of even one more century of this purgatory?’
Nyx looked away and Rye saw just for a moment how weary his Brother was of all of this.
‘No,’ Nyx admitted, ‘not like this.’
‘We need the promise of an end,’ Rye went on. ‘The only way to get such a thing is with her helpor his.’
‘He won't be able to undo what she has done.’
‘We shall see,’ said Rye. ‘It’s been a long time. We don’t know anything for certain, which is why I’m putting our eggs into more than one basket. Thorne has taken a message to the bridge. When it next opens, it’ll be delivered, andhewill know where she can be found.’
‘He won't come himself.’
Rye shrugged. ‘He might if the stakes are high enough.’
‘Do you think he wants her back?’ Nyx asked, watching her sleep.
