Page 89 of Stone Seduction
Two halves, one me. Dark and light and ready to be free.
He leaned in closer. “Until you can’t.”
“How can you?—”
“This isn’t up for debate.” He cut me off. “You follow my orders, you serve the greater good. I won’t pander to your human weaknesses.”
Oh. Interesting. “Meaning you want to condition me to be your puppet?” How much braver I sounded now.
“Yes.”
“At least you’re honest.”
He cocked a grin. “I think I prefer you without this cockiness.”
I’d prefer you in a different room.
“What happens next?” I asked. “Can I have more ice?”
He fetched me another cube from a source out of my eyeline. “Here.” He popped it in my mouth. “In answer to your question, I don’t know. Be patient. I’d rather not see you tied up like this. But we must be careful.”
Okay. Okay. Okay. What the hell? One moment he’s full of threats, the next he’s trying to be the friendly gargoyle weaver.
Uh-huh. Call me suspicious as fuck.
“Where’s Asher?” I spoke around the ice.
“In your suite.”
Pangs of longing splintered my voice. “Is he okay?”
He didn’t answer, dipping his head.
Fine. “What about the incident?”
“Twenty dead. Eight severely injured. The motorway is closed for the time being.”
I wanted to puke. “Those poor people.”
If I’d been allowed to be myself, maybe I could’ve prevented more death.
“Indeed,” Seth said indifferently. “Our priority now is finding a gas mask human to question. Though they have an irritating habit of killing themselves before we can. As you’ve seen for yourself.”
Yes, after an attack on my lighthouse, two men took their lives with a cyanide compound.
How funny cyanide smelled like bitter almonds, Seth’s joints only a little sweeter.
A symbol of his toxicity, perhaps?
“Asher will be part of the hunt,” he added.
Asher…
You leave my Asher alone.
“Why did you bring Billy here?” I couldn’t help asking, seeing as he was in such an open mood.
Ah, the sweet satisfaction of his furrowed brow. “None of your business.”
