Page 98 of House of Pain
When Alecto opened her eyes this time, she sighed with relief.
She was comfortable, warm, and staring at the black ceiling of her bedroom at the House.
“Thank fucking Gods,” Jolene said with a heavy sigh. “I thought you’d died or something.”
Alecto turned her head to find her friend kneeling by her bed, tending to her bloodied palm. The knife was out.
“Did you tell the others?” Alecto asked, her voice hoarse. She cleared her throat.
Jolene caught her gaze, stopping what she was doing, but it was Rogue’s voice that came from the other side of the bed. “No. Nobody knows.”
Alecto turned her head to where Rogue sat near her desk. “Thank you.”
For a long moment, he looked at her, a line wedged between his eyebrows in worry and concern. It was the last thing she expected from a demon.
They stayed silent for a moment, Jolene finishing wrapping the bandage over the wound and Alecto just letting herself breathe.
She thought she knew how cruel Blaze was. After everything she saw him do to others, after everything shehelpedhim do, somehow, she thought that she knew what he was capable of.
This night proved that she knew nothing.
And not only did she know nothing about Blaze and how far was he willing to go to ruin her, but she also couldn’t even trust the rest of her House because she didn’t know how they felt about her anymore.
You’re beneath us all.
Alecto swallowed the lump in her throat, her eyes starting to burn.
“Alecto,” Jolene said gently. “Do you want to tell us what happened?”
Needles in Alecto’s throat didn’t let her speak. She slowly shook her head.
Jolene dropped her eyes, hesitant.
“Do you want to tell us why you didn’t want Val or the others to know?” Rogue asked, his voice soft.
Again, Alecto only gave them a shake of her head.She met Rogue’s amber eyes and he nodded, as if to say that he understood.
Even demon from Hel could be kinder than Blaze fucking Leveau.
Jolene sighed. “Okay then. When you’re ready, I’m here. We’re here.”
Rogue added, “We’re going to get back at whoever did this to you. Whenever you’re ready, Black.”
“You know that, right?” Jolene asked.
Alecto didn’t know. Not anymore.
III. SOULLESS NIGHTS
35
That was exactly what Blaze wanted—to make Alecto suffer.
So why the fuck did he feelworsethan before?
He pinched the cigarette between three fingers and brought it to his lips. What a fucking shit show the last week has been.
He hadn’t seen Alecto at the House. Clearly, she’d been avoiding him. But nobody else from the Inner Circle seemed to know what happened between them, which meant that she hadn’t talked.
