Page 37 of Lost and Stolen Gods
My pulse beat hard in my throat as I waited for my match. Maybe I’d get Pashim? He’d seemed like a solid, grounded guy. Very anchor-like, and we’d kinda connected when he’d stepped in to stop Eve from attacking me then offered to teach me how to punch. Yeah, I’d be okay with that.
A bellow interrupted my thoughts, the sound so full of rage and pain that itmade my insides twist.
“NO! No, you cannot do this!” the male voice cried.
The Shakti’s voice rolled over us like thunder. “You will comply!”
Another rage-filled scream and then a drohi appeared over the lip of my platform.
Araz’s wrath-filled topaz eyes locked on me as he was pressed to the platform, and my heart forgot how to function.
Chapter 14
NOPE, I DEFINITELY DID NOT ORDER THIS…
The veins in Araz’s neck stood out, and his muscles bulged as he strained against the force holding him captive. He ground his teeth, all but frothing at the mouth.
“Be still!” the Shakti ordered.
Golden bands flared to life on his wrists. He screamed, the sound filled with despair and anguish, and something inside me fractured because this was wrong. He didn’t want this. Why were they forcing him?
“Stop!” I implored the Shakti. “He doesn’t want this. Stop it. Please! I don’t?—”
My voice deserted me, stolen by an invisible force, and across from me, Araz, too, fell silent. His chest heaved and his eyes rolled in panic like a cornered beast. I wanted to tell him I was sorry, but my throat was frozen, and my limbs were in the grip of a forcemore powerful than anything I could ever have imagined. The light around us grew so bright it should have hurt my eyes, but it didn’t, and for a moment, we were alone in a whitewashed space that had no boundaries except for the ones holding us together.
Golden ribbons of energy pushed out of his chest and extended toward me. I imagined that if he could roar in protest, he would have, and a hollow pit filled my belly, because why would they do this? Why bind him to me when he so clearly didn’t want it? But it was too late. The threads were on me, sliding over my skin like hot fingers before sinking into my blood.
Wrath punched me in the gut, knocking the breath from me. I screamed soundlessly as it ate at my heart, desperate to swallow it whole because this was the end of hope, and only darkness remained and?—
The feelings winked out, leaving me gasping and broken.
“It is done,” the Shakti said.
The light flared, and the look on Araz’s face just before it stole my vision formed a block of ice in my belly.
It was death.
It was destruction.
And it was laser focused on me.
The light transportedus to a room with gray stone walls, threadbare rugs on a worn wooden floor, and a huge bed piled with furs. There was one window but no drapes to hold back the night, a large wooden desk piled high with papers and books, and a scratched-up armoire parked beside it. There were two exits, both closed.
I’d barely had a chance to take it all in when there was a sizzling pop and Araz materialized a few feet away from me by the desk.
He scanned the room and zeroed in on me with a murderous gaze that had my insides knotting.
I had to do something. Smooth this over somehow. ”I’m sorry. It’s obvious you didn’t want this and?—”
“Shut up,” he said through clenched teeth.
I couldn’t. Not until he understood how terrible I felt. “I understand that you were close to being free, and if I had a choice?—”
He had me by the throat and pinned to the wall before I could blink. “I said. Shut. Up.” Embers of rage danced in his eyes.
I bit back a squeak and swallowed to push my heart back into place.
“Your kind make me sick,” he continued, his voice edged in a growl.
