Page 133 of A Taste of Torment
“I have to go.” I don’t try to push him off, for reasons. It’s not like I’d be strong enough anyway.Yeah, that sounds like a good excuse.
“You do not. We’ll deal with Bea and Mr. Vandozer.”
“We don’t even know if Mr. Vandozer is involved. And you aren’t allowed to kill Bea for this. You’re not allowed.”
He frowns. “Not allowed?”
“Nope,” I say with a simple shrug.
“Fine. Then, you aren’t allowed to go in there.” He nods to the gates only feet away. “I won’t kill her if you agree to that.”
I scrunch up my face and then lay my head back against the wall, looking up at the flickering overhead lights. “I have to,” I whisper again.
“If you go in, you may never come out. If you go in, I cannot save you.” He grinds his teeth together. “It would kill me. It would literally destroy me, Candice.”
I shiver.
He places his hand right next to my head. Something red catches my attention on his arm. I glance at it and then jerk back. “What the hell?”
I quickly grab his upper arm, the first place his skin is smooth and unmarred. Everything beneath it is bright red. Oozing flesh covers a large portion of his forearm.
Jarron seems unconcerned. “What happens if I try to pass the magic,” he says lightly.
“You did that stopping me?” I ask, voice thin.
He nods. “I’d do more. So much more. I swear if you go in there right now, I’ll follow you.”
“It would kill you.”
“I’m not convinced it would. I may never look the same, but—”
I flinch. “Are you serious?” He’s not serious, right? He’s just saying what he thinks will stop me from trying.
“We can do this another way, Candice. You’re not entering those games.”
I swallow hard, mind racing. Dammit, this wasn’t supposed to happen. He was supposed to find the letterafterI’d entered. Preferably after I was either free or dead.
Now what? I’m not strong enough to fight my way out of his embrace. I’m not fast enough to trick him.
Breathing hard and thinking harder, I look him in the eye. He’ll know if I come up with a plan, he’ll see it. So, I allow myself to show the insecurity. The confusion. The truth.
His body relaxes ever so slightly. I relax too.
As my body winds down, my teeth start chattering. “The person who killed my sister is in there.”
Pity crosses his expression, but his body does not ease up on mine. “Which is exactly why I won’t let you go.”
“You care about who killed her too, right?” I ask uncertainly, fishing for confirmation of the second thing on my mind. Maybe it’s just a distraction. Or maybe the thought of him having feelings for my dead sister is a thorn I can’t loosen from my heart.
“Of course I do,” he says seriously, eyes darkening. “I intend to find them and destroy them. But I won’t sacrifice you to do it.”
I bite my lip. “She mattered to you, right?”
“And you matternow.”
Now. I matter now that she’s dead? I shake my head. Nope, I need to move on from this train of thought. It was manipulation. Nothing more. Maybe. But either way it doesn’t matter.
“You can release me now,” I say softly, looking down.
