Page 42 of Vengeance and Vipers
‘And you’re yourself now?’ Jayce asks.
‘Aye. Almost.’
‘How did you survive?’
Krase shrugs, and I scrutinize him carefully. He knows more than what he’s saying. He must.
‘And Jules?’ Iron asks. ‘Whatdidyou plan to do with her?’
I fix him with a cold look. ‘I wasn’t going to murder a helpless human in cold blood if that’s what you mean. I was … keeping her in the cells until we’d dealt with the Council, had our records expunged. You know she can’t be free to leave while all this is going on.’
At their accusatory expressions, I throw up my arms, aiming my words at Iron, potentially my last ally in this room. ‘What else could I have done? If she’s allowed to go to the law, we’ll be back in the Mountain before we know it. And what if she tells them about the portal? They’ll seal it, and we really will be stuck there.’
Iron sighs, and I can see he agrees with my thinking. He might not like that I kept him in the dark, but he knows we can’t trust her just as I do.
‘Maddox is right. She might be here now and pretending she’s not holding a grudge, but we tortured her. We left her for dead in the Mountain. She won’t forget that, and she has no reason not to go straight to the authorities.’
‘You agree she should be put back in the dungeon?’ Jayce spits, his eyes flashing in anger at Iron.
‘No,’ Iron says, his gaze moving to the window where the signs of autumn are becoming more apparent outside. ‘The weather’s turning. A human will freeze down there soon.’
‘We’ll put her in a room up here then,’ I say, glad that Iron is still thinking with his head and not his cock like the others seem to be.
Not that I’m surprised. Her hold on them is as strong as it was in the Mountain.
Iron raises a brow. ‘Even a magickal supermax couldn’t keep that woman confined. Do you really think we can keep her in a room? As I see it, we have two options. We give her an incentive to stay—’
‘What kind of an incentive?’ Jayce asks.
Iron chuckles patronizingly. ‘Well, it’s Jules. Payment, of course. As I was saying, we give her the promise of money if she doesn’t try to leave, and she keeps that pretty mouth shut. In return, she gets the run of the property. Of course, we still ensure she can’t get through the defenses the same way we stopped Jayce and Axel …’ he looks at them apologetically, ‘and we beef up security to keep all our bases covered where she’s concerned.’
‘And option two?’ I ask even though I already know.
He gives me a hard look. ‘We put a bullet in her head.’
* * *
JULES
I know I’m pretty lost as I walk slowly through the maze of secret passages, but it’s not bothering me, really. I’m strangely at home in this dark, rocky labyrinth after so many weeks in such a similar environment. I also feel … I don’t know … a lot of things I can’t explain and wouldn’t want to.
The truth is, between Axel and Jayce’s ‘concern’ over me, Krase’s Jekyll-and-Hyde personas despite the pleasure he’s given me in his bed, and the other three’s ire, it was just too much to deal with all at once.
The darkness and the quiet are soothing in a way it never was for me before the Mountain. Who knew that I’d be left with a love of cave-like spaces after that ninety-day horror show?
I let my steps falter to get my head on straight and plan my next move, and my progression through the narrow space halts at a sort of passing point where it’s a little wider. I lean against the wall in the designer dress Krase pulled out of nowhere, not caring if it gets soiled and ripped. It’s not mine. It belonged to someone Krase cared about. That much is clear, or else why would he have bothered to keep it?
Why am I jealous?
I hear the tell-tale scuff of a shoe on stone behind me and cover my mouth to cover my gasp. How did they find me so fast? I’ve taken a ton of turns.
There’s nowhere to hide, so I start sprinting, running my fingers along the stone walls to guide me. But the wall ends abruptly, and I find myself in an actual cave. Faint light comes through from the ceiling, where there’s an opening with ivy creeping down from somewhere on the grounds.
Frantically, I search for another tunnel, but I’ve lost precious seconds, and a body barrels into me, throwing me down hard. I stifle a cry as I hit the floor, but I’m up within a second and running again.
‘Did you think we’d just let you go?’ comes a taunting whisper from behind me.
A thick arm wraps around my waist and picks me up off my feet. I kick and claw, but all he does is laugh darkly.
