Page 40 of Villains and Vengeance
I can’t keep my balance and as I begin to pitch to the side, I’m picked up and carried a few steps, I guess by Maddox. He deposits me on the bed carefully and the blindfold is removed. I blink up at him in the low light, hoping he doesn’t notice how wet the fabric is from the tears I was trying to hide towards the end.
My body and my mind are already exhausted and I know this is only the beginning. I can’t even move my arms or fingers. They’re like limp noodles. My body feels hot and my abdomen aches. I lay where he’s placed me, not moving at all.
Maddox hovers over me. He rezips my jacket that Daemon opened even though I have two more shirts underneath, so it’s not like anything can be seen.
‘That won’t happen again,’ he promises me.
His fingers linger on the zip and I look at him in confusion. What does he care?
He leaves me alone in the room and I can’t help but close my eyes, finally succumbing to sleep.
I wake to voices.They’re in the room with me, not even bothering to be quiet. I’m feeling groggy and out of it, my body aches and I feel sick.
‘You should have waited!’ Iron is saying. ‘That approach was never going to work with her.’
‘We can’t waste time,’ Maddox snarls low. ‘Besides, you were gone for hours. Where the fuck were you?’
‘Dante had me training and sparring all day. He was watching to see what I could do before the fight. Did you expect me to just ignore the King in the Mountain’s orders?’
‘No,’ Maddox grinds out. ‘But our window is closing and now she’s not well. She’s been burning up with fever. We can’t get anything coherent out of her at all. So what’s your plan? We’re running out of time, Iron.’
I crack an eye open and it makes my head thump, but I keep watching them. They’re standing by the door. Iron glances around, but not at me, and lowers his voice.
‘I’ll get it out of her,’ Iron promises. ‘But there’s something I need to talk to you about. While I was out there, I … did something.’
‘What do you mean?’ Maddox asks, looking worried. ‘You didn’t kill one of Dante’s—’
‘No, nothing like that.’ He runs a hand through his short, dark hair. ‘Imadesomeone do something.’
Maddox just stares at him for a second, clearly trying to read into Iron’s cryptic words but coming up with nothing.
‘What did you make someone do?’ he finally asks.
‘It doesn’t matter; it was something stupid. An orc was getting up from one of the tables to start something with me. I made him sit back down.’
Maddox looks exasperated. ‘Why is that noteworthy?’ he growls. ‘What are you actually trying to tell me?’
‘I did it with my mind, Julian!’ he blurts out in a harsh whisper. ‘I used fae mind control. I’ve never had enough magick to do that before.’
Maddox takes a step back. ‘You’re sure that’s what it was?’
‘Yes. I think I …’ He looks at me and I close my eyes a little so they don’t know I’m listening. ‘I think I compelled her to come here. I was thinking about her, what would happen if she appeared and then she did. She knew it. She thought I’d done it on purpose.’
Maddox is quiet for a minute before he speaks. ‘Look, I know you’ve never liked your fae side—’
Iron puts up a weary hand. ‘We don’t need to have a touchy feely conversation about this. I can deal.’ He gives a mirthless laugh. ‘With the kind of power I’m starting to feel running through my veins, it’s easy to be okay with this. At least right now.’
Maddox glances at measleepin the bed. ‘Use it to make her tell you what we want to know when she wakes and she’s lucid enough.’
‘Let’s see what I can do,’ he grates out.
My blood runs cold at their words. Torture is one thing, but fae magick is quite another. What if I can’t fight it and I can’t help but give them what they want?
He doesn’t wait, coming to stand over me. I don’t have to pretend to be asleep or too ill to talk to them. The truth is, I can hardly move.
‘You weren’t kidding. She’s not well at all.’
Does he sound concerned?
