Page 43 of Villains and Vengeance
‘The arania would finish him,’ Iron guesses.
She nods and I frown. What I said to her was true. Axel could have killed her arania pet. Easily. So why hasn’t he? It’s been days. Why hasn’t he escaped and come back?
Iron leaves the wound open. He lifts her up and sits her on the bed where she was before. She slumps, looking defeated and small in her dirty clothes. Loose, tangled hair hangs over her face. She doesn’t make eye contact with us.
‘You see how deep the fae vein runs inside me,’ he says.
She nods her head. It’s like the fight in her was never there.
‘I can do much worse to you. Do you believe me?’
Another nod.
He pushes the hair out of her face and tilts her chin up, so that he can look into her eyes. ‘Are you going to behave for us?’
‘Yes,’ she whispers, not looking at him.
‘Eyes on me!’ he commands.
Her unfocused gaze shifts to him.
‘Good girl.’
Iron doesn’t seem to notice that her eyes widen a little at his praise, but I do.Interesting.
‘Is Axel dead?’
‘Axel’s safe if you let me go,’ she whispers.
‘How did you get here?’
‘I can’t tell you,’ she whispers and I see he’s surprised that she still won’t answer.
‘My fight is soon,’ Iron says to me. ‘Dante wanted us all there. The others are already gone, but you’re to stay here and watch her. If your absence is noted, Maddox will make an excuse.’
I give him the mock salute I know he hates, but he ignores my goading completely. Instead, his attention is back on the human girl in front of us. He caresses Victoria’s dark hair.
‘What’s your name?’ he asks.
‘Victo—’
‘No,’ he growls low.
He grips her messy ponytails and pulls her head back. ‘Your real name, little sparrow.’
‘Julia,’ she says dully after a moment. ‘Jules.’
‘Jules,’ he repeats. ‘Very good.’
He eases his grip and even rubs her scalp where he pulled her hair. ‘Rest while I’m gone. When I get back, we’re going to do this all again and you are going to tell us how you got here and whereexactlyyou’ve stashed Axel in that arania nest.’
She doesn’t say anything.
‘Redress the wound,’ he orders me as he leaves the room.
‘Last time I checked, I wasn’t your bitch,’ I sneer at him, annoyed that he has all this power suddenly and he’s using it to throw his weight around.
He couldn’t do any of this shit last week. He had magick, but it was weak and faint, not even enough for him to stay with his fae family. The most he could do was make people see things, and he hardly ever did that because he hates his fae roots. He’s never said why, but I have my suspicions.
