Chapter Forty-Eight
ABBY
I’M GOING TO kill Kie.
I’m going to tear through his flesh and yank out his insides until he’s cold and dead. Then I’m going to feed his body to a pack of wild dogs. Then, if I’m feeling extra spicy, I’m going to collect their shit and display it in a glass case in my living room.
I doubt even that will satisfy me.
Sweat collects on my upper lip as I yank on the door to the bedroom Kie trapped me inside, beyond desperate to get out. He’s a complete asshole to lock me up in here, especially without even listening to what I have to say.
Lill didn’t do anything wrong, and I’ll never forgive him for the way he touched her. I’ll never forgive myself for being the one to expose her, either. I just wanted to help, but I brought her worst fear to life instead.
Because of me, she’s locked up in that dark fucking cell Kie brought her to. He tried to keep me from seeing it, but I caught a glimpse. There was no magic in there, no floating specks anywhere to be seen beyond the thick doors.
If either of those guards lays a hand on her, I’ll feed them to the dogs, too. Then I’ll feed the dog shit to their loved ones.
I bang my fists against the door. “Let me out!”
I highly doubt Kie’s still here.
He’s most likely returned to Lill, which terrifies me. She’s too weak to deal with his anger, and I don’t trust him not to hurt her. I always thought Mason was the angry, uncontrollable one, but now I’m not so sure. Kie clearly has some anger issues he was keeping hidden.
Magic fills the air around me, swirling in every direction. I swipe my hand through it, wanting it out of my face, but it has no effect. There’s too much. I hate it.
My fists hurt where they repeatedly smash against the hardwood, but I ignore the pain. I’ll break my fists before I give up.
I give the door a few more hard smashes before trying the knob again. The damn thing won’t turn, not even a tiny bit. The face of the knob is smooth, and there’s no keyhole. This door shouldn’t be able to lock, and I just know Kie is using magic to keep it shut.
My face warms as blood rushes to my cheeks, anger making me hot.
What’s Kie doing out there? Millions of possibilities rush through my mind, and none are good. It was like a flip switched when he saw Lill. He’s always been a dick, but the way he handled Lill was beyond that. It was angry, full of poorly concealed malice. I can’t even begin to fathom what she did to deserve it. She doesn’t.
The way Kie looked at Lill would give Mason’s sneers a run for their money.
Where is the shifter? He didn’t return with us, and I hope Zaha didn’t bring him here. I don’t want Mason anywhere near Lill.
I step back and slam my shoulder against the door, hoping to break it off the hinges. It doesn’t budge, and I let out a pained gasp as I clutch at my arm. That was a bad idea, and I rub at the muscle as I change strategies. The bedroom Kie locked me inside is bare, probably reserved for guests.
I step away from the door and look around, searching for a weapon or something I can use to escape.
A king-sized bed sits in the center of the room, complete with crisp, white sheets and a giant down comforter. It looks admittedly comfortable, but after spending so many nights sleeping on the hard, forest ground, anything not covered in sticks would look comfortable to me right now.
I should pee on the sheets.
On either side of the bed are two wooden end tables, the surface clear of anything but a small, round orb. I’m pretty sure it’s a lamp. Two drawers are built into each table, and I rip them open to see if there’s anything even remotely useful inside.
My eyes roll so far back when all I find are condoms.
How fucking typical.
The packages are almost identical to what I’d expect to find in the human realm, but they’re larger and made of some soft material I’ve never encountered before. In another time and place, I’d investigate further, but there’s no time for that.
I tuck one of the condoms into the waistband of my leggings, taking it with me. I’ve never attempted this, but I imagine I could use it to replicate a bag-over-the-head type of murder.
A tall, narrow dresser is pushed against the wall opposite the bed. I head there next. The drawers are all empty, just my fucking luck, and I slam them shut with as much force as I can muster. My desperation grows as I peer under the bed. The ground is bare, not so much as a speck of dust to be found.
I move to the window across from the door in a last-ditch attempt, prepared to climb out, but it won’t budge. The view is of a tall, stone wall, the surface covered in vines. What’s with all the fucking vines? It’s overwhelming.
The wall stretches as far as I can see. I assume it spans the entire perimeter of the giant cluster of buildings Kie marched me through. I expected Kie to live in a castle, something like what I’ve seen in the movies, not whatever weird compound this is.
It’s beautiful, but I’ll never admit that.
There’s nothing else in the room to investigate, but I do another lap just in case I overlooked anything. I rip open every drawer and inspect every surface, which turns out to be a waste of time.
I return to the door. My fists still hurt from my earlier attempts to escape, so I kick at it instead. I have more strength in my legs, anyway. I don’t so much as dent the wood as I slam my foot against it, though, which is pitiful. I bet this is another effect of Kie’s magic. He’s somehow manipulating the wood to make me feel weak. I just know it.
I have no idea how long I’m locked in the room, but it feels like hours. The darkening of the sky outside confirms it. My anger grows with every passing second.
The tiny orbs on the bedside tables eventually turn on, illuminating the room with just enough light that I can make out the general shape of the furniture. I tap on the orbs and manhandle them in every way I can to try to turn the brightness up, but nothing works.
That’s fine. I don’t need light to be angry.
I do need it to remain awake, though. My eyes grow heavy despite my best attempts to keep alert. I’m exhausted, but I refuse to fall asleep. I bet that’s precisely what Kie wants.
There’s probably a camera hidden somewhere in the room, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Kie were standing outside waiting for me to lose consciousness. I can’t imagine what he plans to do to me once I’m asleep, but I sure as fuck won’t be finding out.
It’ll be a cold day in hell before I let that happen.
“Kieran!” I scream, kicking the door again. “Let me out of here, you nasty fucker.”
I pause, listening for any signs of life beyond the door, but there’s nothing. My eyes well with tears, but I keep myself from crying. My tears aren’t going to benefit anybody, and I’m too dehydrated to cry. I need to preserve all the body fluids I can.
Especially if I’m going to suffocate Kie with a condom. I need my strength.
My head droops as I pace the room, my feet dragging against the expensive, red rug covering most of the ground. I hope it wears down the fibers, and I mumble quietly to myself until I hear something outside the door.
It sounds like footsteps.
“Kieran!” I kick the door again for good measure, wanting there to be no doubt of my anger. “Let me out, you greedy bastard.”
I receive no response, and I resist the urge to stomp my foot like a toddler. I can’t put into words just how much I hate Kie, but I feel it to my very core.
And to think that, for a bit there, I was starting to think he wasn’t so bad. I sure as fuck didn’t like him, nor did I think he was a good person, but I thought maybe my initial judgment of him had been a bit harsh. Now I realize I wasn’t harsh enough .
The doorknob turns, and I freeze as the door is finally opened.
Behind the door stands a faerie I’ve never seen before. He’s wearing the same black attire as the guards who were standing outside the cells, though. Is he here to bring me to them? To kill me? To torture me?
I don’t know anything valuable. My secret has already been exposed.
I’m not going to wait to find out his plans, though.
The man’s eyes grow panicked as he notices my impending attack, but he smoothly recovers. In the millisecond it takes me to reach him, he’s already prepared. He lifts his arm and blocks my punch, and he grabs my wrists and bundles them together before I can attempt another.
I hate it, and I writhe against him as I try and fail to rip my arms free. His grip hurts, and he’s most definitely leaving finger-shaped bruises on my skin.
“Let me go!” I grunt, kicking out my foot.
The guard hisses as I make contact with his shin, and before I can register what’s happening, I’m being spun around. He holds my wrists against my lower spine, pulling my shoulders down and back until every breath and movement I make hurts.
“Where’s Kie?” I ask through clenched teeth.
I need to know. Lill’s all I can think about, and these past several hours of solitude have me fearing the worst. Kie was so angry, and I’m afraid he’s had her killed or something equally as horrible.
What if he’s torturing her? Or having one of his oversized guards do it for him?
She didn’t do anything wrong, and he’s an idiot to think otherwise. Lill came to the human realm as a child, barely even seven years old. He has her confused with somebody else.
“Queen Gitta wishes to see you,” the guard says, forcing me to walk through Kie’s home. He’s leading me to the front door.
His warm breath brushes against the top of my ear as he pushes it open, and I shiver in disgust.
I look for Kie as I’m led outside, but I see no sign of him.
My heart pounds, and I can’t tell whether I’m more frightened about not knowing what’s happening to Lill or that I’m being taken to see the queen. Is Kie going to be there? I assume Queen Gitta is his mother.
I bet she’s just as bastardly as he is. Maybe even worse. He had to learn his lack of charm somewhere, and I doubt the apple falls far from the tree.
The guard forces me through a courtyard before leading me down several wide walkways. He maintains his hard grip on my wrists, and he tightens up every time I struggle against him. It’s overkill. The faeries are easily ten times stronger than I am, and they have magic. There’s no need to be so rough.
“Release me,” I plead, dragging my feet against the ground. “I’m delicate.”
The guard snorts, but the noise is cut short. His eyes grow comically wide before his head jerks sideways, and I stumble away as his back bows and his knees buckle. He collapses to the ground in a heap, and I curl my fingers around the nearest vine-covered trellis as I lock eyes with the feral shifter standing behind him.
The guard’s on the ground, and his violet eyes are shut. I don’t think he’s dead. I hope he’s not dead.
I turn back to the shifter.
“Mason.”
Mason cocks his head to the side, his gaze briefly sliding down my frame, before he grunts and reaches for me. I don’t bother trying to run or break free as he maneuvers me into the same aggressive hold the guard had me in.
At least this one doesn’t physically hurt.
I’m getting sick and tired of this, and I bite my bottom lip until it bleeds as Mason leads us back toward the building Kie locked me inside.
I was hoping Zaha would return him to the forest to be attacked and eaten by the other shifters, but I suppose none of my wishes are coming true today.