CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Myra
Mortification impaled me, and I scurried across the floor in a tangle of blanket, clutching it tightly to me. “What are you doing?” I shouted, doing nothing to hide my horror at the situation.
“I heard noises, so I came to see if everything was all right.” That fucking smile widened. “Apparently, things were more than all right.”
“Fuck you, Yael.”
“It seems as though you just did, in a sense—”
“You were not a part of whatever that was. Trust me.”
“Are you sure about that? Because I distinctly remember you letting out a moan that sounded a lot like my name—”
“That’s it,” I said as I shot to my feet, “I’m done.” Yael watched as I stormed through the apartment, collecting my stuff as I headed for the door.
“Did I hit a nerve, little mermaid?” he asked with genuine curiosity.
“Nope. I’m just too tired to put up with your bullshit right now.”
“So you’re going to what… leave in the middle of the night?” He edged his way between me and the door while I laced up my boots. “Where exactly do you think you’re going to go?”
“Anywhere but here sounds pretty good right about now.” I tried to reach past him for the doorknob, but he stepped in front of me, blocking the way.
“And do you plan to just waltz through fae territory unaccompanied, like that won’t pose a problem?”
“I’ve done it before—”
“Correction: you made it to the border before I stopped you. You would have made it about two more blocks without a confrontation if I hadn’t.”
Embarrassment-driven anger warmed my cheeks, and I was desperate to escape its cause. “I think I’ll take my chances—anything is better than being trapped here with you and your arrogance at the moment.” I yanked the door open only for him to slam his palm against it, shutting it with ease.
“I don’t think you understand the status of things, love,” he said as he stared down at me. “There is nowhere safe for you right now unless I’m at your side.”
“I guess I’ll find out soon enough.” I tried to open the door again, but the arm holding it shut was like a concrete barricade bent on imprisoning me.
“Are you really so angry about what I just witnessed that you’d risk your life just to get away from me?”
Maybe...
“No, but I am mad that I fed into your ego-stroking bullshit, and that, once again, I let a male make an absolute fucking mockery of me. But don’t worry, love… there won’t be a third time. Now get the fuck out of my way.”
His jaw grew tighter still as he held his ground. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
“Oh, right,” I said, my tone sharp enough to cut glass, “because you need me. Can’t have me dying before you find your sister, right?”
Every muscle in his body went tight as he fought to maintain his composure. “No. I most definitely can’t.”
“Yael,” I said, taking a deep breath and trying a different tack, “I need to go tell Ravi about the bounty on my head before someone else shows up looking for me and he or one of my friends gets hurt.”
Silence.
“No.”
“I wasn’t asking for permission.”
“And yet that doesn’t change the outcome, because you’re not leaving.”
I let out an exasperated groan. “Why not?”
“Why not?” he repeated, his frustration apparent in his tone.
“Because anyone with half a brain looking to cash in on that bounty would start at The Riff Raff, which is undoubtedly where Ravi is—or upstairs in his apartment, given the hour. Because gift-wrapping yourself on a platter for whoever might be hunting you isn’t the best survival strategy.
And because I don’t want to see you fall into the hands of some nefarious asshole because I’m not the heartless bastard you still seem to think I am! ”
His outburst left him breathing hard, anger cutting harsh creases through his forehead, which further illustrated the severity of the situation and his commitment to keeping me from it.
I scowled at my oversight; my desperation to escape my current circumstances, combined with legitimate concern for Ravi and my friends, had outweighed my critical thinking on the matter.
Standing before him, crumbling slowly under the weight of his stare, I realized he was right—but it didn’t change the fact that Ravi needed to know.
“I still have to tell him what happened,” I argued, though with far less heat that time, “and warn him about the trouble that might be showing up on his doorstep.”
Yael reached over and grabbed his phone off the side table, then tossed it at me. “The password is 6969. Go nuts.”
I frowned at his offering. “I’m not sure this is an over-the-phone conversation.”
“It is tonight—”
“I’m serious, Yael!”
“As am I, Myra!”
The two of us glared at one another, neither one budging, and given the way his palm flexed against the door until his knuckles whitened, there was no way for me to force my way out. “So, I’m basically a prisoner for the time being? Is that what you’re saying?”
“I believe I said you would be safe as long as I was at your side—”
“Which is the same thing, really.” I released the doorknob with a shove and stormed away from him. “I realize hubris is kind of your whole personality, but you do know that not even you can ward off the entire population of the Playground, right?”
When I looked back at him still barring the door, his eyes narrowed to darkened slits and that hint of midnight danced in their depths. “I will if I must.”
His response only infuriated me further. “But wouldn’t that mean letting your little friend out again?” I asked, smiling at him with his trademark smirk.
“Possibly.”
“You didn’t seem too happy about doing that again when we got back here.”
“Because there’s a price to pay for power like that,” he said, his brows pinching together as he spoke. “You of all people should understand that concept.”
His words caught me off guard. “A price to pay?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
He hesitated for only a fraction of a second. “Me.”
The way he said that single word sent a chill through me. “What does that mean, Yael?”
“Exactly what it sounds like.” His body was so rigid and stoic he looked like a statue chiseled by one of the masters. The ice in his dark stare made me wonder if, deep down, he wasn’t made of stone like one, too.
Anger flared at his lack of explanation, but I tried to snuff it out, knowing that baiting him further would only fuel our argument and get me no closer to the outcome I wanted—so I opted for another tactic.
Family was something Yael apparently valued above all else.
If I couldn’t defeat his reasoning, then maybe I could guilt him into going with me to The Riff Raff by exploiting my familial-esque bond with Ravi.
“Yael,” I said, softening my tone as I fisted my hands at my sides to keep my frustration in check, “Ravi is like a father to me. He has been since he found me eating out of the dumpster in the alley, naked and terrified. Without asking questions, he brought me inside, fed me, and offered me a job and a place to live while asking for nothing in return, which you and I both know is unheard of in the Playground. He never pushed me for answers about my past or the circumstances that landed me in that shithole part of town. Everything he has ever done in regards to me was in my best interest, and when I need him, he is always there. So when I tell you that I am going there to tell him what happened to me and warn him of the danger he and the others might be in as a result of something I did—and possibly say goodbye for good—it means I will throw myself out that window and limp to The Riff Raff if I have to, because after all I’ve been through, there are few things in this world I still care about, and he is one of them. ”
Scrutinizing eyes drifted over me as Yael stood there in silence, and with every passing moment, I wondered if I was going to have to try to make good on my threat.
“Call him,” he finally bit out, pushing away from the door. “Find out where he is before we go anywhere.”
Thankful I wouldn’t have to hurl myself out a window of unknown height to prove my point, I quickly punched in his passcode and pulled up Ravi’s number. With every second, my concern for Ravi grew until I was pacing the living room, clutching the phone like a lifeline.
When the ringing finally ceased, I blurted out his name before he could even speak. “Ravi! It’s Myra. Where are you right now?”
“Ravi is at The Riff Raff,” a male who was decidedly not Ravi said, “but he’s a little too preoccupied at the moment to talk.”
My blood ran cold at the sound of Argo’s voice. “Where is he?” I asked, unable to mask the fear I felt. My tone and response had Yael rushing to my side to listen in.
“He’s right here in the bar with some of your friends. We were just talking about you—”
“What do you want, Argo?”
“I want you to come here and join us. You and I have something to discuss.”
“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”
“Let’s not play dumb, now. It demeans us both.”
“I promise you, it’s not an act. I have no clue what you want—”
“Lying only makes me angry, Myra. Do you want to make me angry?” Before I could respond, a muffled yelp echoed in the background, followed by rapid, shallow breathing; the kind fear inspires.
“Sounds like you’re a bit distracted over there, Argo. Maybe you should come meet me where we can be alone. You can focus all that rage on me instead.”
“And leave the party before it even gets started?” he said with a laugh that sent any shred of hope I’d been clinging to out the window. “I think not. Especially with these beautiful hostages... I can’t wait to entertain myself with them until you arrive.”
A garbled cry erupted in the background, followed by a whimpering that made my chest seize. “Laney!” I screamed at the phone. But Laney didn’t respond. “If you want me to meet you, then leave her and the others alone, or I swear on all that’s holy and not that I will make you bleed.”
“That’s ironic, given how you’ll be too busy bleeding for what you did to Damian, but I admire your fighting spirit, useless though it is.
You’re in no position to make demands, and unfortunately for you, Ravi is magically prohibited from interfering in matters that involve me.
So I’m going to sit here at the bar and amuse myself with your little crew until you show up to face your fate.
” More bloodcurdling screams echoed in the background.
“Ooops. You’d better hurry, Myra. I don’t think the blonde one is going to last very long… ”
The line went dead, and I turned my panic-filled stare to Yael, who’d overheard the whole conversation. “Argo’s got Laney, and who knows who else. He said Ravi can’t stop him, Yael… he’s going to torture them until I get there—”
“And then he’ll torture you the second you set foot in the building.”
A fair point, but sadly, not one that would stop me. “I am not leaving them there with him.”
“And what exactly is it that you think you can do to help them that they can’t? Are you going to waltz right up to him and use your Siren’s Song? If he thinks you’re powerful enough to kill Damian, he won’t let you within ten feet of him.”
“I’ll figure it out,” I said as I bulldozed past him.
I hadn’t even made it two steps before he caught my arm and spun me around. Angry eyes leveled on me when he thrust his face in mine. “He will kill you, Myra. Without so much as a thought.”
“I will not let my friends pay for my mistake.”
“And I won’t let you pay for mine!” His angry outburst startled me for a moment, knocking some of my bravado away, and I steadied myself for the fight I’d have on my hands if he wouldn’t give in.
“Then do what you said you would and keep me alive, if for no other reason than you need me.” When he didn’t immediately argue, I leaned in so close to him that our noses nearly touched. “I will never forgive myself if something happens to them, Yael. And I will never forgive you, either.”
He stared at me for a moment, his gaze unrelenting as the silence grew around us before he turned abruptly and stormed down the hall to his room.
He reappeared a minute later, dressed in all black with a scowl on his face and my jacket in his hand.
“Here,” he said, tossing it to me as he walked by to open the door. “Don’t make me live to regret this.”