Chapter 5 #2
There was a rap on the bedroom door, and I jumped up. In less than a second, I looked back to my friends. Gone. Only the sponge Bitzy had been lounging on still twirled around the bottom of the tub. Damn, they moved fast.
Frantic knocks tapped at my door again, so I hurried to it, my stomach knotting in strange anxiety. Killian would never knock like that or at all. Neither would Nyx or Iain. I was a prisoner, not a guest.
The moment I reached for the door, I heard my name whispered low. “Brexley, it’s me.”
Swinging the door open, my chest thudded as Zander’s wild gaze landed on mine.
“Zander,” I breathed out his name. He shot a glance around him, checking to see if anyone was there before he slipped past me, shutting the door.
“We don’t have much time.” His movements were jerky and anxious.
“I told Iain I’d stand guard until Nyx came on duty.
” His hands came to my waist, then up to my face, taking me in.
“Gods, I was so worried about you. Seeing you this morning . . . I could barely keep it together.” He cupped my cheeks, his touch intimate.
“I knew you were here, but I wasn’t expecting to see you here . . . with him.”
“Zander.” I gripped his hands, pulling them away, glancing back at the door, afraid at any moment Killian would walk in. “You need to go! You can’t get caught. What are you even doing right here?”
“This has been the only place I’ve thought about being all day.
It was so hard to concentrate, knowing you were so close.
I had to make an excuse to even be up in the residential wing.
” His eyes moved over me. “Gods, it’s so good to see you.
I’m so glad you are all right.” He held my face again.
“He didn’t do anything to you, right? Taken any liberties? ”
“No. Killian has been surprisingly kind.”
“I wasn’t talking about Killian.” Zander frowned. He meant Warwick. “I hated watching you leave with him. It killed me. Though I was glad he helped get you out.”
“Why did you?” I stepped back, putting space between us. “Why are you here?”
“What do you mean, why I am here?” He scowled.
“I mean, what is going on? Why did you help me escape Halálház? Don’t you work for Killian?”
He tilted his head to the side, blinking. “You mean Warwick didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me wha—” A door slammed, the snap of footsteps coming up the hallway.
“Dammit.” Zander huffed through his nose, sounding like a horse. “We don’t have time. I will be back, I promise.” He hurriedly kissed my forehead. “Just stay safe and be ready.”
“Ready for—”
The door clicked, creaking open as Zander lurched away from me, grabbing the glass door leading to my balcony, opening and slamming it, his voice angry. “Last time I tell you. You are not to leave this room. Next time I find your head peeking out the door, I will chop it off.”
“Oh, was our little prisoner being bad?” Nyx stepped into the room, her irises glinting with bloodlust. “Can I punish her? Kill her?”
“I handled it.” Zander nodded, stepping around me toward the door.
“What are you even doing here? Where’s Iain?” Awareness crinkled Nyx’s forehead, her wariness dropping my stomach. “You have no reason to be over in this wing watching the prisoner.”
Panic thumped at my heart, but I kept my expression bare of what I felt inside. Nyx was not stupid, and she already thought I “bewitched” every male who got close to me.
“I’m training Iain tonight. Came to find him falling asleep on his feet. I told him to go, and I’d finish the watch. Good thing, because she had almost made it outside, probably to wave down a boat.”
Nyx’s glower targeted me with a promise of punishment. Of brutality.
I understood Zander had no choice but to toss me under the bus. There would have been no other reason for him to be alone with me inside my room unless I was trying to break out.
“She understands her mistake now.” He touched the sword on his belt, as though he had threatened me with it. “She will behave. I can guarantee it.” He nodded at Nyx, half out of the door. “Good night.”
“And Iain?” She twisted to him.
A moment of confusion fluttered on Zander’s face. “What about Iain?”
“Will you tell Lord Killian? He needs to be disciplined for failure to do his job. He could have been the reason she got away. He cannot go unpunished.”
Zander’s mouth pinched for a moment, his head dipping. “He will be reprimanded severely in training tonight. He won’t do it again.”
Nyx dipped her head shallowly. Zander’s eyes flitted to me one last time before he closed the door.
Nyx watched the door for a beat, a strange look on her face, knotting my stomach. She turned back to me, an evil smile curling her mouth.
“After my lord learns what you tried to do after all he’s done for you—finding out what a deceitful, conniving bitch you are—I don’t think he’ll mind if I teach you a lesson.
” She yanked the pair of cuffs off her belt, her fingers rolling into fists.
“Don’t worry, I won’t kill you. Yet.” Her fist struck me as fast as a viper, flinging my body to the ground, pain bursting behind my eye like a bomb.
The sudden attack snatched the oxygen from my lungs.
She leaped down, clutching the fabric around my throat, and hauled me back to my feet before slamming me back into a chair.
“That was for Yulia,” she spat, cuffing my arms behind me. “But until I spill your blood, she will not be avenged, and I will not rest.”
“You think Killian will understand you disobeying him?” I huffed through my nose, my eye already swelling. “That you are taking liberties he has not ordered?”
“He said not to kill you . . . but nothing about beating you within an inch of your pathetic human life.” She grabbed my hair, yanking it back until I heard a pop, strands tearing out of my head.
“I have been his faithful guard for over four hundred years. You won’t even be a flicker in his memory.
And eventually, he will see you are nothing more than a waste of space. ”
Without hesitation, her hand smashed into my gut, heaving me over with a gasp, a blaze tearing through my organs. A desolate wail shredded from her throat as her knuckles crashed across my cheek, pitching me off the chair to the floor.
“You took her away from me!” Her boot cracked into my ribs, the feeling all too familiar. “You took everything!”
Crack.
My bones protested as her foot dug into my stomach.
“I want your death to be so slow and tortuous you are begging me to end you.” She smacked my face, the sound of knuckles against cartilage ringing in the air.
“Nyx!” A voice boomed. Magic burst violently into the room, my body freezing from the onslaught. “Stop!” His power dominated every molecule in the space.
Nyx drew in sharply, halting, her teeth bared, a trickle of saliva leaking down her chin.
“Move away from Ms. Kovacs.” Barely disguised anger hummed in his voice. “Now.”
She wiped her mouth, stepping back. Killian stood in the doorway, his jaw clenched, his frame rigid.
“Get out.” His voice was low.
As if she snapped out of a trance, she peered down at her hands, taking in the blood dripping off her knuckles. “My lord . . . I’m . . .”
“I. Said. Get. Out!” he bellowed, and I was surprised to see her jolt back in fear. She swallowed, dipped her head, and turned away, rushing toward the door.
He watched her, his expression stone, but a nerve along his neck convulsed, his jaw rolling. She bowed her head in submission.
“Keys.” He vibrated with rage.
Her throat bobbed, placing the cuff keys in his palm. “My lord—”
“I will deal with you later,” he seethed. “Leave.”
Her thick, tall frame trembled under his power. She dipped her head again before exiting the room.
He closed his eyes briefly as his fingers curled around the keys, his nose flaring. He took another breath before he bent his head over me.
I couldn’t move, pain eclipsing my ability to function. The desire to close my eyes seeped in at the edges of my vision.
There was no sentiment as his gaze moved over my body, curled up in a ball, blood pooling from my nose, coughs hacking from my lungs.
He stooped down and unfastened my arms. Without a word, his hands tucked under me, picking me up, and carried me into the bathroom, where he set me down on the rim of the grand bathtub.
He leaned over, turning on the water.
“I’m going to undress you,” he said matter-of-factly, his palm resting on my shoulder.
I nodded numbly, my face aching too much to speak.
He stood in front of me, slowly lifting my gray top over my head, using it to wipe the blood from my nose before tossing it in the corner. His gaze snaked down my torso. I barely had any curves left, but the low dip of my sports bra displayed my pert breasts.
He reached out, his fingers grazing over the bruises already forming over my ribs. His soft touch, filled with magic, made me inhale sharply, which sent spikes of pain through my lungs.
Steam swirled around us as he turned on the hot water. He leaned over, his eyes staying on me as he slid off my pants. Pain coursed through my veins, but it was the ache tightening near my thighs that had my breath puffing harder.
I stared at the blood marks I left across his suit, oddly concerned I messed up his expensive clothes. I reached out and touched the silkiness of his yellow tie.
“Brexley,” he whispered, his mouth close to mine.
My lashes lifted up to his dark irises, desire heaving off of him in waves.
“You better get into the bath before I do something very foolish. Again.”
Swallowing, I looked away from him.
He’s the enemy, Brex. Don’t be an idiot.
I moved to climb into the tub, a moan slipping from my lips, my arms quaking as I lowered myself down into the water. By chaining my arms back, Nyx made sure it hadn’t been a fair fight.
“I will have someone bring healing salts and potions.” He stood.
“You’re leaving?” Did I sound disappointed?
A small smile hinted at his mouth. “I will be back. A matter has come up. I was just stopping in to check on you.” He ran his hand across his chin, his brow furrowing.
He shook his head, clearing the emotion away.
“I will return as soon as I can. I promise.” He leaned over like he was about to kiss me, but stopped.
His eyes widened for a moment before he pulled back and hastened out of the bathroom, the bedroom door shutting a few seconds later.
Sighing, I slumped deeper into the hot water, willing it to heal and dissolve away the pain. The warmth instantly tugged my lids down, exhaustion and pain slipping me quickly into defenseless sleep, with no barriers against the monsters trying to get in.