Chapter Thirty-Seven
Daxton Aegaeon
“Wake up!”
I didn’t even bother flinching at the command. I was exhausted. Beaten down to a shell of my former self. Fuck, I just wanted to close my eyes and dream about anything other than this shit hole.
“Gods above… Males.”
The scolding annoyance was almost enough to make me laugh, but those joyful feelings didn’t exist here. I didn’t dare allow those emotions to enter my mind, for I knew Anjani and Rhett would only use them against me.
“Please, Daxton!”
The plea caused me to turn over, followed by a faint recognition of who the voice belonged to.
“Good, you’re still in there.”
Barely.
“Zola?” I rasped. “What—”
“Daxton,” Zola interjected. “She’s coming!”
She?
My eyes snapped open at the mention of her, at the mere hope of what Zola was insinuating.
“You’d better be right,” I groaned as the chains clinked against my efforts to rise from the cold stone floor.
“I value my position as spymaster in your realm,” she sneered from the shadows. “Have you known me to ever be wrong in such matters?”
I sucked in a pained breath, cursing the iron chains that counteracted my healing abilities. “Not yet.” I gritted my teeth as I moved to steady myself. “But this would be one hell of a way to tell me you’ve found another job title.”
“Those chains will be gone soon,” Zola encouraged. “Do you have enough magic stored away for the escape?”
I sat upright near the bars of my cell, clutching my eyes tightly. “As much as I could manage,” I replied, struggling to brush my matted hair from my face, disgusted with myself at the state I was in.
“Let’s hope it’ll be enough,” she whispered.
“It is,” I snapped, baring my teeth toward the corner where I knew she lurked.
“There’s the famed warrior under the layers of dirt and grime.” Zola snickered. “I was wondering where he was hiding.”
Bending my knees, I leaned forward, hanging my head and shutting my eyes once more so the world would stop spinning for one gods-damned moment.
“The last session was… eventful,” I mumbled. “Never a dull moment in this place.”
“How lucky for you.”
The sound of keys echoed off the stone as the footsteps of four guards sounded down the corridor. Silently, I signed for Zola to disappear without rattling the chains, but she was already gone before I gave the command.
The guards began unlatching the locks on my door, not saying a word as to why they were coming to retrieve me.
“Hello,” I said with a weak grin. “Are we having another go around already? Lucky me.”
“On your feet, High Prince.”
“Manners for once,” I exclaimed in a sing-song voice I’d heard my brother use countless times. “I’m shocked you spoke to me, let alone addressed me by my title.”
“Now,” one of them barked with a swift kick to my feet that still held lashes from the previous meeting with Anjani. “You need to be washed.”
“So Anjani can see where she marks my body beneath the grime of my holding cell? I don’t think so. I’ll pass,” I replied.
“Either come with us or—”
“Or what?” I snarled, turning my eyes upward to look at each of them. The Silver Shadow, not Daxton Aegaeon, stared them down.
I noticed the two in the rear flinch, moving a half step backward before righting themselves. A wicked grin of amusement crossed my face, knowing I made them nervous. Knowing that even in this state, I could still kill them with my bare hands.
“Please,” one of the guards asked.
Twice in one day? What the fuck was going on in this place?
“There’s a gathering tonight to celebrate. The champion, she—”
The lead guard in the front turned to glare at the newest member, and even in the shadowed cell, I could tell he wasn’t pleased. Yet he only confirmed what Zola had said moments ago.
Skylar was coming.