32. My Mortal Enemy, My Sworn Adversary, A Villain in My Personal Saga #2
“What?” Aziza, Levin, and the other female, Edwidge, squawked.
“Whaddya mean, no?” Levin said.
“I mean, no,” Alobaz said. “No one’s to hurt her unless I say so.”
“She deserves pain,” said one of the other big guys, either Ramone or Night.
“That she does, Night,” said the other big guy—Ramone, then. “A whooooooole lotta pain. I think Zi’s got dibs to go first, but I call second.”
“Didn’t you hear me?” Alobaz said.
“I did,” Ramone said. “We get to punish her, but only once we have your go-ahead.”
Alobaz frowned.
“You are going to punish her, though, right?” Ramone laughed oddly. “The bitch tried to kill you. She almost got you.”
“She did not. You know I’m not that easy to kill.”
“Baz,” Edwidge said. “That’s not the point.
That she should hurt you at all when…” She trailed off, her eyes promising she would have more to say on that later, when I wasn’t around to listen.
Her eyes were a blue like Alobaz’s. In comparison to his, hers were dull and flat, like they were painted with a limited palette, when his spanned the range of blues and greens of all the Opalese.
Aziza finally brought her blades to her sides, where she continued to grip them and bare her teeth at me.
“Let me go,” she said to Levin.
“Dragon Mother, do I look stupid to you?” He shook his head. “Don’t answer that. I’m not letting you go till you muzzle that rage you got going on.”
He leaned forward, nuzzled her ear. She jerked her head away.
“Keep that fire for the bedroom, doll. I’ll help you work it out.”
Aziza sheathed her mordaris and shoved at his arms. They held.
“Lev,” she warned.
He released her, arms raised. “My offer still stands for later.” He winked.
She shook her head. “Everything’s about sex with you.”
He smiled. “Sure is. ’Cause I’m smart. I know what to prioritize. What life’s really about.” Then, as if suddenly remembering I was there again, he sneered. “Dealing punishment when it needs to be dealt.”
“No,” Alobaz snapped. “No one will be punishing her but me. No one touches her but me. Understood?”
“Yeah, bro,” Lev said. “You don’t gotta go all bossy on us. We hear ya.”
“Hard to tell with you most of the time.” Without taking his eyes from me, Alobaz told the others. “No one interrogates her but me. No one does anything to her without my say-so.”
“You got it,” Félix said.
“Yeah, General, we hear ya,” Ramone said. “You don’t need to worry about us, right, Zi?”
Aziza grunted, sounding like a chuffing jagune.
“And no one,” Alobaz said, “no one feeds her but me.”
He could have threatened to roast me on a spit of Fuerin fire and I would have been less terrified.
“I’ll never feed from you,” I said, infusing all the venom within me into my glare. “Never. I’ll starve first.”
“Then prepare to be hungry,” he said. “Because no one will contravene my orders.”
“That’s right,” Edwidge said while she rolled her shoulders. They were twice as thick as mine.
“I won’t feed from you no matter how hungry I get,” I told the biggest asshole I’d ever met in my entire life.
Feeding from a human caused arousal, but only in the human. For them, the experience was blissful, orgasmic—if the vampire doing the feeding were so inclined. Some went so far as to describe it as visiting the Etherlands while still in their physical bodies.
But feeding on a s?nglure incited arousal in both parties.
If I were to feed on Alobaz, I would lose control.
I’d desire him in such a way and to such a degree that it would impair my judgment.
I’d stop seeing him as my enemy, his family as my family’s constant foe.
I’d revert to my base instincts. The desire for him that was even now only overpowered by how much I loathed him would slip to the forefront.
I would never, ever allow myself to lust after the man who ended my twin.
I would never be weak with him.
Well, once I found my way out of these shackles.
“You may as well go ahead and kill me now,” I said. “I will never feed from you.” I willed my determination into my eyes, my face, as I glowered at the man towering over me. “Ne-ver.”
“We’ll see about that,” he said.
I chortled. “You don’t know me at all, then.”
“No. I don’t. That’s where we’ll start. Who are you? Who is your brother? And why did you want to kill me?”
“Want. Want to kill you. Present tense.” I smiled, baring my fangs.
“Answer my questions.”
“No.”
“Do as I say.”
“Untie me, and then maybe I’ll be more inclined to chat. My wound’s stinging like a bitch. You practically sawed me in half.”
“He damn well shoulda,” Levin said, to a grunt from Night, and a nod from Edwidge.
Alobaz’s eyes had been clear again. Now, the storm clouds raced in front of them another time.
“Tilt her up,” he said.
Edwidge and Ramone stepped forward, tipping up my table so that I was tilted at a forty-five-degree angle.
When the blood rushed down from my head, leaving me temporarily woozy, I realized the table had been tipping me slightly backward.
No wonder I wasn’t feeling myself, why my senses were muddled.
Why I sensed him more than the others.
“I will untie you,” he said.
Hope fluttered against my ribcage, though I didn’t think it was the demigod answering me, just mere optimism.
They didn’t know who I was or what I could do with any number of the weapons stashed on my person. By the Ethers, my bare hands would be enough if I caught the general unawares.
“But only when I’m certain you won’t attack me or my friends. If you so much as touch a hair on their heads, I’ll have yours.”
I smiled primly. “No problem. I have no interest in them.”
If I got the chance, I’d kill them too. They might not be issuing the orders, but they carried them out. They’d probably killed nearly as many as Alobaz had.
They deserved no mercy.
To fulfill my oath to my brother, though, I only needed the one head. As long as I got that, it would be enough.
Alobaz’s eyes narrowed again as if he detected the lie in my words. Time to change tactics, put a leash on my vengeance. Perhaps I’d achieve more by way of diplomacy.
I heard an echo of Teo’s laughter. Were he there, he probably would have scoffed and commented to me under his breath, “As if you’re capable of finesse. You’re like a dragon set loose inside a palace at party time.”
His voice felt real, and my heart clenched in response. That was all he’d ever be now. Memories.
“Who are you?” Alobaz asked another time. “I don’t recognize you, and I know every s?nglure of significant power.”
I said nothing.
“I hurt your brother?”
“What, lost count after the thousands upon thousands you slaughtered? Can’t remember their faces? Their names? Did you ever even know them?”
Of all those I’d killed, I hadn’t forgotten a single one.
The storm clouds in his eyes were back in full force. “Who was your brother?”
“Untie me and I’ll tell you all about him.” I shrugged and smiled, trying to gauge if my appearance was having its usual effect on him.
“Don’t do it,” Levin said.
Alobaz scoffed, as if he didn’t need the warning. “Whenever I do decide to untie you, you should know, we stripped you of all your weapons.”
I remained silent while I wondered if they’d found the poison and amulet.
They were better hidden than my blades and crossbow.
The poison was concealed in a rib of my bodice.
The amulet feigning to be an adornment between my breasts was a source of dark faithum that would immobilize a s?nglure, even one as powerful and resourceful as Alobaz, long enough for me to drain his blood and lop off his head.
Such a handsome head, though. I scowled at the nature of my unbidden thought.
I didn’t care that he was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen, that even among the fae he stood out. Manly and striking, with an air of danger, he was a walking fantasy.
“The poison and bespelled jewelry too,” he said.
My hope evaporated.
Still, my power would return as soon as the injection wore off.
“How many days have passed?” I asked.
“Since when? Since you did your damnedest to stab me in the heart?”
“Yeah. Since then.”
“What’s it matter?”
“I want to know how many days you’ve kept me down here so I can hold every one of them against you.” My grin was mean.
Subtlety was, apparently, currently beyond my reach.
“You don’t get information,” he said. “I do. You will be giving it to me, that’s how this is going to go. If you want to know how long’s gone by so you can figure out when you’ll get your power back, don’t bother.”
My heartbeat thudded, a regrettable tell in a room filled with vampires, all of whom would be able to hear it.
“I collared you.”
My heart thudded again, even though I really hadn’t wanted it to. Though I didn’t know exactly what it meant to be collared.
I could guess. Already had guessed.
I swallowed. “What’s that mean?”
“It means you won’t be getting your power back so long as that collar’s in place. And the only way it’s coming off is if I take it off.”
“Basically, you’re fucked,” Aziza said with a genuine smile. “You’re never getting loose.”
“Never,” Night said.
“So majorly fucked,” Levin said.
“Cal gave his life to create that collar,” Edwidge said. “And he loved Baz. No way is Cal letting you go to hurt him.”
“Soooooooo mega fucked,” Levin repeated, his smile widening to match Aziza’s.
Although nothing physical had changed, the collar suddenly tightened around my throat, as if Alobaz’s big hands were actively throttling me. It was difficult to breathe.
“Take it off me,” I said. I’d meant my request to be gruff, harsh—that of a warrior unperturbed by such insignificant weapons I knew I’d find the way to slip. Instead, it sounded like a plea to my own ears. Weak. Vulnerable. Broken.
Failing to avenge my brother when I already had failed to save him and my sister.
“Or I’ll murder you twice,” I grit out, now perfectly biting.
But it was too late for that. I knew it. They knew it.
Seasoned soldiers, every one of them, they would have a keen sense for weaknesses and how to exploit them.
They were right. I was fucked.
“Tell me who you are and who your brother is, and I’ll consider it.”
“Fuck off and die already.”
Alobaz’s face was hard, but his eyes were soft when they shouldn’t be.
“I fucking hate you.”
His eyes remained sad, seeing far too much. “I can see that.”
He examined me. I glared back like my eyes were a faithum weapon capable of carving him to bits.
With those stupidly deep eyes on me, he spoke to the others.
“She gets no sustenance, not even water. No blanket. No reprieve from the cold or the darkness. And no answers. Félix, you take first watch. Not sure how Mauldrene will deal with her, so eyes and ears alert.”
“Understood,” Félix the Elf said.
“Ed, you relieve him.”
“Got it,” Edwidge said.
Eyes boring into mine, Alobaz said, “When you’re ready to talk, or to feed, let someone know. You can end your suffering whenever you want.”
“What, no torture?”
“Don’t tempt me.”
As long as you don’t tempt me…
“I’ll do what I have to in order to protect my friends. And this empire,” he added, as if an afterthought.
He stared at me for several beats too long, turned, and left without another word. The others followed him out.
The door shut with a heavy snick. A single heartbeat remained outside while the others retreated.
I would hold out—of course I would. I wouldn’t reveal who I was—and I really wouldn’t—couldn’t. If I did, he’d kill me simply for being a D’Arco, and then he’d go after Alonso and Rafaela and who knew how many others for being associated with an attempt on his life.
But as time slipped past, the scar that would betray me regardless drew nearer to its reveal.
I didn’t want to agree with any of them or anything they said, but it was true: I was majorly fucked.