Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Briar
“We were just talking about you,” the elf continued. “What an interesting entrance you’ve made.”
The elf’s words shot my eyes up from the clawed head to the man’s face. All my icy blood rushed out of my head so fast that even with my hand on the bed, I swayed, and my knees buckled a little. I managed to catch myself before I crumpled to the ground.
My eyes darted over the man’s face again and again as I sought some sign of familiarity or warmth. There was nothing there.
This can’t be Seth; those aren’t his eyes!
While Seth had been extremely handsome, it certainly wasn’t the almost malicious beauty this man emanated. He was tall the last time I saw him, not quite this tall, but close. Muscles had etched his stomach, legs, and arms, but he’d been lean and not bulky like this.
He didn’t have a scar, and his black hair was long and silky. Ten years ago, he’d still had a bit of a baby face and some facial hair, but it was nothing like the thick stubble lining this man’s jaw.
Seth also didn’t have a tattoo, and he couldn’t have gotten one while locked in the harem. The elf said he hadn’t seen Seth in a while, so he was probably wrong, but how had this man gotten in here? He certainly wasn’t a caster, and only a caster could enter the harem.
While I didn’t believe he was Seth, his size, the claws, and the animalistic power emanating from him made it clear he was a shifter. But he hadn’t been in one of the cells; I hadn’t seen any shifters in the harem.
So how did he get in? And who is he?
I refused to believe this towering creature with its claws poking through a head was the same man I loved. In the years since I last saw Seth, time had changed me too, but not into something unrecognizable.
Seth had been loving, kind, and so tender that his beautiful soul made my heart ache. This man was ruthless and brutal; I sensed nothing kind about him.
Ten years in the harem will change anyone into anything.
That was very true, but this man wasn’t in the harem! I’d searched it from top to bottom. I would have remembered seeing him.
You were the one hoping there was somewhere else to search, someplace you missed. You must have missed something. That’s the only way he can be here.
But his eyes… those aren’t Seth’s eyes. His eyes had been the most glorious shade of Caribbean blue I’d ever seen; I’d spent hours gazing into them and marveling at how perfect they were. They’d also always been filled with love when he stared at me.
And while these orange eyes were intriguing and completely unusual, they certainly weren’t a blue so perfect, it was impossible not to get lost in them. A hatred so intense it rattled my bones, filled those eyes. Seth would never look at me like that.
“That’s not Seth,” I whispered.
“Oh, believe me, young caster, it is. One doesn’t forget eyes that color,” the elf said.
The man across from me arched an eyebrow as the corners of his full lips twitched in amusement. He knew he terrified me, and it pleased him. That was also something Seth would never tolerate.
He couldn’t stand to see me frightened. He was always so protective of me whenever we were around other eternals, as he sought to shelter and assure me everything would be okay. No one was allowed near me, and the one strigoi who dared to touch me walked away without a hand.
I always felt safe and cherished with Seth. I’d never felt more threatened than I did now as this man relished my terror.
No, no, no, no, this cannot be him! I’d known the harem would change him, but not into this!
“Seth’s eyes are blue!” I blurted. “They’re the most beautiful blue I’ve ever seen!”
And they’d always shone with laughter and love whenever he gazed at me. Every time he looked at me, I knew how much he cared for me, even before we started having sex.
“Maybe we know a different Seth then,” the elf drawled, “but I don’t think so. There have been some changes since I last saw him. The head with holes is a new addition. It looks nice, by the way.”
“Thanks,” the beast replied.
His gravelly voice also didn’t match Seth’s, but he hadn’t denied the elf’s claim. I blinked as I tried to assimilate this man with the one I once knew, but it was impossible. The two different men wouldn’t merge in my mind.
While I’d considered Seth a man the last time I saw him, compared to the one in the doorway, he was only a child. A child who’d become… what exactly?
I almost sank onto the mattress, but if I did, I might never move again. I didn’t know what to say or do; I felt trapped in a world that held a reality I didn’t understand.
All these years, I’d yearned to find him again so I could kiss and touch him and tell him how much I loved and missed him. And if this was Seth, then all he wanted was to hate me.
“If you’re really Marina’s daughter,” the elf said, “then that’s the Seth you’re looking for.”
“But his eyes,” I breathed.
“I don’t go by that name anymore,” the beast growled. “So stop saying it.”
A breath swelled up from my lungs and lodged in my throat to create a weird croak at this confirmation of the elf’s words.
“Then what do you go by now?” the elf inquired.
“Knox.”
“Interesting,” the elf murmured.
I found absolutely nothing interesting about any of this.
“And what is going on here, Devnair?” the beast inquired as he waved his free hand at my bloody palms and the blood-soaked vines.