Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Briar
I exchanged a look with Devnair before the elf jerked his head toward the doorway and sauntered out of the room. For a man just entrapped by vines, he had a lot of confidence about traversing the harem.
I lingered in the room as I recalled Seth’s words about my heart. It hadn’t been something he’d just said; he meant it.
The one eternal who’d always believed in me, who’d loved me unconditionally and cherished me above all others, believed I was a monster. Not only that, but he believed I was worse than my mother.
I didn’t think I could hurt any more, but tremors wracked through me as my heart broke all over again. Tears burned my eyes as I tried not to give in to the grief threatening to consume me.
What was I going to do now? Where would I go? And how could I live without him?
Yes, I’d made it through these past ten years, but I’d always hoped we’d one day be together again. That hope lay with the shattered remnants of my heart.
When a shadow fell across the doorway, I looked up through tear-filled eyes to discover Seth there. My vision blurred, and I tried to blink away the tears, but one slid free. I couldn’t cry in front of this man; he’d probably enjoy it.
“I will drag you out of here,” he said. “Now move.”
When he vanished again, I hastily wiped away my tears. I’d never give him the satisfaction of seeing another one fall.
I’d prefer not to go anywhere with this new Seth and the elf, but I couldn’t stay here. Once I was free, I could try to figure things out, but first I had to leave.
As I strode toward the door, my gaze drifted to the side room with all the sex toys tucked inside. The numerous whips, chains, ball gags, spiked things that I couldn’t name, and other assorted objects didn’t look at all comfortable or satisfying.
My stomach churned at the idea of how often they’d been used against the elf… or Seth. I was certain the elf wasn’t the only one with such devices in his room, as they were all mostly identical.
Of course he hated me; I’d been a moron to think he wouldn’t after this place.
You’re still his mate. That bond couldn’t be denied or broken, but I wasn’t sure how it would work if a shifter loathed their chosen one.
With a shudder, I scurried from the room and back into the main sitting area. Seth was already all the way across the room and heading for the back hallway with Devnair close behind.
As I scurried around the sunken couches with all their numerous pillows, a cyclops smashed his hands off the door nearest me. “Hey!” he bellowed. “Don’t leave us here! Let me out!”
I cringed at the torment in the man’s voice as his door rattled violently only a few feet away from me. There was no way for him to escape; I was sure all of them had battered their doors until their hands were bloody when they first entered their cells, but apprehension still coiled in my gut.
His screams rattled me more than the quaking door. They also drew others to their windows.
From behind the glass, frantic, fevered eyes followed our every move. I felt the hatred in those eyes, but more so, I sensed their desperation to be free so they could return home to their loved ones.
“Don’t leave us here!” a gorgon pleaded as I hurried to catch up with the others. “Please, don’t leave us here!”
The torment in her voice halted me in front of her door. Her brilliant green eyes burned into me as she pressed her palm against the glass. Like all her kind, she was beautiful, but she could become a hideous creature whose hair turned into snakes that stunned their prey.
Right now, her hair was a pretty shade of golden blonde, but the things churning within it caused it to shift and sway around her. The night and day casters must have created a spell to keep her snakes suppressed while she was here.
“Please,” she pleaded. “Please don’t leave me here.”
When I stepped toward her door, a powerful hand locked around my upper arm. A jolt of familiarity and warmth ran through me as his fingers brushed my bare skin.
It had been ten torturous years since I’d experienced Seth’s touch, and now my skin drank it up like a thirsty plant with rain. And just like that plant, whose leaves would come back to life, something within me surged back to life as his touch filled the empty parts of me.
My mouth went dry; I’d never forgotten the way he could make me feel electrified yet strangely calm. Breathing deep, I inhaled his familiar scent of woods and fresh air into my lungs and held it there to keep this small piece of him with me.
His orange eyes narrowed on my face as I released my breath. I’d once known this man more intimately than anyone and loved him more than I’d ever believed possible. I missed being able to see his love for me in his gaze, but there was only wrath there.
“Keep moving,” he said gruffly.
When he tugged my arm, he pulled me forward a few steps before releasing me and walking away again. I glanced down at the bloody palm print he’d left on my arm from where the thorns had cut him.
Without thinking, I rested my bloody fingertips over the ones he’d left. With unwavering certainty, I knew the marks those thorns left on him were nothing compared to the ones marring his soul.
Lifting my head, I met the gorgon’s eyes once more. If her snakes weren’t bound, she could have frozen me where I stood; instead, her eyes held mine as they pleaded with me to set her free.
“I don’t know how to get you out of here,” I whispered. “But I’ll figure it out, I promise. I’ll come back and get you out of here.”
When I turned away from her, she slammed her hands against the door. “Please take me with you!”
I scurried away from the anguish in her voice and on toward where Devnair and Seth stood waiting for me. Seth’s eyes were unreadable, but Devnair studied me with interest.
“Your mother is Marina?” the elf asked when I stopped before them.
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. Why would you ask that?”
“You do look like her, but she’s the most coldhearted bitch I’ve ever met in my life, and you’re—”
Seth cut off whatever Devnair was about to say. “No, she’s not. You’re staring at the most coldhearted bitch you’ll ever meet.”
Unexpected anger rose to replace my sorrow and revulsion of this building. I was tired of feeling broken and shit on. I was the reason he was here, but I hadn’t done it on purpose.
“I didn’t put you here,” I told him.
“Yes, you did.”
When he started to turn away, I seized his forearm to stop him. It was so thick my hand couldn’t encompass it. His head swiveled back to me.
“I never meant for them to find us!” I rushed to get out. “I didn’t realize someone had followed me, and I’m sorry for that, but I’ve spent the past ten years hoping to find you here so we could get free. I wanted to run away with you forever!”
Something hot and lethal fired through his eyes as he stepped so close I had to edge back to avoid his imposing size. He towered over me as my head tipped back to take him in.
“If that’s what you intended, then why did you tell your mother all of our plans?” he growled.
When he spoke, his razor-sharp teeth flashed as whatever creature he turned into briefly emerged again. My stomach didn’t plummet at this sign of possible death, but at his words.
“I didn’t tell her!” I blurted. “I would never do that!”
“Then how did she know?”
“I… I… I…,” I stammered. “She didn’t…. She couldn’t have!”
When he crept closer like a jungle cat on the hunt, I gave way to his imposing form and backed up until my heel hit the wall. Unable to retreat any further, I fisted my hands.
I’d spent countless hours training, but I still wasn’t a full-powered sorceress, and all my exercises, kicks, punches, and self-taught training would be useless against this man, but I wouldn’t cower from him.
His body vibrated with barely leashed fury as he rested his hand on the wall beside my head and lowered himself until we were eye level with each other.
“But she did know because she told me all of it. She knew our entire plan,” he said.
The blood drained from my face as he revealed this in a flat, emotionless tone far more unnerving than if he’d yelled at me.
“That can’t be possible,” I whispered. “I never told anyone about our plans. I barely spoke to anyone back then, and I certainly didn’t talk to them afterward. She couldn’t have known.”
“She knew everything, including the route we planned to take to the sea, how much money we had, and the time we planned to leave. Believe me, she told me all about it. Many times.”
Denial swelled up my throat and choked there. There was no way she could have known. It was completely impossible, but Seth was saying she had, somehow.
My eyes darted around the harem, and my mind spun with the implication of his words. How could she have known?
“I didn’t tell her,” I repeated while inwardly pleading for him to believe me. “I didn’t tell anyone.”
When Seth leaned a little closer, our noses nearly touched. “I. Don’t. Believe. You.”
Those four words were a fresh knife to my heart and all the explanation necessary for why he’d turned into the man standing before me and why he hated me so much. How could I ever fix this?
“Now, move,” he commanded.
He pushed himself away from the wall and stalked away. I’d been so focused on him that I hadn’t realized he was still dragging the dark sorcerer behind him until the caster’s heels scuffed the ground.
I remained where I was, my heart racing and my palms flattened against the wall as I tried to understand what he’d revealed. How did she know such details of our plan?
“For what it’s worth,” Devnair said quietly from where he stood in the shadows. “I do believe you.”
“Why?”
“Elves have a way of judging the character of others.”
They probably had some ability to do so, but he wouldn’t reveal that. “I don’t know how she could have known our plans,” I breathed.
“That’s something you’ll have to figure out.”
He slipped away to follow Seth down the hallway. Since I had no other choice and couldn’t stay here, I stepped away from the wall and went after them.
I had no idea how my mother had learned such intimate details of our plan, but I would figure it out. I doubted it could salvage what was once between me and Seth, but I had to know how she’d discovered a way to destroy us.