“You’re too weak right now. If I can’t strengthen you, you’re useless to me. You’ll end up getting me killed, or hurting me yourself.Again.”
Pain cuts through me at the reminder of my shortcomings, making my voice a violent rasp as I lean against the wall.
“I swear I won’t hurt you,” I insist miserably. “I’ll make myself useful this time.”
My keeper frowns at me in confusion before sad understanding crosses her face. “Silas, I didn’t say anything about you hurting me. Whatever you just heard, it was in your head.”
Damn it.
I was certain it was her truly speaking, but before I can apologize, I’m deafened by the shrieking and wailing of voices inside my head. Their cacophony of fury sends me to my knees before I black out, swept back under the inky asphyxiation of my curse.
What feels like moments later, I blink my eyes open and find myself lying on the bed in the corner of my prison, which is lit dimly by candles to ward off the freezing night. The absence ofthe iron shackles around my wrists and ankles is bizarre until I catch the enticing scent of Maven’s blood still lingering in the room.
It wasn’t in my head. She’s back—no longer in this room, but I’ll find her.
To end her, my father’s voice suggests excitedly.
“No,” I snarl. “To protect her. I don’t care if I have to crack open my fucking skull to rip you out—if she’s back, she deserves every godsdamned effort I can make for her safety. So long as she allows me in her presence, I will find a way.”
“There’s no one else in here, man,” someone grunts.
It's the giant leprechaun,voices in my head inform me.
I realize the giant leprechaun—no, the redheaded bounty hunter is in here, magically repairing the door Everett broke. It takes me a moment of blurry confusion before I can pick his name out of the veritable alphabet soup that is my brain.
“Douglas.”
He stops repairing the door long enough to appraise me. “You’re actually in your own head for once. Not bad.”
The fact that recognizing someone I was once hunted by warrants that reaction is just proof of how pathetically far I’ve fallen. I sit up, focusing on him and pretending there isn’t a monstrously large blob of psychedelic goo dripping from the ceiling overhead.
Once again, if he isn’t reacting to it, it’s obviously all in my mind.
“I need spell supplies,” I tell him, managing to pick out the correct English words in the correct order this time.
He nods his chin at a brown-paper-wrapped parcel near the new door, which I didn't see because of the dim lighting.
“Already brought it. Also, your freaky-ass keeper handed me a bowl of blood before Frost hauled her out of here. Turns out I’m supposed to make it into a couple of strong blood amuletsfor you, but did she explain thatbeforehanding me her zombie blood? Nope. I swear, it’s like she enjoys being disturbing.”
For the first time in gods know how long, my lips twitch. “She does.”
I’ve bitterly missed her streak of sadistic amusement. I’ve missed all of her so much I can’t put it into words, but knowing that I didn’t imagine her return or her delectable blood has my heart pounding.
Six months and still so smitten? That she-monster will be the death of you, a voice in my head huffs.
Free yourself! Run from her!That fucking Undead bitch?—
“Don’t call her that ever again,” I snap in fae, swatting at what I’m certain is a winged imp beside me, but it turns out to be another figment of my mad mind.
Douglas stares at me, mutters something about needing a raise, and picks up the spell ingredients. But just as he’s handing me the wrapped parcel, some unpleasant sound begins blaring outside this cell.
I realize it's not in my head when Douglas swears, his eyes glowing slightly green. He pulls back one coat sleeve to reveal a scrying brand on his forearm. The focused frown on his face is evidence that he's magically communicating with someone.
They’re colluding against you,my father's voice warns in my head.He’s receiving an order to kill you. And why shouldn’t he? As a necromancer, you’re no longer allowed in the mortal realm.
That’s true. All this time, my prison has helped to protect me whilst protecting others from me. But now that Maven wants me to get out of here, perhaps other people have decided my death would be better.
Perhaps Douglas is about to carry out an assassination order.
