I let the shadows drop.
Callum recoiled, the back of his skull thumping off the wall. The blood drained from his face, and his lips parted.
“Hello, Callum.” My lips curved up on one side. “Miss me?”
He didn’t speak, but his body was tense, wound tight as he stared at me like he was trying to figure out how I’d appeared before him. I wondered if he realized that the shadows he’d seen moments ago had been me. Or if he thought I’d just stepped outof them, into the gleam of the wavering torchlight. Then his gaze darted behind me.
“Ironic, isn’t it? How our positions have reversed?” My words were soft but cold. “You behind bars, chained. And me free, unchained.”
His throat worked on a slow swallow. “If you think that gives you the upper hand, you would be wrong.”
“Funny,” I remarked. “You appear incredibly nervous for someone who thinks they hold even a single card.”
“And you’re just as obnoxiously arrogant as ever,” he replied, once more glancing to my left and then right.
“I’m told consistency is key.” I smirked as his nostrils flared. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to disappoint you.”
A muscle flexed on the left side of his jaw. “You came alone?”
I didn’t respond.
The hand dangling off his knee fisted, then relaxed. “I doubt you’re here to make sure I eat.”
“I don’t give a shit if you eat or not.”
“Then why are you here?” he asked. “To get your pound of flesh? Exact your revenge on the one who tipped you into bloodlust?”
“You think that left enough of an impression on me that I would waste a single second of my time plotting revenge?” I laughed, and Callum’s gaze darted to the torches framing the door as the flames shrank and sputtered. “On you?”
His pale gaze returned to mine. “You can claim that it didn’t—”
“And you can claim that I, too, wear a mask,” I cut him off. If he was surprised that I’d overheard his conversation with Millicent, he didn’t show it. “You would be correct. I’m wearing a mask right now. One of civility. And in case you haven’t noticed…” I let my arms rest between the bars. “It is cracking.So, I would suggest that we make this one-on-one short and sweet.”
His chin jutted in that painfully familiar stubborn way. “Or?”
I let some of the essence swirling in me hit the air. The flames roared from the torches, casting his cell in bright, orange light. “Or you won’t be alive forhimto return for you.”
Callum’s gaze shot between the torches and me, brows drawing tight. “Have you forgotten that threats of death are just that? Threats.”
I huffed out a low laugh as the flames settled to a slow roll. “We’ll see about that.” My head cocked. “Tell me, Callum, while you were running through the kingdom like a frightened babe, were you aware of what was happening here?”
His answer was silence.
“Do you know what he did? Do you know what I did to him?” I questioned. “I made him bleed.”
“Lies,” he said with a short laugh.
My lip curved up. “I heard I did more than that. Heard I put him in stasis.”
He sneered. “As if you could do such a thing.”
“Oh, I did.” I paused. “Do you know what he did toher?”
There was a flicker of something in his stare, perhaps unease.
“Your sister,” I bit out, the words tasting like ash.
That got a response from him. The chain dragged along the stone as he leaned forward. “Where is she?”
