Just like me.
My breath left my body.
Where are my men? My parents?
Footsteps echoed from outside the chamber.
And then he walked in.
Trent.
Hair loose.
Eyes sharp.
Shadows curling around him as if they adored him.
“My darling Reverie,” he lowered his voice, silky and wrong, “awake at last.”
I jerked away as far as the restraints allowed. “You kidnapped us… again.”
He didn’t deny it.
The fucking crazy man actually smiled. “Only temporarily.”
Razor lunged, metal clanging. Trent barely flicked two fingers—and Razor froze, breath choking in his throat.
“Don’t,” Trent said pleasantly. “I prefer to keep you alive.”
Tanya burst out, voice shaking, “Please—don’t hurt him!”
Trent sighed, genuine irritation flickering across his features before he smoothed it away. “I’m not here to harm anyone. I’m here to save someone.”
He stepped behind me and the temperature in the room dropped.
A ripple of shadow rolled outward like a black tide, forming a sphere of void in the center of the chamber.
The hair on my arms rose.
The shadows tore open?—
And Rue fell out.
My father.
Alive.
I only recognized him from photographs; he was older now and looked like he’d lived a thousand lives since those were taken, but it was him.
“What thehell?!” I whispered, unable to believe my eyes.
“Stay calm, little Bellator. There is no need to be angry with me. I’m here to help.” He strolled to my side of the table and leaned down to kiss my cheek.
He was weak, bruised, and barely conscious. But he was ALIVE!
He collapsed onto his hands and knees, shackles smoking around his wrists, ability-disrupting cuffs cracked from Trent’s interference.
“Rue—Rue!” I screamed, fighting the restraints.
