Over my dead body would I ever take the serum.
“Are you hoping to find a Faction?” he tilted his head in inquiry. I guess I understood his curiosity after we touched yesterday.
I just shrugged my shoulders and took a large bite of eggs. Hopefully, he’d get the hint and stop asking questions.
“She fucking wishes.” Kristine’s whiny voice came from over my shoulder. “Reverie already has a Faction.” She sneered, “She’d have a better chance of finding a new one than getting back to them.” Kristine laughed, and Evan, Thomas, and Hugo joined in.
When I first arrived and found out Kristine had a Faction, I couldn’t imagine anyone tying themselves to her for life. When I met her three men, everything became clear. They were asmessed up as she was. And Evan’s resemblance to Jet was beyond freaky.
Torren frowned in confusion, “What do you mean she has a Faction?”
“Just what I said, handsome, she has a Faction back on Earth… a big one.” Kristine sidled a little closer to him. “They’re all traitors to our cause, including Reverie herself.” She smiled in satisfaction, proud of herself, assuming she’d ruined another friendship.
Torren appeared to ponder the information for a few moments, then said, “Well, she’s here now, fighting in the coliseum like the rest of us. That has to mean something.”
“All itmeansis that she’s accepting her punishment like a good girl. It doesn’t change her traitor status." Kristine smirked at me.
“Why, of all the traitors on earth, wasshebrought here?” He turned to me. “Were you Nexus to your Faction on earth?”
I understood why he wanted to know. “I was Nex?—”
Kristine interrupted, “She was Nexus, but it’s a mystery to me how the Ancestors could have chosen her for that role.”
“It’s not a mystery to me.” Torren smoldered my way. “You’re a strong, beautiful woman with amazing fighting skills. There is no doubt you could handle more than a few men.”
I hated that my body responded to that look. I missed my men to the depths of my soul, and somehow it felt like a betrayal to have feelings for anyone else, even if he was a Potential.
Kristine glowered at him. “Haven’t you been listening? She’s a traitor to her people; her looks are inconsequential. You wouldn’t even have abilities now if it were up to her.”
“Maybe, maybe not.” He smiled slightly at me. “I guess we’ll never know.” For some reason, that last statement seemed to sadden him.
“I don’t understand why Ubel and Selene are even keeping her alive.” Thomas glowered in my direction, needing to put his two cents in.
I was surprised he’d stayed quiet this long. He had an opinion on everything and, unfortunately, rarely kept it to himself.
“Probably because Ubel and Selene don’t have the final say, unless something has changed, and I’m not aware of it?” Torren tilted his head in question.
“Are you talking about Trent Storm?” Kristine asked, frowning slightly. “Everyone knows that he’s Ubel’s puppet.”
Torren threw back his head and laughed, “Is that so? I hadn’t heard that rumor.” His laughter faded, and an expression crossed his face that made Kristine put some distance between herself and him. “I wonder if anyone has informed Trent Storm of this.”
“I very much doubt that.” I smirked, “If he’s anything like his nephew, the thought of being considered anyone’s puppet would enrage him.”
“And what do you know of his nephew?” Torren frowned in question.
“I can answer that,” Kristine smirked. “He’s a part of her Faction. I guess that makes her my sister.” She tilted her head, and a lecherous gleam entered her eyes. "Although, if I were completely truthful, Oren has never felt like my brother.”
The look on her face made me sick to my stomach. I’d thought there were a few times when the way she looked at him was less than sisterly.
“I’m sorry, but we’ll have to postpone our plans again. I’ve got to retrieve something from my room." Torren stood up but paused before he left and glowered at Kristine and her men. “You four need to mind your own business and allow Reverie to finish her breakfast in peace.”
“Who the fuck are you to give us orders?” Evan scowled at Torren and took a step in his direction.
Torren smiled sweetly… then his hand made a slashing motion so fast that I almost missed it, and a cut appeared on Evans' cheek. Blood welled instantly, streaming down his face as the gash split wide, nearly to the bone, and he dropped to his knees.
“What the fuck?!!!” Evan screamed as he held his hand to the bleeding flesh, trying to keep the hunk of his torn cheek from flopping down.
“Now you know just a touch of what will happen to you if you disobey me.” Torren watched the blood flow down Evans' arm in fascination and with a kind of hunger that I didn’t understand.
