I clench my fists. “If you weren’t sitting in your comfortable house all day instead of watching what’s going on in your own backyard, you would have seen that those assholes are trying to kill me.”
“If you want to survive in the arena—”
“Fuck the arena. This is about torturing a Defender.”
“Ex-Defender, and if you think that my interference will make your life any easier, you’re delusional. Out there, you climb up the ranks by outperforming your rivals. That’s it.”
“Whatever you say.” I walk toward the door, my blood boiling. This was a waste of time.
“Wait. I’m not trying to be your enemy, despite our circumstances. You’ll need to get used to this until you’re better able to fight back. You’re still new to this.”
“Something tells me you don’t go this hard on every fresh meat.”
“Not every fresh meat is ordered to fight in the arena on his first day, and then demonstrate incredible abilities that vanish the following day.”
He has a point. This whole thing is crazy, and no one here knows how to handle my situation. “I can’t make myself as strong as I was in the arena.”
“Yes, you’ve told me. I don’t understand any of it, but I believe you.”
“Then are you going to help me?”
“That depends.”
I turn around to face him. “Painkiller first.”
He takes out a syringe from one of his cabinets. I raise my sleeve and offer him my arm. He slides the needle into my vein and injects me with the liquid inside.
“Deep breaths,” he says. “It’s strong.”
It better be.
He puts the empty syringe in the cabinet before returning to stand behind me. I almost thank him, but it’s not like he’s doing this for free.
“Show me.”
I pull off my shirt and let it fall on the floor.
“He put a lot of effort into this.” He runs his fingers over my tattoo. Last time I was here, he brought a mirror for me to see it for the first time. I was both impressed by the fine details and sick to my stomach from having my body altered without my consent.
“Can we just do what we did last time?” I ask.
He snorts. “Are you trying to negotiate our dealafterit was sealed?”
I almost say that negotiation is Finn’s field,but Finn doesn’t exist in this nightmare of a place.
Elijah pulls down my pants along with my underwear, leaving me naked since I’m already barefoot. He runs his hands over my skin, mindful of my bruises. I don’t want this to feel good, but any touch that isn’t meant to hurt is goddamn welcome.
“We’ll do what we did last time,” Elijah says, and I breathe in relief. “Go on.”
I sit on the couch. The painkiller is already swimming in my system, numbing the pain. Elijah comes over and sinks to his knees between my open legs, but I don’t delude myself that this is in any way a transfer of power. He kisses the inside of my thighs, slowly climbing up to my crotch. I get hard quickly, my body eager for this rare pleasure.
“I don’t do this with any of my other fighters,” Elijah says, and I find myself believing him, though I’m not sure why he’s telling me this. “When I was a kid, I joined my father on a visit to the Hive Salvation.”
“It’s gone now.”
“I know, during what you call Skyfall. It was a fascinating place from what I remember, and it was there that I saw a Defender for the first time. The sleek black uniform on that strong body…”
“Am I a childhood fantasy?”
