I rub over my eyelid as I clear my throat and turn to the guy. A soft smile sets his lips in a thin line, and it’s enough to give me the strength to ask. “Is my eye still…” I wave at it, and understanding washes over him.
“Yes.”
Dammit.
As dumb as it seems, the damage to my eye threatens to pull me under, tip me over the edge, and send me spiraling into a maelstrom of self pity—the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back—but I push it aside and redirect my thoughts, distracting myself as always. “Why don’t people just use their magic to get out of here?” I blurt, and he sighs, glancing around the small space for a moment before his gaze returns to mine.
“We’re here by choice, remember?” he clarifies, acknowledging that he wasn’t actually asleep when I was speaking with the woman earlier. “Besides, the room is a deadspot,” he adds, and it’s my turn to raise my eyebrows in confusion. He understands immediately, waving his hand to indicate the entire space. “The room is spelled, rendering us all useless in here.”
I nod, but something still gnaws at me. “If you guys are all here by choice, why doesn’t he give you better accommodations? If none of you are going to run, it doesn’t make sense to keep you all cooped up like this,” I state, and he nods as if he’s asked himself the same question before.
“He can contain us better this way. Plus, it gives him more control over us. He can monitor when we leave, when we eat, when we shower, change, and everything in between.”
“That sounds tough to accept,” I murmur, and a smile ghosts his face as he looks up at the ceiling.
“It’s worth it when you know the consequences of the alternative.”
My heart sinks at the admission. “I can’t imagine,” I mumble, lifting my knees to my chest as I wrap my arms around my legs. “Have you been here a long time?”
“Long enough to hope it wasn’t all for nothing,” he answers, making my stomach churn. “Can I ask you a question?” he follows up quickly, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye, and I nod. “Why don’t you know?—”
The door opens to reveal Walker, and the sound of the door scraping stops whatever question he was about to ask.
Blinking at the asshole who glares right at me, my heart races. Another captive steps in beside him, quickly taking their spot in the far left corner. They fall to the floor with a heavy sigh, but it doesn’t distract me for long as Walker calls my name.
“Elodie.”
I want to ignore him, but I can’t stop myself from tilting my head in his direction.
“Walker,” I retort, and he cocks a brow at me as I feel the eyes of every single person in here turn to look at me.
The intensity of their stares grows with every second as Walker grunts. “Come.”
It’s overwhelming how much I want to defy him, but instead, I rise to my feet and cut across the room with a glare locked on my face. He takes a step back into the hallway as I reach the door, but before I cross the threshold, I peer back over my shoulder to find both members of the couple looking at me.
They smile, the action warm, and I manage a half smile in response before I slip into the hallway after Walker. The second I’m out of the way, he reaches around me to close the door with a bang. I don’t have time to flinch at the sudden sound before he grabs my chin, tilting my head back as he crowds my space. I know what has his attention: my eye.
My heart races in my chest, my defiance muted as I blink at him, but he doesn’t say a word; he simply stares at me like we’ve got all the time in the world.
It takes what feels like an eternity for me to find my tongue, but when I do, I grind out every word. “Are you taking me to be tortured?”
He runs his tongue over his bottom lip, but doesn’t move a single inch. “Jude wants to ensure you are fully healed before we go again.”
I gulp, dread settling into my gut. “How nice,” I mutter, making him shake his head as he finally leans back, dropping his hold from my chin to my arm as he guides me down the hallway, slipping into the second room.
The moment he clicks the door shut behind us, I finally remember to dig my heels in, preventing him from moving me any further as I take in the space. I know deep down he could move me if he wanted to, but he seems to offer me a quickmoment to breathe it all in. Why? I don’t know, but I’m not willing to pass up the opportunity.
Raking my teeth over my bottom lip, I blink at the strange setup in the middle of the room. There’s a floating… white thing. It almost looks like a bed, but it’s slim, with a cover that is propped open.
A shiver runs down my spine as I start to shake my head, already feeling the impending doom that’s coming. Walker releases my arm to retrieve the material hanging off the side of the frame, retracing his steps back to me a moment later with the fabric extended in my direction.
“Change into these. I’ll give you a few moments,” he orders, his words low as he releases the soft t-shirt and pants before stomping toward the door.
The sound of it closing echoes around me as I glance from the weird contraption to the clothes and back to the door, repeating the motion two more times before I clench the clothes tighter. I want to tell him to go fuck himself, I want him to look at the scars across my eye and see the damage he has contributed to as I somehow get myself out of this mess, but the longer I hold the clothes, the more my strength wanes.
Glancing down at the disarray I’m already wearing, I quickly concede, kicking off my tight shoes and shaking out of my torn clothes before replacing them with the garments he offered. They gloss over my skin like silk, offering a little sense of freshness, but it doesn’t change the fact that my body is stained with blood and filth. All they do is mask the mess I am.
As I brush my hands over the t-shirt, hiding the scars that have almost healed at Jude’s doing, the door reopens and Walker strides back into the room, making sure to lock the door behind him.
