Only once before had my power failed me, when that tiny cunt Cosette had dampened my power.She took what wasn’t hers to take—a crime I still owed her for.Whenever I found her, I was going to kill her.
While I was unconscious, someone had dampened my power.It was a violation so egregious that only one person surged to mind to blame.
One man.
One hideously gorgeous man.
I might still have killed him.There was a chance that I’d succeeded in fulfilling my vow.
Alobaz Hawxley might yet be dead.I had only to wait to find out.
Meanwhile, I’d finish healing my gut wound.And I’d wait out the time it would take for the power-dampening potion to wear off.
When it did … I’d take the lives of anyone who hurt my Teo.
I’d finish the job.
Chapter31
Gotta Roll with that Big Dick Show of Force
Since Alobaz announced he was going to seeher—she who needed no descriptors sincesheseemed to be all anybody wanted to talk about—he had far too many busybodies on his tail.Only Crute, with those concerned eyes of his, had obeyed when he’d asked all of them to remain behind.Ed, Zi, Lev, Moncho, Félix, Night,andSkeet hadn’t bothered to listen.The seven of them followed as he wound his way through the castle to the dungeons below.
Traversing the castle was no straightforward task when Mauldrene wasn’t considerate enough to keep passageways and stairways where they belonged.Alobaz had already been winding through hallways for a quarter of an hour.He couldn’t even tell if he’d made significant progress.When shadows crept and flickered along walls, floors, and ceilings, one room resembled the next.
“We should just give up,” Lev said from behind him as Alobaz stepped onto a stair, only to have the entire stairway swing far to the right with an ominous creak.“Obviously Mauldrene doesn’t want us to go see her yet.”
Whirling around so fast that the still-healing wound in his chest tugged painfully, Alobaz hid his wince behind a scowl.“Wedon’t have to go anywhere.As I’ve made very plain, I’d prefer to go alone.”
“Like dragonfire we’re gonna let you go see that traitorous wench alone,” Lev said.
Alobaz’s scowl deepened.“I wasn’t asking.”
Lev crossed his arms in front of his chest, his face arranged in stubborn lines.The rest of them, save Skeet, adopted a similarly determined pose.Skeet’s eyes skittered to and fro across the castle’s constantly roving shadows.It was what happened whenever any of the soldiers who slept in the staff quarters had to spend time inside these walls.
Alobaz narrowed his eyes at his friends.“In case you’ve forgotten, I’m the commander here.You’re supposed to do what I order.”
Zi hiked a single dark brow an impressively high amount.“Are youorderingus, then?”
Alobaz stared hard at the six of them for long seconds.Not one of them flinched or appeared repentant for being such stubborn, annoying sonsofbitches.
Eventually, Alobaz sighed and stalked after the staircase, forcing his steps not to stomp.Already, his friends thought he was being unreasonable when it came to the enchantress.He wouldn’t provide kindling for their fire.
“So, not an order,” Zi said as she—and the rest of them, for fuck’s sake—followed.
“Don’t tempt me,” Alobaz muttered.
He latched on to the handrail, and when the stairway began to move on him, he held on, grinning.All he needed was a minute on his own and he’d lose the others.In the castle, it could take ages for them to find him.They wouldn’t have tagged along in the first place if he had realized how they’d react.He should have kept quiet, gone to see her on his own.
The stairway swung wide before Zi, in the lead, could grab on to it.It arced.A wall shrank backward to get out of its way.Annnnnd the stairwell completed a full circle, returning to its starting point.
Now his friends were the ones grinning as they easily stepped onto the first tread, which swirled with shadows.
“Thatta girl,” Lev said.
What a mean cunt, Alobaz thought.
Annoyed at their triumphant smiles, Alobaz stomped up the stairs.
