I said nothing.
“I hurt your brother?”
“What, lost count after the thousands upon thousands you slaughtered?Can’t remember their faces?Their names?Did you ever even know them?”
Of all those I’d killed, I hadn’t forgotten a single one.
The storm clouds in his eyes were back in full force.“Who was your brother?”
“Untie me and I’ll tell you all about him.”I shrugged and smiled, trying to gauge if my appearance was having its usual effect on him.
“Don’t do it,” Levin said.
Alobaz scoffed, as if he didn’t need the warning.“Whenever I do decide to untie you, you should know, we stripped you of all your weapons.”
I remained silent while I wondered if they’d found the poison and amulet.They were better hidden than my blades and crossbow.The poison was concealed in a rib of my bodice.The amulet feigning to be an adornment between my breasts was a source of dark faithum that would immobilize a sänglure, even one as powerful and resourceful as Alobaz, long enough for me to drain his blood and lop off his head.
Such a handsome head, though.I scowled at the nature of my unbidden thought.
I didn’t care that he was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen, that even among the fae he stood out.Manly and striking, with an air of danger, he was a walking fantasy.
“The poison and bespelled jewelry too,” he said.
My hope evaporated.
Still, my power would return as soon as the injection wore off.
“How many days have passed?”I asked.
“Since when?Since you did your damnedest to stab me in the heart?”
“Yeah.Since then.”
“What’s it matter?”
“I want to know how many days you’ve kept me down here so I can hold every one of them against you.”My grin was mean.
Subtlety was, apparently, currently beyond my reach.
“You don’t get information,” he said.“I do.You will be giving it to me, that’s how this is going to go.If you want to know how long’s gone by so you can figure out when you’ll get your power back, don’t bother.”
My heartbeat thudded, a regrettable tell in a room filled with vampires, all of whom would be able to hear it.
“I collared you.”
My heart thudded again, even though I really hadn’t wanted it to.Though I didn’t know exactly what it meant to be collared.
I could guess.Already had guessed.
I swallowed.“What’s that mean?”
“It means you won’t be getting your power back so long as that collar’s in place.And the only way it’s coming off is if I take it off.”
“Basically, you’re fucked,” Aziza said with a genuine smile.“You’re never getting loose.”
“Never,” Night said.
“So majorly fucked,” Levin said.
