“You can’t hide from me, Pet.”
Want to bet? It’s a thought I think to myself. I know he hears it. Heat rushes to my cheeks.
Ignoring the God inside my head, I turn to Moyrie, who is staring at me with wonder and concern in her eyes.
“We need to find a way out of here,” I tell her.
twenty-one
Gideon
I’monacloud.
No, that can’t be right.
My fingers glide across soft, subtle sheets, finer than the clothing in the Sands, like butter slipping through my fingers.
A giggle sounds off around me, and my eyes come to life.
Looking up, I find myself staring at a creamy, scalloped sky, flicking in a distant light. Going to stretch out my arms, I feel restricted—same with my legs as I try to bring my body to turn to the right.
A heaviness comes from my ankles andwrists.
I’m fucking chained down.
I pull my arms and legs in, harshly attempting to break my bindings, which look to be some type of green rope twisted together, as strong as the dungeon chains in the manor back in Haven.
Soft, soothing tones are whispered to my side. I jerk my head, growling. I’m still in my human form and, unsurprisingly, naked.
None of that bothers me, though, because if I’m stuck here, it means I can’t find and protect her. That she’s my God’s bonded means nothing to me. He never had to order me to take care of her. I was doing it anyway.
As I pull roughly on the green rope, a soft hand is placed on my upper chest, followed by soothing words gently spoken in my ear. They make no sense to me. Instead, the alluring scent of water lilies fills my oversensitive sense of smell.
What was I doing?
A feeling of weightlessness overcomes me, my fingers, now clawed, digging into the bed beneath me. Looking up, I see large, rainbow eyes staring back at me, set in a bewitching blue face.
Mer.
The word is but a blunt murmur in the darkest recesses of my mind. The beguiling creature straddles my chest. Placing her sharp fingertips on my skin, she leans down, her angular teeth bared in a wide, wicked smile. My heart thunders wildly in my chest like it wants to be set free.
I just don’t understand why.
twenty-two
Dove
It’snouse.Weare surrounded by thick iron bars on all sides.
And I can’t reach Rivern—but that’s not completely true. I feel him now. After I opened the bond to Fury, I slowly gained a connection with Rivern, too. He’s just not answering me when I try to talk to him. Every time I try to reach him along the bond, I feel a splitting agony move through the back of my skull.
I know how the bond works and what that means.He’s hurt.It’s making myskin crawl.
The ache through our bond is a visceral, heavy thudding in my limbs. I want to push past these bars. Race to him. Make sure he is okay.
I wish… IwishI could use Fury’s magic to blow the bars right out of the ground. My boots were soaked, so I ditched them as soon as possible. They now sit neatly positioned next to the bars, awaiting their escape—an escape that seems almost laughable, faced with the impossibility of an unbreakable barrier before us.
“What if we dig?” I suggest aloud. Moyrie raises her eyebrows at my idea.
