“Oh. You’re awake. See, Tomes, I told you it wouldn’t kill him.”
The second elder shuffled into view. “Fair enough,” he muttered.
They both descended the stairs slowly due to age and poor lighting.
I gnashed my teeth. These people got the better of me? Really? These idiots? I had been so worried about Lilith I didn’t think carefully. I’d forgotten all of my training. And now I was paying for it. Fuck, I was so stupid I nearly deserved this.
“We are going to ask you questions.” Elder Nelson settled on a chair in front of me, leaning against it. “And you’re going to answer them.”
“Or what?” I snarled. My voice was nearly gone; the saltwater had eaten through my vocal cords and so little had healed. Even swallowing made me go dizzy with agony.
Nelson glanced at Tomes, who’d taken a spot by the barrel of saltwater. Just the smell of it in this enclosed space burned my nose. “Or you’ll get a bath.”
I huffed a laugh, ignoring the torment it caused. “When I get out, I won’t spare a single one of you. And make no mistake—I will get free.”
Nelson sighed. “Yes, yes. You’re angry. Now answer our first question. And do speak up—we can’t understand all that whispering.”
“Where’s Lilith?” I demanded, my rage swallowing my pain. I gritted my teeth against a scream trying to crawl up my shredded throat. “Did you hurt her?”
Tomes made a disgusted sound, and Nelson frowned at me.
“She is no longer your concern,” he informed me. “She’s rethinking her decisions and will repent before Erlik for her transgressions when she is ready. But we’re not talking about her.”
“I’ll flay you alive if you lay one hand on her,” I warned. Fear and fury billowed inside me, burning me alongside the pain. “I swear it. You will regret every day you ever touched her.”
“Let’s get back to our questions.” Nelson did not look frightened. Arrogant, pompous old fool. “Where are you from, and why would you impersonate Heralds from our god?”
I glared. My ayim was slow, but it would heal me in time. “What do you get out of this? Why do you care this much?”
“Because this is my home and I won’t have it usurped. I worked for decades to create this church. I won’t give all this power up to the first creature that comes along. I deserve to rule. And…there are powerful men who’d like some answers about your kind.”
I just stared.
Tomes trailed his hand in the full barrel of water, the threat in his eyes clear.
Twenty-Two
Lilith
I woke to the sound of my name.
“Lilith!”
At first I thought I imagined it. I bit back a groan as I uncurled, my joints aching.
“Lilith!” someone hissed.
I glanced around, registering my name. “Wha—?” Then I remembered. Everything. Guilt and desperation clawed into me, and my heart felt like it was in ribbons.
Light spilled through the opening at the bottom of the door. I squinted, forcing my eyes to focus on the person on the other side.
Silence’s face swam into view, her pale face pinched and her dark eyes peering into mine. “Lilith, you look ill. Are you well?”
I tried to smile, to gather my crumbling walls and keep myself safe. But I’d grown rusty since Castiel entered my life, and instead of smiling I burst into tears.
“Lilith, oh my goodness.” Silence reached through and grasped my hand. “Hold fast. You’re one day through it. I have more water for you. Are you hungry? Is that it?”
I opened my mouth to refuse, but another sob fell out. God beyond, I probably looked a fright. “The-the elders took Castiel.”
