Kindness was used to coax him closer. Used to bend him and reshape him. The guild had adopted a monster into their ranks and treated him accordingly, trained him with reward and punishment until he became the weapon they wanted him to be. Kindness vanished the moment he stepped a toe out of line, and punishment was always swift to follow, just like the morning Talon had taken him. Shadrach’s blood healed even those wounds, the sore, bruised lines from thewhip fading to nothing the moment he let black blood inside his body.
They would all be horrified if they learned he had accepted such a thing. He would be cast out—or executed. Sloan wouldn’t suffer another betrayal, least of all from him.
“Isaac.” The sharp tone snapped him out of his spiral. He met dark eyes with his own. “I’m not them,” Shadrach said sternly. “Whatever they did to you, it won’t happen to you here. I won’t allow it.”
It wouldn’t happen here, no, but it would happen when he returned to them. It was inevitable.
Shadrach cursed under his breath at the obstinance on Isaac’s face. “Come on, killer. You’re smarter than this.”
Isaac scowled. “What are you talking about?”
“They’re nothere,” Shadrach said slowly. “They’re no longer a threat to you.”
“They’ll still be there when I go back.”
“Then don’t go back!”
Isaac drew back, startled. He couldn’t do that. They must already know he was missing. Someone would’ve found Weston’s body. They were probably looking for him. They’d either think that Isaac killed him and fled or that whoever killed Weston also took Isaac. He had no idea which they’d find more plausible. If it was the former, he’d have to prove his innocence. If it was the latter, there was a good chance they already suspected the traitors.
“What are you thinking, killer? Where’d you go?”
Isaac shifted. “The longer you keep me here, the more dangerous it is for you.”
“How so?”
“If they think whoever killed Weston also captured me,they’ll suspect you guys of doing the deed. Sloan will use that to push his agenda forward.”
Shadrach sighed heavily. “In their defense, they wouldn’t be wrong, would they? Although that’s just what we need right now.” He folded his arms, his pensive gaze going distant, and Isaac got the impression he was missing some key information. What was going on out there in the rest of the world that he wasn’t privy to?
“You could let me go,” Isaac suggested. “I could blame someone else. Got any enemies you want me to put in the line of fire?”
Shadrach looked intrigued. “Maybe.” He pushed away from the door. “If I leave you untied, will you be a good boy?”
The heat came back with a vengeance, like a match to kerosene. His spine stiffened, and Shadrach smiled, slow and predatory.
“Noted,” he said, and Isaac felt as though he’d lost some ground in this strange tug of war. He approached and leaned down right in front of Isaac to pick up the sandwich wrapper, and Isaac caught a whiff of tobacco and black cherries. “I’ve got to go. I’m going to leave you without the rope, and I’ll be in later to refill your water bottle. Do me a favor while I’m gone.” Before Isaac could respond, Shadrach cupped his face with one hand, guiding his eyes to his. “Spend some time coming to terms with the fact that a punishment doesn’t have to follow what happens here. You don’t have to go back and let them mistreat you anymore.”
Mistreat him? They’d only done what they thought was right. They’d said as much many times. One couldn’t mistreat a weapon, after all.
Looking exasperated, Shadrach said, “I can tell you’re really taking what I said to heart. I’m not sure how a mancan be so tactically intelligent and emotionally stupid at the same time.”
Isaac slapped his hand from his face. “I’m not stupid.”
“No, you’re not. Which makes it all the more frustrating that you have such blind faith in them.”
Isaac scowled. They’d raised him, trained him. How could it be blind faith when they’d led him down the right path all his life?
It…wasthe right path, wasn’t it?
Shadrach sighed. “I’ll come back and we’ll talk more later, okay? I have to go discuss some things with the others right now. We’ve got a more immediate problem to deal with.”
“What problem?” Isaac asked, desperate for something else to think about.
“Nothing serious.” Shadrach went to the door. “There are halflings who feel much like Sloan does. They don’t like that the ex-paladins are teaming up with demons any better than the guild does.”
“They’ve threatened you?” Isaac didn’t understand the hot ball of anger that evoked. Shadrach was one of the people keeping him captive. Isaac certainly didn’t care whathappenedto him. That would be madness.
Shadrach’s eyes glittered with amusement. “Not me specifically. I appreciate the concern, though.”
