Selene pivoted away without a word, disappearing into an antechamber of her royal quarters.
As her men hustled Darion toward the door, his gaze strayed to a small pedestal table where a gleaming silver box sat. No, not merely silver. It was the titanium box he’d brought with him from D.C. The one he’d intended to use to smuggle out the realm’s crystal when he eventually made his escape.
If not for his bound arms, he might have been tempted to make a lunge for it now.
Instead, he walked forward as Selene’s guards shoved him into the hallway to take him to his cell.
CHAPTER 26
Lucan peeled open one eye, struggling against the heavy sedatives that clung to him.
His throat felt as if he’d swallowed a box of razor blades. His gut was empty, hunger clawing at him with sharp talons. It was all he knew now--that raking, ceaseless drive to feed.
Bloodlust.
His sanity was threadbare, but not so far gone that he didn’t recognize the addiction that coursed through every starving cell in his body.
He shuddered with the ferocity of his thirst. The hollowness and agony knew no end. Feeding it would only prolong the inevitable and worsen the suffering.
HisandGabrielle’s.
Through the searing amber haze coloring everything in his vision, he glimpsed her on the narrow cot that had been set up outside the cell that contained him inside the command center. She had been there continuously for days, sometimes speaking words of love and encouragement to him through the fog of his madness and drug-induced rest, other times weeping softly into her pillow when she didn’t realize he could hear her.
He had other scattered recollections too. Spotty bits of conversation spoken over him while he’d been heavily sedated. Tess and her son Rafe voicing frustration as they’d tried--and failed--to heal him with their shared abilities. Gideon and other members of the Order speculating about how much Red Dragon he must have ingested, and their grimly murmured fears that he may never fully recover.
He had no illusions about what lay ahead for him.
Death.
Be it from starvation, madness, or his own hand, his end was coming--likely sooner than later. He was Rogue, and there was virtually no coming back from that.
In front of him, a wall of ultraviolet light bars glowed with pale blue outlines, a warning that any attempt to escape would be fatal. Not a quick death like a UV bullet shot into his bloodstream or a nick from a titanium blade, but an incremental killing that would take several long minutes to finally reduce him to ashes.
If he didn’t know Gabrielle would not only witness it, but feel it too, he would have already fried himself on the bars.
Even now, he contemplated the most efficient way to do it on the chance she might ever leave him alone in the room.
She must have sensed him coming back to consciousness. Her head lifted from the cot and she peered at him where he sat, his back against the cool wall of the cell, his knees bent and his head slumped toward his chest.
“Lucan?” Her soft, gentle voice nearly undid him. “You’re awake.”
Her movements were careful, her beautiful face pinched with discomfort, as she slid off the mattress and approached the bars. She eased down onto her knees, folding her legs beneath her.
“Lucan, can you hear me?”
As much as he wanted to resist her tenderness, there was a part of him lurking far beneath the grasp of his Bloodlust that couldn’t deny her anything.
He lifted his head, staring at her through the matted hanks of black hair that hung over his forehead and eyes. A deep, rumbling vibration was all the sound he could muster.
Her hand came up to her lips to stifle her small sob. Through his daze, he couldn’t tell if it was sorrow, pity, or relief that made her suck in that jagged breath.
“You’ve been asleep for several days,” she whispered, her sweet brown eyes welling with tears. “I wasn’t sure you were ever going to wake up.”
That same hand that had been hovering at her mouth reached out now, fingers curling around one of the UV bars. She wasn’t Breed, so the same light that would ash him had no effect on her.
A sad smile curved her mouth. “Can you forgive me for letting them put you down here? We didn’t know of any other way. There wasn’t anyplace else where you could rest and heal that would be safe for you . . . for everyone.”
He felt a scowl furrow deep into his brow as he considered all the ways he remained a danger. To her, to his son and his brethren, the family and friends he would love until his last breath.
