And on the floor lay that mangy dire wolf pup, happily gnawing on my beautiful monster’s pincer. Reduced to a chew toy. I felt something inside me crack, a hairline fracture spreading through my mind.
“Have a nice nap, bitch?” Zane called out, his voice dripping with mock concern. “You’ve got a little something,” he gestured vaguely at his own face, “everywhere.”
“Already bored of playing jailers?” I crooned, rolling onto my side with what dignity I could muster. The dress tore further, lace catching on rough concrete. I imagined it screaming. “Three big strong dhampirs trembling over little old me? Where’s your precious Serafina?”
Koa’s fist slammed into the wall beside my head. Gray powder rained down as I flinched, the cord searing my wrists. His eyes glowed like bottled lightning, chest heaving.
“Say her name again,” he growled. “You’ll regret it.”
“Wouldn’t want to deny you the pleasure of gagging on it later, would I?” I laughed until my split lip reopened, copper flooding my mouth. “When I get free, I’ll make cat toys from your eyeballs.”
My knees brushed together under the ruined satin skirts, still stiff with lake mud from where they’d dragged me. I wondered if Serafina had watched. Had she clapped her grubby little hands while they debased me?
“Tsk, tsk, Luney.” Zane was all sharp smirks and sharper teeth. “That’s no way to talk when you’re the one lying down with the dogs.”
He nodded to the dire gnawing his prize, and the wolf’s tail thumped once.
“You think capturing me makes me yours?” I arched my back, letting the damp bodice gape.
Casimir didn’t blink. None of them did. Fury prickled hotter.
“So you met our kitchen boy.” Zane’s grin turned feral. “Kid has some serious knife skills. Ko mighta found himself an apprentice. Addison was filleting your monster like a sushi chef before we even hit the scene, witchy poo.”
Ooo, that Latino boy! Warbling some pathetic war cry, hacking at my glorious monster as Serafina defended herself with a twig.
“Nasty things, kitchen boys,” I mused, lifting my right leg to inspect what was left of my shoe. “Amabel’s been enjoying ours immensely. Does sweet Serafina enjoy yours, hmm?”
Koa moved faster than curses. His hand fisted in my hair, slamming my skull against the wall. Stars burst behind my eyes, bright and delicious, as lake water dripped from his jacket sleeve onto my cheekboneplink-plink-plinklike a song.
“Told you,” he breathed against my ear, “about her name.”
“A tisket, a tasket, a head in a basket,” I sang, voice wavering like a music box winding down. “If I should drop it, put it in your pock—”
I lunged, teeth snapping near his jugular. Grim bastard didn’t even flinch. Time for a new tactic.
“Oh,yes, Koa!Yes, yes, yes!” I screamed with a smirk, hoping Serafina could hear me. “Harder!Harder! Make it hurt!”
He released me so abruptly, I nearly face-planted on the concrete floor. When I looked up through my snarled hair, he was wiping his palm on his tactical pants like he’d touched something foul.
Casimir stepped forward then, the measured click of boots matching some internal metronome only he could hear. He removed his leather jacket with agonizing slowness, revealing forearms corded with muscle. My traitorous mouth watered even as hatred curdled in my stomach. He draped the jacket over a metal chair that definitely hadn’t been there moments before, a subtle display of dhampir speed meant to unsettle me.
Unfortunately, it worked.
“Did you think the Cimmerians wouldn’t protect their most valuable treasure?” he asked as he sat on the chair.
I threw back my head and laughed until tears streaked through the muck on my cheeks.
“Yourtreasure? You mean yourwhore.” My gaze dragged down his body like claws on satin sheets. “Does my delicate stepsister enjoy being manhandled by three beasts?”
He only studied me with detachment, as if I were a particularly interesting specimen pinned to a board. I hated how small he made me feel, how insignificant, and I hated him even more for how little he seemed affected by my presence.
A minor inconvenience. That’s all I was to him.
He nudged my hip with the toe of his boot as if he had all the time in the world.
“You made a mistake,” he said with infuriating calm. “Coming here.”
I laughed again, and this time the sound was brittle and sharp enough to cut glass. I tasted blood where my teeth had caught the inside of my cheek when he’d knocked me unconscious. I savored it, rolling the metallic tang across my tongue like fine wine.
