“Fucking tell me, Pandora, so I can go andfucking end their pitiful existence.” His gray eyes were glowing silver.
All three of them were in full demon form, shaking in absolute rage.
I tried again, but my throat spasmed painfully. My fingers wrapped around my neck as I tried to will the words out.
“Names, princess, we just need names,” Skel urged, taking another hit off his pipe.
Dex let go of me and stumbled back, shaking his head. “I’m going to find out with or without your words.”
More hot tears poured down my face, and I sobbed, shaking my head back and forth.
“You think you're too good for our help?” Hemlock accused, his voice a low growl. “Really, Gravesend?”
I lowered my head, realizing that they didn’t understand. It wasn’t that Iwouldn’ttell them. I couldn’t form any words right now. It was excruciating to even hold my head up at this point.
“We’ll take care of this for you if you’ll just let us.” Skel raked a hand through his hair, careful not to hit his horns.
Tears streamed down my face, hot and burning, but I just shook my head. My larynx had suffered more damage from the attack, and until it healed, I literallycouldn’tspeak.
With a huff, the three of them shot me frustrated, angry glances, then left me in the healing glow of Sunstone Revive.
I fell to my knees, and my body slowly knitted itself back together. Just because I had escaped Mother’s grasp didn’t mean the pain was over. The scars might’ve healed, but the memories remained, etched as deeply into my soul as the marks engraved in my skin.
44
BRAM
The room had the fuckingaudacityto continue spinning despite the seething fury coursing through my veins like poison.
Rage funneled down my throat with the whiskey as I sat on my bed with Dex and Skel beside me.
“Dammit,” I growled, the words slurred slightly from the alcohol, “who the Fates hurt her? She’s fucking nobility, and she’s powerful. Whathappened?”
My leg bounced with chaotic energy as I stared blankly at the wall, shaking with a mixture of anger…and desperation. Desperation laced with a fear that Pandora’s disdain for us might just be genuine. She hadn’t told us who hurt her. Did she hate us that much? It was a feeling I knew all too well, though I’d rather swallow my own fucking tongue than admit it.
Skel smoked his pipe, completely out of it since we’d found her. “She had so much blood on her,” he mumbled for like the fifth fucking time.
“Whoever did it meant to kill her,” Dex exploded, his shadows spiraling around the room, knocking something off on my roommate’s side as he stood up. “I’m going to fucking rip their hands off for touching Pandora!”
Nyx bolted upright from his sleep, instinctively sensing the tension that hung like a storm cloud in our room. “Pandora? What happened?”
“Someone beat the absolute shit out of her,” I spat out.
“She wouldn’t tell us who did it, but we took her to Sunstone Revive.” Skel took another hit from his pipe. “She was in bad shape.”
“We're going to find out who did it,” Dex promised. “And I’m going to personally make them hurt as bad as she was. No,worse.”
Without saying anything, Nyx was on his feet, rushing out of the room without bothering to put shoes on. The door slammed behind him with a bang as he ran out of here like dragons were attacking.
They were close, but I hadn’t expected him to carethatmuch.
I tilted the bottle to my lips, letting the liquid fire scorch its way down my throat. The burn was a welcome distraction, a momentary respite from the gnawing fury.
“How are we going to do that?” I asked Dex, but he was already gone, probably to figure out who did this to her.
Skel had succumbed to his high, continuing to smoke with a fervor that matched my drinking. It was impressive, actually.
Smoke and alcohol remained our respective escapes from a reality we couldn't control.
