“Do you agree to our terms or not?” Dimitri growls.
“What happens tousif I refuse?” I ask, my gaze fixed on Gianna as a tremor runs through her body.
“Then we will send one or both of you back to Borealis in a body bag.”
I laugh, and Dimitri tenses. “You’d kill us? Certainly, Stellan is against cold-blooded murder.”
Dimitri laughs. “You have no idea what Stellan wants.”
It’s clear they’ve taken Stellan’s words and twisted them to justify violence. It’s what I feared. “I plan to ask him that when I speak to him,” I say.
The man petting Gi’s hair shakes his head. “Stellan would never talk to you, traitor.”
“Why? I am a Nebula, the same as you. She is, too.”
My Nebula mark is on display, as is Gianna’s. What more do they want?
The two men holding Gianna eye her as if truly looking at her for the first time. One of them tilts her chin with the tip of their knife. “Say, don’t I know you?”
“No,” she says, averting her gaze.
“Yes, I do. You are Elio’s daughter.”
The other man whistles.
Gianna struggles harder against her captors, but they tighten their hold. “Don’t be rude. We are just being friendly with you, little Epsilon princess.”
“Leave her alone.” I jerk toward Gi, but a second blade tip is at my side then.
“New bargain,” Dimitri says with glee. “You let us take the girl, and we will take you to Stellan right now. Prove to us that you are one of us.”
My blood runs cold.
“W-what?” Gianna screeches.
“What will you do with her?” I ask to stall. I’ll fight tooth and nail before letting them take her, but I need to find a way out of Dimitri’s grasp without Gianna ending up disemboweled.
“Use her to send a message to all Epsilon that a new age has come,” Dimitri says, and I snort, failing to cover up my laugh. He sounds like a cartoon villain. “You don’t believe me?”
One of Dimitri’s accomplices pulls a gun. My lungs seize. A Solar Witch, not a Cosmic one.Shit. Cosmic Witches don’t have magic to power firearms, making them less lethal in hand-to-hand combat. Why did I leave my own gun at home? The gun’s barrel digs into Gianna’s temple. She cries out.
The heat of my anger rises to my palms. “Let her go!”
Dimitri snorts and presses his knife deeper into my trachea. “If you even think of calling your element, my friend’s bullet gets buried in that girl’s brain. Got it?”
I clench my fist, suffocating my flames. “I’m going to enjoy making you suffer.”
“She’ll be dead before that happens,” Dimitri says. “What is she to you, anyway? She’s Elio’s daughter. Her dad has ruined so many Nebula lives.”
Bile rises in my throat. Revenge may be their thirst, but Gianna’s blood won’t wash away what Elio did.
“Please,” Gianna gasps out. “Let me go.Please. Elio isn’t my father.”
I have to get her out of this.
“You’re right,” I lie, the hard words sharp in my own throat. “She means nothing to me.” Gianna’s breath hitches. “Take her. Do whatever you want with her. But takemeto Stellan.” When Dimitri doesn’t move, I snarl, “We have a deal, don’t we?”
“If there’s any funny business, shoot her,” Dimitri tells his friend.
