“Suddenly feeling sentimental?” I squeezed the triggers a little harder. It would be so easy to fire. So quick to kill him.
But...I’d be robbed of everything that he owed me.
I wanted him to suffer. For years.
I wanted him to scream. Fordecades.
Killing him like this wasn’t enough—
“Lucien...” Marcus clutched his umbrella. “Think about what you’re doing.”
“Iamthinking.” My fingers slowly turned numb around the triggers, my arms switching from heavy to strangely light. My lungs forgot air was important and my muscles no longer obeyed me. Everything was turning greyer, colder—mutating into a walking corpse. “I’m thinking that I owe you so much more than just a bullet.”
“Careful,” Marcus warned softly. “If you shoot and miss, I’ll ensure you never see the light of day again.”
“Got another cage ready for me, huh?” I coughed up a sudden mouthful of blood. Spitting it out, I grinned. “You’re assuming I’ll live long enough to care.”
“You’ve left me no choice,” he sighed, stabbing his thumb on that awful remote.
Paintorethrough my heart, white-hot and absolute.
I doubled over as the vitalsync core fed poison directly into my drying bloodstream.
My fingers seized, dropping the guns. I bit my tongue as my knees buckled, slamming against the ground.
“Lucien!” Rook skidded to my side, catching me as I folded.
“I told you not to push me,” Marcus said quietly, adding yet another dose of despair. The vitalsync burned me alive, making every bone turn molten.
“Guards, pick him up and put him into the car. Doctors, prepare to operate the moment we arrive. If he dies, you will too.”
“How could you?!” Rook snarled. “He’s already hurt so badly and you’re torturing him!”
“He’s well enough to threaten my life and try to escape,” Marcus snapped. “He’ll survive.”
“You’re a bastard!” she yelled, her arms tightening around me as I choked on endless agony. The Cryolyt pills completely abandoned me, leaving me to feel every flame.
“This is just business.” Marcus stepped toward us, his umbrella pinging with droplets. “Just like it was business when I threw you in with him. Just like it was business when I noticed your blood mirrored his in ways I’ve never seen before.” His mouth curved into a mocking smile. “I should thank you, Rook. After two decades of trying to get him to propagate—of forced semen taken when he was unconscious and multiple attempts at test-tube pregnancies, you’re the first to actually succeed.”
I choked.
What?
They’d donewhatto me while I’d been knocked out?
Marcus came closer, making every part of me crawl. “Thanks to you, he’s finally lost his virginity and done something worthwhile. Turns out, you were the one he was waiting for all along, but I do have to wonder if it’s you or something to do with the fact that your blood is eerily similar to his.”
My ears rang as unconsciousness came for me.
Wait...
Her blood was like mine?
Wasthatwhy I was drawn to her?
Couldsenseher?
Sucking in a breath, I focused on the fire burning around my heart.
