“Yeah.” I couldn’t help but press one hand against what I knew now wasthem. Not bloating, but the two babies Dante cursed to grow quickly inside me. “I feel them now. He wanted me to give birth sooner. So he could use them against the others.”
“Them?” Orion met my stare again, eyes still wide, but more curious than angry. “If I had known, then?—”
I couldn’t help but laugh. The sound came out startlingly loud, sharp, and felt foreign to me now after so long not letting one out. Even Orion looked startled by it.
Quickly, I covered my mouth and shook my head. “How would you have ever known?” I asked, cocking my head. “Sable hid it from me—from all of us. She hid it from Dante, and it took him weeks to undo the spell. He didn’t even know right away.”
Orion’s throat bobbed as he swallowed, and again, he looked over my shoulder. A chill rolled down my spine as I again followed his line of sight.
This time, instead of nothing, there was a dark figure standing in the shadows of the forest. I would recognise her anywhere, with her dark cowl and draping cloak.
“Nyx,” I murmured. Surely, she couldn’t be here.No, I thought, shaking my head. My connection to her was gone, ripped away when the collar was fitted around my throat.
This was all just a dream anyway. None of it was real, because I knew Orion couldn’t be real. He was just a part of this fantasy I’d created to survive the worst of Dante’s torture.
When I turned back to him, there was a dark look in his eyes, a hardness that made me question everything I already thought I knew.
Before I could ask him anything, he was ripped away, and our dreamscape went black.
I woke,sucking in a sharp breath as the fog of sleep disappeared, returning me to reality. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. I was trapped in a darkness that appeared all too familiar, thick and hiding unseeable threats. My heart raced as I struggled against the new set of chains holding me back.
Not chains, restraints. I couldn’t move, couldn’t free my arms. Panic rose within me, crashing down upon me like a tidal wave, drowning me in fear and pain I’d never be able to escape.
Each breath I managed to pull in felt like ice shards scraping against the inside of my throat, and when that air finally reached my lungs, pain erupted inside my chest. From shards of ice to a fire burning within me, I couldn’t escape it.
I’d never escapedhim.
Had Dante dragged me back to the isolation cell? I couldn’t remember. For a moment, I couldn’t remember anything other than the cage and the terror of learning the truth, of finally knowing his plans for me and…
And the twins. I tried again against the restraints. My arms were still trapped, confined to the wall I’d been leaning against.
“Shh,” a voice whispered, the sound bringing tears to my eyes. “You’re safe. You’re okay.”
But I wasn’t. I was still with Dante. Still trapped in his compound.
He’d finally get everything he wanted. My babies, my power, and my life.
56
Hawk
Recognition flared inside me at the sight of the wolf shifter carrying Ivy. Something about his demeanour—the protective way he held her, the quiet way in which he tried to get through whatever nightmare she was trapped in—reminded me of something else.
Of him, maybe.
Based on the snippets of thoughts I caught through the wards and charms they’d placed on themselves, they knew me. But they didn’t like me, I could tell that much without the need for the stolen power.
They were part of the memories that had been taken, though not the vampire. I remembered her from before the blank memories, but only in passing.
“Fuck,” the wolf growled, lowering himself and Ivy to the ground. She’d been out maybe a half hour as we waited for the last of the late Queen’s mates to join us. The siren amongst them was going to swim with those that remained, the mage building a barrier to protect them from the archers.
Only once they were on the island would we escape. The other demons of House Elysian would finally be able to make the jump to safety, with the demon king taking most of our group.
But we had to find a way off the island first.
Ivy thrashed in the wolf’s arms, tears rolling down her dirty cheeks. It took all my strength not to take her from him, to not slip into her mind to offer her some comfort.
With the amount of power I’d stolen, I wasn’t entirely sure I could go into her mind without causing her more harm than I already had. I was terrified that my proximity to her was causing her nightmares, that the last power I’d stolen—the power of fear from the pain demon—was leaking out of me and terrorising her.
