“I’ve already been through your house of horrors,Killian.” I folded my arms, feeling the power of his name on my tongue grazing my thighs and forcing him to inhale sharply. I forgot how powerful names, especially his, could be. “And survived.”
“You think you would survive again?” His teeth ground together. “There will benoescaping the new prison. I can guarantee that. You two made sure of that.”
Fighting back the chill shaking my bones and the sickness knotting in my stomach, I knew there would be no way I’d endure another time in prison, not with my mind intact. Death sounded far more desirable than going back to the House of Death.
But I had no leads on where the nectar was taken after it left here fifteen years ago. If the pirate and his group lost it soon after, it could be anywhere, with anyone. It could be gone for good.
“You have one month, Ms. Kovacs.” Killian moved in so close I could feel his body heat soaking through my clothes. Leaning in, he whispered in my ear. “And then I come to collect.”
Escorted by a few guards, we were shoved roughly out the same door we came in, with fewer weapons than we started with. Killian’s men took all but one from each of us, which he considered a “favor.”
Nyx and Zander stayed with Killian when we left, both looking unhappy they didn’t get the opportunity to chaperone me out, but for opposite reasons. I didn’t even chance to look at Zander as I passed him, knowing Killian was watching me, but I could feel Zander’s eyes on me. Burning with concerns and questions.
The tunnel door slammed shut, leaving the seven of us back on Gellert Hill. Dawn was over an hour away—the time when everything was at its darkest, when even night dwellers were thinning out and heading back home. The silence of the dead lands was unnerving and eerie.
The time when nothing good happened.
Blame, anger, aggression, and resentment fueled the spark in the air around us like gasoline. Tracker came after me, his fury bellowing from his mouth. “I knew not to trust you!” He stomped up to me. “I knew something was off about you! You are a fucking traitor!”
“How am I a traitor?” I didn’t back down, instead getting right back in his face. I would gladly fight him. “Because of me, you are still alive.”
“I’m only here because ofyou,” he shouted, trying to loom over me. “It seems it was all bullshit. You’re working with Lord Killian!”
“I didn’t have a choice. You should be thanking me. You are still breathing.”
“Thanking you?” He huffed. “I don’t thank traitors. Kaptain thinksyou’re getting the nectar for him, to help our cause, to help us. However, it appears you are getting it for a fae lord... so which side are you on? You can only have one.”
“Mine,” I snapped. “I’m not working for anybody. And right now, no one gets it. I have to find it first.”
“So what?” Tracker sneered, his eyes darting to Warwick. “He let us live, do his bidding like little bitches, because you are the fae lord’s little whoretoo.”
Crack!
A fist smashed into his face, snapping cartilage and bone. Blood spurted everywhere as Tracker crashed to the ground with a howl of agony.
Warwick moved over him. Leaning down, he fisted Tracker’s jacket, yanking him until their faces were inches apart. I could already see the bruise pillowing the side of Tracker’s face, his lip and nose cut and bleeding all over.
“I warned you,” Warwick seethed, furiously spitting his words. “You speak to her again like you did, and I will have no problem cracking your human spine like a twig. Or I’ll let her do it.” He flicked his head to me. “Don’t for one minute think she couldn’t kill you and not even break a sweat. You are nothing but a puffed-up façade. You have no idea what true strength is.” As Warwick brought him closer, Tracker’s swollen and wounded face tried to glare back. “I know you’ve heard the tales about me. They are all true. Give me a reason to kill you... I’mbeggingyou.”
“Warwick.”I felt his rage humming like a live wire, summoning up the darkness of death. He was close to slipping, to falling over. My invisible hand slid up his spine. His muscles locked at my touch, then relaxed, his shoulders lowering. He took a deep breath, growling at Tracker before shoving his head back into the cement and stepping back like he was a vile piece of shit.
“Next time you’re dead,” Warwick snarled at Track, pushing past me to where the motorcycles were hidden in the brush. It wasn’t a threat; it was a promise. I remember him killing Rodriguez’s buddy in prison without hesitation or conscience. Tracker was lucky to be getting more than one warning. And I knew it was only because of me.
Ava darted to Tracker the moment Warwick was no longer a threat, pulling him into her lap and inspecting the damage.
“Damn, that was so hot.” Kek blew out, cutting through the thicksilence. “Anyone else so fucking turned on right now they could dry hump a wall?” She peered around, and her hand raised. “Just me?”
“I’m a tree fairy... when am I not turned on?” Ash rubbed his head, hitching his bag with the book and my two friends higher on his shoulder. Taking a moment, he closed his lids briefly before he glanced up. “So, what now?”
“I have no idea.” I shrugged. I felt so lost, like being told I had to find one single strand of hair in the entire world. “But I think we need to get far away from here, regroup, and talk then.”
“We can’t go to my house, too many people, and it’s certainly being watched.” Ash frowned.
“Kitty’s?”I spoke to Warwick privately.
“Fuck no. I don’t trust anyone except you and Ash. I’m not putting her in more danger. It’s enough when I do it.”He straddled the bike.“But she’s not the only place that takes in vagabonds and the depraved in the Savage Lands.”
“So, we’re going to your house then?”I sneered.
