Chapter Eleven
Joy
The bathtub water turned cool and there were absolutely no bubbles to cover my nakedness. I was on full display just like I would have been on a human trafficking stage where customers could call out bids for me.
Ari released my hair abruptly. “Get up.”
No, he couldn’t possibly be serious.
Heat swelled on my cheeks, blending with my tears. I looked at the guards leering at me, waiting for me to stand. Anticipation flickered in their eyes like hungry flames. Maybe I could use my shadows to cover myself, warp darkness around my exposed skin like a cloak.
“My lord.” Brynn’s voice cut through the thick tension as she stepped forward, her head bowed in perfect deference. “Please allow me to dress her. The queen has specifically ordered her brought to her private chambers. She doesn’t like to be disappointed.”
My chest tightened. Brynn was protecting me—putting herself between me and Ari’s wrath. She didn’t know howdangerous he was, what he was capable of. I shook my head slightly, trying to catch her attention, but she kept her focus on Ari.
Don’t. Please don’t.
Ari’s icy blue eyes bore into Brynn for a long moment, the silence stretching like a taut wire. “I don’t want to disappoint the fair queen. Tend to her.”
My blood went cold. That wasn’t surrender—that was strategy. The way he looked at Brynn, the cruel curve of his smile...he was planning something. He’d let this go for now, but Brynn had just painted a target on her back. And there was nothing I could do to protect her.
Ari put his hands on the edge of the tub, his fingernails extended, and his cold eyes flickered over me, making me want to sink deeper into the tub. “Use your shadows against me again, and I’ll kill your precious vampire enforcer.”
Terror and rage warred inside me. He had me cornered—Enzo’s life as leverage. But I wouldn’t break. I’d find another way to fight back.
I stared in his eyes, my lower lip trembling. “I promise…I promise I won’t.”
A cruel smile spread across his lips, cold and predatory. “Now be a good little slave and get dressed.” The words dripped with venom as he stepped back then crossed the room to the door. He motioned for the guards to follow him out of the room.
The minute the door shut, the dam broke. Tears erupted from me like a flood—tears of rage at being deceived, tears of humiliation at being seen and manipulated, tears of bone-deep terror for Enzo. My body convulsed with sobs I couldn’t control, each one ripping through me like a stabbing wound.
“That bastard,” I choked out between gasps, my hands shaking as I pressed them to my face. “He pretended…he pretended to be you. I thought…”
My voice cracked completely. The image of those thorny vines tearing into Enzo’s flesh flashed in my eyes. How much more could he endure before Ari’s torture broke something vital in him? I had to get back to him, had to convince Marsha to free him—even though I knew it was hopeless. Marsha was just as cruel as Ari. She’d enjoy hearing me beg and refuse anyway.
“How?”
I lowered my hands and sniffed. “He has the power to shift into anything or anyone he wants.”
Brynn knelt beside the tub, her hands—her real hands this time—gently rubbing my back. “This place is cruel,” she said, and I could hear something in her voice that hadn’t been there before. Understanding maybe. “Especially for the conquered. But you’re not alone anymore.”
I scrubbed my face with the back of my trembling hands, the salt of my tears mixing with the cooling bathwater. My skin was raw, both from crying and from the lingering shame of Ari’s deception burning through me like acid. “What do you mean by conquered?”
Brynn’s gray eyes studied my face, and pity flickered there. “This Ari didn’t tell you much about this world, did he?”
I shook my head, water droplets scattering from my damp hair. “No. Just the queen and that he needed her army to restore the Dark Demons back into our world.” The words tasted bitter on my tongue. I had to find a way to disrupt Ari’s plans but keep the appearance up that I would go along with him.
She reached for a thick, cream-colored towel from a nearby shelf, her movements careful and deliberate, and held it out to me. “Here.”
I took it gratefully, wrapping it around myself before stepping out of the tub. The cool air hit my wet skin, sending fresh shivers racing down my spine. I dried myself quickly,turning slightly away for privacy. The towel smelled faintly of lavender—a small comfort in this nightmare.
“In my world, we have five different kingdoms,” Brynn said quietly, her voice taking on a distant quality as she busied herself gathering clothes, giving me space.
I looked at her—plain gray wool dress, rough hands, posture still noble despite years of servitude—and shivered. “What happened?”
Her shoulders tightened like a bowstring. Beyond the heavy wooden door, the faint echo of guards’ boots pulsed through the corridor like a heartbeat. Brynn’s eyes went far away, gray irises shimmering with ghosts of the past.
“We were conquered by the House of Cormac. ” Her voice was flat, emotionless—the tone of someone who told their story without breaking. “Both my parents were beheaded. My brothers and I were forced to watch while the crowd cheered the fall of our house.”
