The sun had dipped lower during her bath, and spindly shadows speared towards the arches as Alexei turned down a long, empty hallway with two towering stone doors.
He hefted one open, gesturing for her to step inside.
“Dinner awaits,SisterCirillo.”
Xenia sucked in a deep breath, a futile attempt to calm her pounding heart, and crossed the threshold.
* * *
Every inchof Cael Zephyrus’s body ached.
He wasn’t accustomed to such a state, given his Fae healing abilities.
Not to mention he prided himself on his pain tolerance, higher than any individual he knew, mortal or Fae. Higher than Tristan’s even, and that fucker was abeast.
Cael had been offered plenty of opportunities to acquaint himself with pain during his boisterous childhood. Mostly while trying to prove himself to his two older brothers or be an example of bravery for his youngest. There’d been broken arms, pierced wings, black eyes, and knocked-out teeth every other week. If they hadn’t been Fae, hadn’t healed so quickly, his poor mother would’ve died a thousand deaths of worry.
His ailments had always come and gone so quickly, so unnoticeably, that he knew a healing suppressant was to blame for his current condition.
His hands were chained above his head, his shoulders throbbing from remaining in the same position for…days? Weeks? He’d lost all sense of time.
The toes of his boots dragged on the floor, his bent knees swaying listlessly.
Drooping behind him like two enormous, heavy sails, his wings pulled at his spine, threatening to tear away from his skin.
The door groaned open and he cracked his eyes, then sagged deeper with relief when he saw her alive and visibly unharmed.
Cael hadn’t seen Xenia since he’d failed her so spectacularly on that yacht, getting them captured and allowing Maksym and his fuckwit cronies to do the High Gods-knew-what with her since then.
The anguish of imagining what she’d been suffering at their venomous, slithery hands was infinitely worse than any pain he’d felt since he’d been tied up here.
Her emerald eyes flashed with anger as she stepped into the room and caught his gaze. She opened her mouth, her brows furrowed, but he shook his head once, sharply. Discouraging her protest in front of the winged monster seated at the head of a substantial stone table lined with flickering candelabras.
“Sister,” Maksym Rosopa crooned, rising and spreading his feathered, matte-green wings. “You’re late.”
Cael almost laughed out loud. Even in captivity, Xenia couldn’t help being late.
She flinched as Maksym’s booming voice filled the cavernous room, climbing the walls and sucking up all the air. But she didn’t tear her gaze from Cael.
“He’s fine,” Maksym said with a wave of his hand. “Just a little tenderized.”
Xenia pivoted to face Maksym and Cael finally noticed what she was wearing. The glistening green silk poured over her skin, leaving little to the imagination.
“He is most certainlynotfine,” she said, approaching Maksym and shoving her finger in his face. Cael chuckled internally at the memory of her flinging the same gesture at him in the Temple library on the day they’d met. “I don’t know what kind of proposition you intend to make to me, but I sure as fuck am not going to agree toanythingwhile you have him tied up there like a piece of meat.”
The mouth on her never ceased to amaze him, to stir something in him. So obscene for a Shrouded Sister. An enticing contrast to the innocence she wore like a cloak.
Maksym wrapped his hand around Xenia’s throat. “You squeak too loudly, little mouse.”
Xenia raked her nails down his fingers, gasping as she tried to suck in a breath.
Cael’s rage threatened to burst through his skin, but only a pathetic whimper came out. “Leave her alone.”
Maksym’s eyes darted to Cael, even as he refused to loosen his grip on Xenia. He laughed, a clicking, swallowed sound that didn’t clear the back of his throat. “This is going to be even easier than I thought.”
Maksym threw Xenia to the ground, and she wheezed, rubbing her neck. Her eyes remained glued to the floor, and tears shone on her cheeks.
Cael’s rage boiled his veins as Maksym approached him slowly, warily. As if Cael were a chained predator, capable of violent savagery. He wished it were true.
