Thian bit his lip and his eyes dipped in concern. He knew something.
“What?”
“If I had something that might prove that you shouldn’t trust him, would you want to see it?”
“What do you mean?”
He pulled out a small screen that looked like a cell phone. With a few taps on the touchscreen, music and conversation like you might hear at a party began to play. As he turned the screen toward her, Hollyn began to make out shapes in the dim nightclub. There, in a small shaft of light, she saw Kai with closed eyes and a drunken grin on his face. His mouth moved as he continued to say one word over and over, but she couldn’t make out what it was. She watched as a beautiful woman tipped a glass of purple liquid into Kai’s mouth. He swallowed greedily, and his head lolled backward as the woman set the glass down and ran her hand over his button-down shirt. She lifted her eyes to the camera and gave a knowing smile and a wink of her purple, glowing eyes.
Hollyn turned away, not wanting to see any more. “What the hell? Where did you get that video?”
Thian scooted even closer and wrapped his arm around Hollyn. “What matters is that Kai is out partying while you’re preparing for the fight of your life. I hated to show that to you, but I thought you should see it.”
Hollyn stood up, pulling out of Thian’s embrace. How could he? It seemed so out of character for the Kai that she knew, and she couldn’t understand how he could have betrayed her trust so completely and horribly.
“Hollyn, come here. You shouldn’t be alone right now.”
She did feel alone…so totally alone in that moment. The one person in the world she felt like she had on her side wasn’t who she thought he was. If she couldn’t trust Kai, who could she trust?
Thian was suddenly standing nearby, wrapping his arms around her from behind. But it wasn’t comforting in the least. It was invasive, and she didn’t like it. Something about his embrace felt…wrong.
She pulled away once more and moved toward the door. Over her shoulder she said, “I just need some time to process this. Don’t follow me.”
Thank the stars, he let her go.
10
“How long have I been here?”
The woman looked around frantically, as if she expected an attack at any moment. Kai grabbed her upper arms and forced her to look at him. “How long?”
“Three days.”
He cursed loudly but let her go. “Three days? How is that possible?”
“The lotus wine. It makes you lose track of time.”
“I think I already know who set this whole thing up. What I want to know is why? Why was I drugged and kept here against my will?”
She chewed her bottom lip and shook her head hard. She was refusing to answer his questions. He wanted to shake her until she spilled everything, but he knew that wouldn’t get him what he wanted. He decided to take a different approach.
“What’s your name?”
“Katerina.”
“Well, Katerina, I’m Kai, which you probably already knew, but what you probably don’t know is that I am actually trying to save a young girl who’s been kidnapped by the father of my…er…girlfriend. My girlfriend and I were planning to save Willow, the young girl, as soon as my girlfriend was ready to face her father. Now, I’ve lost three days, and for all I know, my girlfriend doesn’t even know where I am. She probably thinks I abandoned her.” Kai took a deep breath. “So, for goodness sake, tell me why I’m here instead of off finishing that fight.”
Her purple eyes softened, and she gave a short nod, put her finger to her lips, and motioned for him to follow her. He didn’t waste any time, just fell into step behind her as she headed down the long, dark hallway. For all he knew she was leading him into another trap, but at this point, he didn’t have any other choice but to trust her.
Fortunately for him, she led him toward a heavy door that, when opened, led to a back alleyway. Once they were both outside, she moved quickly toward the end of the alley, waving for him to follow once more. When they were back out onto the busy swim way that functioned the same as a street on the surface, she crossed to another door. She produced a key and opened it, quickly ducking inside. With only a little hesitation, he followed her.
The minute the door closed, a light flickered on, and Kai looked around a small apartment—hers he assumed.
Finally, she turned and said, “Poseidon sent you inside with Triton and Polyphemus. They paid me to keep you drugged, but you weren’t an easy one. It took three times as much of the lotus wine to make you stop saying her name.”
“Whose name?”
“Hollyn’s.”
