Bodies fly through the air, and a good ten-foot, clear circle surrounds her. Instead of her hands being above her head, they face outward toward what was once a pile of gods but is now only one single body.
My eyes burn as they land on Sevryn.
Come on, you fucking asshole. Get up.
I stumble as he takes a gasping breath and flings himself around in a panic as though he’s surprised to be alive. One look at Yemi and his body falls as still as hers.
I don’t make it another step toward them when my head is jerked backward.
I rotate around, bringing my elbow down on the forearm attached to the hand tangled in my hair. A slither of something crawls across my skin for a brief second before I’m freed.
Anger and fear fight for dominance inside of me as I jerk my head up to Dimitri’s smiling face.
“I’m so happy to see you’re still alive, beautiful.”
My swords come up just as his one comes down.
Where I grunt viciously at the strength it takes to hold him off, he smiles. His footwork is smooth as though we’re flowing across a ballroom floor rather than dirt covered in death.
Behind the barrier of those cells, he looked vile and unattractive.
His smile was cruel. Evil.
Now, with his power flowing around him, his eyes are captivating. Between them and the smirk on his face, it’s as though he’s a whole new man.
A far more dangerous one.
My fascination is completely unwanted. I have zero desire to observe anything about him, but I can’t help it. He’s not touching me like I was warned he’d need to, to use his power, but he’s powerful enough it seeps off him.
The wink he gives me is teasing and distracting. A warning.
Blood fills my mouth when he backhands me so hard, my feet come out from under me. Pain shoots through my arm as my shoulder takes the weight of my fall and I roll over, gripping it to my chest.
Panic ignites through every inch of me. I’m too afraid to take my eyes off him, but my fingers can’t find either of my swords. They just glide through gritty dirt.
I don’t know where they fell, but judging by the victorious grin on his face that grows as he prowls toward me, he’s closer than my weapons are.
My feet kick out and I throw a handful of dirt at him.
He laughs.
His hands wrap around my ankles, and he snatches me to him while lowering himself to his knees. I suck in a sharp breath as his hand cups my cheek and his other arm cages the other side of my head.
Something fills me.
I can’t quite call it arousal. Yet.
It’s like the cusp of it. The beginning.
Butterflies flap around in my stomach and my heart rate spikes. My breathing becomes heavier and my fingers tingle with the desire to tangle them in his shirt.
“You would have made a beautiful feeder, Thayla Godrun. The girls at Seductions would have loved to pamper and primp you up for me.” He sighs. “I truly hate this is the way we met.”
My thoughts rebel, although my heart hurts for him and the disappointment in his soft gaze.
No, no, no. Thayla, snap out of it.
You don’t fucking feel bad for this man.
