Page 46

“What are you doing, Jarvis?” The sound of Agatha’s voice is a needling prick to my eardrum, and with a quick glance, the guard releases me, taking a step back.

“She resisted, Miss Agatha. I was merely warning her.”

“That’s a lie.”

The look he shoots me is the last thing I’m certain his enemies would see before he sliced a blade across their throat.

“Take her to Remus. Immediately. As you were instructed.” Without another word, she spins around, the flowy gown trailing after her as she exits the cell block.

The moment she’s out of sight, Jarvis snarls and grips my arm with more force than necessary. “Fuck with me. See what happens.” He gives another hard shove forward, and as I make my way toward Remus’s room, the guard follows after.

My pulse is hammering when we approach the door, a dozen scenarios playing out in my head. What if he tries to force himself on me? How will I outsmart him tonight? To what degree will Remus exert his control?

At first, it doesn’t appear there’s anyone in the room, but at the sound of splashing, I turn to the open door of the bathroom, and find Remus submerged in the tub, his arms slung over the sides of it. The ridges of small muscles prove he’s not a skinny man, by any means, but certainly not as brawny as Titus, or even Will, for that matter. A map of blue veins peek through his pale, white skin, giving him an almost sickly appearance, and when he waves me over, my stomach sinks.

As the guard turns to leave, Remus leans forward, spilling a small bit of water onto the tiled floor.

“Wait.” With his command, the guard halts his steps. “You’re new, right?”

“Yes. Sir.” Backtracking his steps, he stands in the bathroom doorway again. “I met you at the arena.”

“There are so many of you now, I can’t even remember faces, let alone names.”

“Jarvis. Name’s Jarvis.”

“Right. So, Jarvis, I understand you had a situation with my lovely Thalia down in the cells.”

Somehow, Agatha managed to return to the room, inform him of the incident, and leave again before we arrived?

“Just a misunderstanding.” The boredom in the guard’s tone reflects the lack of respect—something, I suspect, Remus picks up on, as he stares back with a twitch in his eye. “No big deal. Sir.”

The ‘Sir’ seems to be an afterthought each time, as if he can’t really bring himself to say it to Remus. Not that I blame him, but from what little I’ve learned the last couple of days, he’s walking a dangerous tightrope and apparently can’t see the vast cavernous drop below his feet.

“It was my fault,” I offer, even if the man doesn’t deserve my reinforcement. “I hesitated to come when summoned.”

Remus’s gaze slides to mine, and he tips his head with the kind of deadly curiosity that sends curls of fear down my spine. “Why ever would you hesitate, Dove?”

The click of the door interrupts my attention, and Agatha sweeps into the room, followed by another guard, who pushes a steel cart holding a lidded steel pot, and trailed by a second guard behind him.

Something coils deep inside my stomach, telling me there’s a game in play.

I remember reading a book on the dinosaurs, the way velociraptors hunted in tandem, and I can’t help but visualize Remus and Agatha the same way. Just as the hair on my neck stood on end reading about the animals, imagining myself caught between them, I feel equally at a disadvantage now, staring at that pot.

Jarvis takes notice, too, though his stance is far more relaxed than mine. Every nerve in my body is alive and in defense.

At the sounds of splashing water from behind, I turn to see Remus step out of the tub, the stark view of his naked cock enough to send a jolt of discomfort through me. I lower my gaze, catching Agatha’s amused expression as she hands him a towel.

“Agatha tells me you touched Thalia. That your hand was at her throat.”

“She resisted, as she said.” The casual dismissal in Jarvis’s voice is unsettling, the way he doesn’t seem to question Remus’s sudden interest.

“Of course. Yet … you weren’t asked to punish her. You were only asked to bring her to me.”

“And what am I supposed to do when she doesn’t want to?”

“Is that the case, my dear? Did you flat out refuse?”

If I say yes, it’s my ass on the line. If I say no, it’s the guard’s.