Page 2 of Knight’s Absolution

Or maybe she did?

She wasn’t sure, honestly.

Luna pulled off the road and stopped in an empty, shadowed parking lot outside Chambers Furniture Store. "You can take off the blindfold.”

With shaky hands, Grace removed the strip of fabric covering her eyes. She was a mess, and the scent of her blood—and there was a lot of it—was making it hard to concentrate, even as Luna’s stomach rebelled. Starvation was one of Sir’s favorite ways to control her, and he’d had her on an extremely restricted diet.

“You’re trying to stop him from releasing Diemos, aren’t you?” Grace asked, breaking the silence in the car.

Maybe it was the hunger, the burning pain in the pit of her stomach that had her dropping her guard, but she couldn’t stop herself from blurting the truth. “I’m going to kill him before he gets the chance. No one gets to do that but me.”

It was the right thing to do. Sir had aligned himself with the wrong side—and the power-hungry bastard had taken her and Ronan with him. It was her duty to stop him.

It would also appease the murderous rage she felt looking at his smug face.

Grace stared at her, long and hard. “You’re ill.”

Luna shook her head. Unless you counted starvation as an illness.

“We can help you,” Grace said weakly, her body trembling. “P-please don’t go back to that twisted fuck. You don’t need to sacrifice yourself for this cause.”

“I’m not ill.” She couldn’t stop her gaze from dropping to Grace’s throat, lingering on the frantic pulse beating there. Her mouth went dry, the pain in her belly intensifying.

It was only a matter of time before he allowed Luna to feed from him again, until her power thrummed through her like a live wire—until she felt Sir inside her, pumping through her veins like poison. “I’ll be okay…soon.”

“Your eyes, they look…lighter?”

Luna quickly looked away, the nausea spiking. “You’re mated to one of them, aren’t you?” she asked, ignoring Grace’s question. Not that she understood what that meant, not really. Mating. Sir spoke of it, the demons she was surrounded by did as well. But the concept of such a deep connection was foreign to her. Impossible to grasp.

“Yes.” Grace’s lids lowered, almost closing.

“Would you let your mate stop you from fighting? Even knowing the risks, could you stop?”

“No. I’ll n-never stop fighting.”

“I can’t stop either. I need to be where I am. I can get closer to him than anyone else.” Luna looked away, not wanting Grace to see the truth of her situation, what her survival—and the survival of her brother—involved. “I’m the only one who can kill him.”

She could see that Grace wanted to say more, ask more, but in the end, decided against it. “What about the other demi-demons being held?”

Sir had been collecting demi for their unique powers like some kind of evil zookeeper. Building an army here on earth for Diemos, the current ruler of Hell.

Grace had been trying to find and free them.

“I promise, as soon as I get back, I’ll get a message to your people, let them know where you can find them.” Sir couldn’t win, there was too much at stake. And the only way she could stop him was to stay with him.

Forcing her shoulders to relax, Luna dropped the block she had covering Grace while keeping up her own. Blocking herself was usually as easy as breathing, but the hunger made it a little more draining.

"So now what?" Grace coughed, wincing in pain as blood trickled down her chin.

“We wait," Luna said.

If what Sir said was true about a mated couple’s connection, Grace’s mate would have sensed her as soon as Luna dropped the block and would already be on his way.

With a groan, Grace leaned forward and opened the glove compartment in front of her, finding a pen. “Give me your hand. My number.”

It was a bad idea, but something inside her made her reach out, offering her hand to Grace. The pen slipped through Grace’s bloody fingers several times, but she managed to write her number just above Luna’s wrist, so her sleeve would cover it.

Grace blinked heavily. “I m-meant what I said."