Page 203 of The Doll and The Domination

“And they’re probably wearing those particular hats to taunt us,” Dessin speculates.

Niles sighs. “Skylenna isn’t going to like this.”

I nod in agreement. This will definitely set her off. But as I turn to gauge her reaction in the line behind us, she’s missing. I shift in Warrose’s hold, trying to search the sea of inmates waiting for their turn in the lines. No waterfall of honey hair. No long legs. No Skylenna.

“Dessin?” I ask.

He raises his eyebrows in my direction.

“Did Skylenna not come in with you?”

Dessin’s dark irises flick to the assembly lines, scanning the heads of hair, reaching all the way out to the entryway. His focus returns to me with a slight alarm wrinkling his brow.

“She was right behind me.”

~

Skylenna

“I’m not leaving without them.”

Kaspias tugs me through a few hallways I’ve never seen before. His grip on my wrist is stronger than an iron shackle, and he doesn’t loosen it even as I resist his pull.

“You’re the only one not affected by the devious little piece inside your ear anymore. Remember when you fought the dizziness in the dungeon? That shocked even Masten. Your friends don’t have that luxury,” he explains.

“So?!” I grind my teeth against the frustration growing hot in my chest. “I don’t care. We can still get them out!”

Kaspias shoots me a look with those black-rimmed eyes. “If I try to get them out with it still inside their ears, the walls encasing this prison will cause it to shoot through their brains like an arrow. Is that what you want?”

No. What? Of course, not…but…

The hallway shrinks around me, echoing the drumming of my racing heart. I’m out of breath, eyes pleading at the open space as we sprint. There has to be a way to free us together. Isn’t there?

“Kaspias…”

I can’t leave them. I can’t leave them. I can’t leave them.

“My brother would want me to get you out,” he hollers back.

Fuck. I know he would! I made a promise to him. But you know what? No. NO! I hiss, throwing my weight into my back leg and freeing my arm from Kaspias’s pull.

“I won’t leave my family behind,” I pant.

Kaspias stumbles away a few steps, straightening his posture and looking so much like the man I love, yet nothing like him at all.

“There’s word of a RottWeilen pacing the perimeter of Vexamen’s shores.” His words sink like an anchor. “They say it’s bigger than any RottWeilen in recorded history. Our archers have been given orders to shoot him down with Sapphrine Oil from afar.”

I shake my head, the word “no” shaping my lips.

“He’s yours, isn’t he?” he asks, lowering his chin.

I swallow, nodding.

“If leading in the cavalry is your best chance to free your family, wouldn’t you take it?”

Exhaling feels dangerously close to releasing venom from my body. My shoulders sag forward, and even my face melts into submission.

“Are you sure you can get me out?”

---