Page 145 of Taken By Touch and Torment

SCARLETT

“Uhhh, have you all seen Brennan, by chance?” I asked.

Their eyes scanned down my body, flashing with hunger.

Liza inhaled deeply. “Whose blood is that, little human? Because I can scent that it’s not yours.”

“How did you know about the tunnels?” Evangeline hissed.

They were both in front of me in a flash. Liza grabbed my wrist, and I attempted to jerk it back. Her grip tightened, and that same strange flicker of magick left her fingertips, just as it had when we first met in Odessa.

Yet, nothing happened.

She let go.

“Answer us freely, or you will not enjoy our methods of forcing an answer,” Evangeline said.

I had no choice. The truth was my best option here. “Brennan helped me escape Rune,” I said.

Both of their faces flashed with intrigue, their cold eyes narrowing with calculation.

“I’m supposed to be a surprise. For Durian.”

“A surprise?” Evangeline asked, lifting a brow.

“People like surprises,” I said, shrugging.

“Interesting,” Liza said, catlike. She was obviously pleased to have uncovered valuable information. With the way the born men treated the born women, I had a hunch that secrets were their most lucrative form of currency around here.

But what did these women desire? Were they going to side with Durian, or with Brennan?

I searched their nauseating energy, finding all manner of sick and twisted urges to harm me. They were out for themselves, and it was clear they would side with whoever most benefited them.

“I assume I took the wrong passage,” I whispered, refusing to cower in fear when Evangeline gave me a sickly smile and trailed her finger down my bloody jacket. “I had to guess, because a vampire in bloodlust killed Aunt Carol.”

“Fascinating,” Evangeline purred.

I wasn’t sure if they believed me. It appeared as though they were simply giddy to have stumbled upon something interesting in a palace that relived the same night on repeat for an eternity. There were only so many ways vampires could torture and feast on human slaves.

“Well, we couldn’t possibly stand in poor Brennan’s way, not after such a catastrophic blunder,” Liza said. “I’m feeling… exhausted.” She grinned, putting a strange emphasis on the word that lit up Evangeline’s eyes. “Evangeline, won’t you see to it that Brennan finds his little surprise?”

All manner of warning bells were going off in a distracting cacophony. Both Evangeline and Liza were on my kill list, but it wasn’t time for eliminations.

I played gloriously naive while simultaneously fearful as Liza stepped back and Evangeline moved closer. Both were dressed in long, silky gowns—Evangeline in emerald and Liza in blood-red. Evangeline’s pearls were lopsided.

“Come with me,” she said.

I quickly envisioned the golden threads that connected me to Brennan, and I yanked.

Find me, I whispered to his mind.

Evangeline led me out of the drawing room and into a long, empty hall. Her straight black hair barely moved as she walked. To our left hung an ugly painting of a vampire feeding on a nude human woman.

I’d only glanced at the painting for a moment before I was pushed up against the wall, my head hitting the stone with a smack.

I let out a soft noise of pain, and Evangeline’s smile widened. She was feeding off my suffering, soaking in it.

“All this fuss over one pitiful little human,” she said.

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