Page 87 of Of Daggers and Deceit

“She’s gone, Riley,” she wept, and that force on my throat constricted.

“I know, Raya. I know.” I rested my chin on her head, my chest now wet from her tears.

“Where’s Bodhi?” I asked, and she began to gasp for air, her body shaking.

I pulled back with wide eyes, my hands tight around her body. “Raya, breathe. It’s okay. We will get through this.”

More lies just dribbled from my lips. Truth be told, I didn’t know if we ever would recover. Inside, I felt a grief so vast, I didn’t know where it ended or began, but I needed to be brave for her.

“It’s my fault. It’s all my fault,” she repeated. Still, I didn’t understand what she meant, and I didn’t know where Bodhi was. He would be here. He had always been here for Raya. I frowned.

“We tried to leave…We had a plan to find somewhere safe and get away for a week.”

Any thought I’d had died, and my skin turned cold.

“What?” I breathed, but she didn’t give me a chance to understand.

“They took her just as we passed the shield. We were going to come back for you.”

Her words were bordering on senseless. How could she think this was okay? How could she have done this?

“Why would you do this, Raya? Why did you breach our shield?” My voice rose with my emotion. I was frantic and could scarcely fathom it.

My pulse pounded in my ears. I was going to be sick.

“I told you. They are going to use her! I tried to get us away. We need to be free.”

My face turned stony, a pit opening in my stomach in response.

“Freedom, Raya? Where? With the Dominants? Who raped, pillaged, stole, and demanded the subservience of Omegas? Where would you go in a world you know nothing about?”

My voice was gritty and harsh, and I watched as Raya reared back as the force of my words slammed into her.

She turned and flicked a small lamp on before turning back towards me, her chin trembling. My heart hung heavy in my chest when I noticed the darkness underlining her eyes.

“They will bring her back in a week. They said they will give her back if I go with them.”

My fingers squeezed around her, my gut plummeting. I needed to get control. “No.”

I had fought so hard to keep my family safe, and that wasn’t a negotiation I was willing to accept. I didn’t make all these sacrifices for it to end like this. Raya was foolish, selfish even, but she was my sister, and I would die for her if I must.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in. Be rational, Riley. Think.

“Who exactly took her, Raya?” There was a small kindling of hope inside me. I had to be smart. I had a deal, after all, one I could perhaps wield to my advantage to save them all.

“Raid, Silver, and him.” She spat the words out at me as hope flared more brilliantly with this information.

“Who’s him?” I asked.

“Jakari,” she whispered, and my eye twitched—the Dominant who had broken her heart and stolen my family’s treasures. I hadn’t seen him when I had made the deal with the others.

I clutched her cold hands in reassurance, pulling them into my lap.

“I will fix this, Raya, and we will have her back. But you have to pretend, okay? You have to pretend to bend to them. Do not go through the shield, but pretend that you are willing and coax them to bring her out. Can you do that?”

She nodded, blinking away her last few tears as I leaned forward and wiped a stray tear from her cheek.

“You need to trust that I will do everything to protect us, do everything within my power to keep this family safe. Please just trust I can do that here.”

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