Page 98 of Of Daggers and Deceit

Blinding blue eyes stared back, sorrowful.

He leant down towards my face and whispered, “Please make this easy. For Riley.”

For Riley? Riley had drugged me. Riley was trying to get rid of me. Riley was no hero.

A knee cracked in protest as I felt myself moving down to the hard, sandy floor.

Sly looked down at me once with a pleading expression and retreated a few steps to stand alongside the betrayer.

Pins and needles pricked my legs, and my face contorted from the uncomfortable sensations. I slowly moved my hand down to rub the shifting tingles out of my legs in a weakened effort to ease my discomfort.

“Well, isn’t this a surprise?” a rough male voice interrupted the silence.

Did I know that voice? It sounded familiar, though I couldn’t immediately place it. I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off Riley, though. She had seconds to take it all back.

She could still take me back.

Neither Riley nor Sly seemed deterred by his question.

“I want to make an additional trade. I believe she is what you requested. Her in exchange for my mother.” Riley oozed confidence, her hands clasped delicately in front of her, Sly standing proudly beside her.

The cold seemed to penetrate my bones at her words. We were meant to do this together. As a family.

“Is that so?” a second voice commented, a challenge to my sister rather than a question.

Sly took a step back from Riley, his eyes fixed on me whilst I desperately searched for an inkling of my power.

“Yes. She has been sedated, as they all have, guaranteeing her compliance. I can see you have already completed your part of the deal.”

The sand shifted around me as a body moved to kneel over me. “You are lucky to be wanted after the stunt you pulled,” he murmured.

I panicked at the threat in his tone, searching quicker and faster inside me, worried that I was losing time as I found and followed a tiny ember of light within me, latching onto the thinnest thread of my power, beginning to pull.

I felt hefty resistance against my demand as I looked down at my body warping in and out, a sign my power was not fully in my grip. But I wasn’t deterred by difficulty. I pulled harder, yanking as I fought to regain composure and control, desperate to get back to Bohdi.

“Enough, Raya.”

I looked over at the gentler of my kidnappers as he cocked a gun at the back of my sister’s head. She didn’t balk.

“Stop, or I fire the gun.”

I considered him as I looked through hazy eyes. They seemed friendly, close enough to plot this entire night together, but was I willing to take a chance with her life? Even if she was a terrible person, as vicious as Zander, was I willing to be?

No.

With my lips pursed, I slowly released the tiny thread of power I had found and felt myself solidify completely.

I slumped onto my back and stared up at the night sky, taking note of the beauty and wonder the space above us held, how perfectly imperfect the stars hung, despite the weight of the words I had spoken to them over the years. I’d do anything to distract from the pain of this night.

A head popped into my line of sight, blocking my vision completely. Silver hair glinted in the moonlight, and hard, grey eyes stared down at me. This was a face I knew: the same Gifted asshole who had taken my mother. I turned my eyes away from him, not wanting him to bear witness to my failure. Grief waged a war, inside me.

A breathy laugh escaped him before he cleared his throat and leant down towards me. “I’m not interested in games. I already know you are a cruel, vicious little thing. We all do.”

He had no idea who I was.

“You need to hurry up and get going. We had a deal. Hand it over and get out before you fuck everything up.”

Who the hell was this new version of Riley, this viper of a sister? This whole time, she pretended to be this beautiful, graceful icon of the Haven, an inspiration to us all.

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