Page 6 of Master of My Heart

Blood rushed to her head, making the room spin and blinding her with gold-and-red sparkles. She closed her eyes and waited for the dizziness to pass.

Once she could see again, she rolled forward to crouch silently, listening again for boots in the hallway. After several minutes of balancing on her toes, there was still no evidence of life outside the heavy wooden door that stood between her and the rest of the house.

She slowly pulled open the heavy door and looked up and down the hallway before stepping out of her room, listening for any sound, any indication she wasn’t alone.

She heard nothing.

Quickly and silently, she searched the house. The rooms were empty. The courtyard was vacant. She avoided the arena, though. She knew what lay beyond that door.

It was silent.

Escape!

Energy rushed through her body at the idea. She ran back to her room and threw open the closet to toss her few possessions into her dance bag. She slipped Chase’s ring onto her thumb.

There was no question in her mind about her destination. Boston. It was the only place she knew people. The only place she could imagine going.

Sabrina pushed away the doubts that threatened to seep into her mind. She couldn’t waste time doubting herself. Khyan could return at any moment and she didn’t want to be here when he did.

Her bare feet slapped against the tile floor as she ran to Ramon’s office. After rummaging through several of the drawers of his desk, she found the ID he used for her when he had to take her someplace.

Sabrina De Souza.

Did anyone around here even know her real name?

She might be safer using her real name, but didn’t have any identification. She shoved the ID into the bag and looked around the office.

Not only was Ramon her keeper when Khyan wasn’t around, he also ran a drug and human trafficking ring linked to Mexico. Girls headed for the sex trade, and drugs headed for everywhere, flowed in and out of the compound constantly. She had been in his office plenty of times while he did business. It always involved a lot of cash, which he kept in his safe.

Please be open. Please, for the love of God, let the safe be open.

She hurried to the closet. Inside, the safe sat open, a duffel bag half-filled with cash next to it. It looked like Ramon’s men were in the middle of transferring money and drugs to the safe when she... lost control.

Sabrina grabbed several stacks of cash and shoved them into her own bag. Ramon wouldn’t need it anymore, and Khyan certainly didn’t need it. Immortals didn’t need cash. Well, Immortals like her did.

She paused. Immortal. She was Immortal. Khyan would be able to find her. And the Immortal part of her was the dangerous part. The uncontrollable part.

On the top shelf of the safe, she saw what could keep her from being discovered. With shaky hands, she took the nickel-sized diamond between her thumb and forefinger and stared at it for a moment as it glittered in the light from the window.

This was no ordinary diamond. This particular one had the ability to draw her Immortality out of her blood. Not all diamonds had that capability, but these came from the place where the Immortals lived. It was the same type of diamond Khyan shoved into her grandmother’s mouth before he murdered her.

I can hide from Khyan if I use this. It makes me human.

Once, Khyan used it to draw out her suffering so she couldn’t heal by sleeping. She managed to sneak out of the room and hide in a closet. Because the diamond claimed her Immortality, he couldn’t find her, and they turned the whole house upside down searching for her. Finally, one of Ramon’s men discovered her hiding under the coats. Khyan raped her repeatedly, filling her with his essence to ensure the return of her Immortality—and his ability to sense her. He never used it again. She knew what she had to do, but she didn’t know if she could. It was an excruciatingly painful process.

Sabrina picked up her bag and stared at the diamond as she walked back to her room, contemplating what she needed to do. Could she be brave and face the pain of ripping her soul apart?

But why would she want to keep it? It was evil and hurt people.

She lay down on her bed, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and put the gem into her mouth. After a few seconds of nothing happening, her veins began to burn. She clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut as the gold in her blood began to boil and make its way to the awaiting vessel. Her skin was on fire. She wanted to scream. Her muscles contracted, her joints popped. Her chest tightened, as if trying to suffocate her. Her hands clenched into fists, fingernails digging into her palms. Groans escaped her throat, and she pressed her shaking fist to her lips to keep from spitting out the offending object.

The boiling agony intensified and a blood-curdling scream finally escaped her mouth. The diamond fell to the floor as she wrestled with the pain.

Sabrina rolled to her side and stared as the diamond rolled across the tile. She closed her eyes and let the blackness overtake her.

Chapter Four

Sabrina woke with a start, her heart pounding as if she’d just finished the Black Swan’s thirty-two fouetté turns from Act II of Swan Lake.

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