Page 53 of Blood Caged

I feel a surge of anger at his words. The image of Mia, her emerald eyes flashing with defiance even as she submits to the blood draws, flits through my mind. I can imagine her unleashing the kind of destruction Heath is suggesting. But is she bad? No. She’s simply defending herself. Who wouldn’t?

But I can’t voice these thoughts. Not here, not now. They’re already questioning my loyalty.

“I assure you,” I say instead, “that the facility’s security measures are more than adequate to contain any witch, regardless of their bloodline.”

Maxwell looks between us, his expression unreadable. “I trust you’re keeping a close eye on her, Soren?”

“Of course.” I nod, meeting his gaze steadily. “She’s under constant surveillance. I oversee it myself.”

“Surprise, surprise.” Heath snorts.

“What are you implying?” I growl.

“Well, I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said she was easy on the eye.”

“That’s irrelevant. She is my primary responsibility regardless of what she looks like, Moonshadow,” I snap back. “Say what you like, but my maker has given me a task, and I will do it to the best of my abilities.”

“Or maybe you want to ‘do her’to the best of your abilities, huh?” He smirks.

I feel my fingers curling into fists. “Where are you going with this, witch? Because I’ve had just about all I can take from you.”

“Gentlemen,” Maxwell interrupts, “Let’s stick to the topic, please.”

“That’s precisely what I’m doing,” Heath says. “And it looks to me like Lord Daire is letting his emotions impact his decision-making.”

“That’s bullshit.” I’m really losing my patience. “And none of this has anything to do with you.”

“It has everything to do with me,” he cuts back. “I have to report back on these changes, and I can assure you that people are not going to be happy to learn that witches are wandering around freely.”

I try not to roll my eyes. “They’re hardly wandering freely. They go out for an hour a day, under the supervision of a guard, into areas that have high-level security systems. We bumped up the magic dampeners for this purpose.”

“Well, my people—”

“Exactly what people are you talking about, Moonshadow?” I frown at him.

“You don’t need to know.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” I stand abruptly. “I am getting sick of being kept in the dark.” I turn my attention to my maker. “Maxwell, if you have nothing further to add, I’ll be leaving.”

He heaves out a breath, shooting a look at Heat before looking back at me. “You may go.”

I give a curt nod, turn on my heel, and stalk to the door without another word to Heath Moonshadow.

But even as I leave, I feel a nagging thought in the back of my mind. Maxwell may have given me permission to go, but he looked at Heath as if to confirm it.

Exactly who is pulling the puppet strings around here?

19

Chapter 19

Mia

Three sharp raps atthe door, and my stupid heart does a little leap.

Soren. He always announces himself this way. But he’s not due here today. And his knock woke me up, so it’s probably the early hours of the morning. He never comes at this time of day.

What’s going on?

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