Page 44 of Bound By Darkness

“It’s too risky for you to kn?—”

“I don’t care!” I spat, my willpower nearly breaking to keep my voice low. “You toy with my life like it is nothing. I need to know if he is after me because I refuse to go back… to become this experiment you think he will make of me. I am not a pawn, and it’s high time I start having a say.”

His lips pursed together. “I’ll tell you, but not here.” He jerked his head toward the square, his voice deadly quiet. “We will discuss this later after rest.”

“No, Ivan. I’m tired of being in the dark. Explain it to me now.”

“We’ll discuss it later.”

I opened my mouth, but he was already out of the alley, leaving me alone with rotting food and hanging webs. Jogging toward him, my body was hot with malice. “Our conversation wasn’t over.”

“It’ll have to be. We’re going to visit an acquaintance.”

Chapter 15

Old Bonds

THALIA

“You sure someone lives here?”

The shutters hung loosely from the windows as they creaked in the midnight breeze. Red paint cracked along the house, revealing the crumbling wood beneath. Cobwebs hung from every corner as we stood among littered bags of leftover trash.

A deserted mess as I flung pieces of sticky web from my fingers and shoulders. A shiver crawled down my spine as I wondered if a spider or two had taken residence on me. The house sent me into a panic, one I did not want to admit to Ivan as I stood beside him on the creaking porch.

Ivan kicked aside a few pieces of broken wood as he strode to the front door. A thin layer of dust coated the doorknob as he gripped it, rattling it.

“Shouldn’t you at least knock?”

“He’s never locked it.” He twisted and yanked on the metal knob, but the door did not budge.

“I think?—”

Ivan banged on the door. Hard.

Kicking aside a beaten-up pot, I watched it tumble over the edge as I stuffed my hands into my back pockets.

Ivan pounded on the door again, the tips of his ears tinged red. It was the first time I’d seen him angry.

“It’s gotta be abandoned. This place gives me the creeps.” It was the spiders. There had to be spiders.

“It’s not abandoned.”

“You’re delusional.” My foot scraped against the wood. “Isn’t there an inn nearby we can stay at?”

“Too risky,” he replied as he knocked again. “Someone might?—”

The door groaned, wrestling against the rusted hinges as a pair of brown eyes shone in the crack. “Leave me the hells alone,” a muffled voice said.

Ivan placed his hand on the door. “I wouldn’t be here if I had anywhere else to go.”

It shook once as the door creaked shut.

Ivan shoved his boot between the door and the broken frame, halting its path. “I have food… and company.” He shuffled to the side.

The door groaned as it sang against the hinges, those brown eyes meeting mine.

Taller than Ivan by at least another foot, his lean body conveyed hidden strength. A scar crossed his lips, and his black hair rested at his shoulders, half atop his head in a tight bun. His upturned eyes swiveled back to Ivan. “Go rest at the inn,” he said as his thumb and forefinger rested on the bridge of his nose. His accent danced through each word as he mumbled phrases in a different tongue under his breath.

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