Page 46 of Brutal Empire

Looking into Bastian’s eyes was a mixture of both feelings. I wanted to step inside and see what it would feel like to have that cloak on me once more, but I was terrified that if the darkness came for me again, it would never let me go.

The look in Bastian’s gaze intensified. With the playful smile he had earlier gone, and even with his beard, I could see the sharpness of his jaw as if he was gritting his teeth.

“You will not die.”

The conviction in his voice was deadly and powerful that if anyone could set their will in stone, I would not be surprised it was him.

“Are you going to die?” I held my breath as he answered because if this was a suicide mission, would I still go through with it?

In the blink of an eye, his demeanor softened. I think that was what terrified me the most about him. Bastian was smiles and humor one second, and then the next, he would be death.

“Someone as handsome as me can’t die. It would be a crime against humanity.”

Yeah, one thing he wasn’t was modest.

“Come on, eat while I explain some things to you.”

He set my plate next to his, and I looked at it and then at him. I had been at his side since the moment I met him, but why was my stomach in knots now?

“Cam,” he warned as he pointed to the plate of food, and I immediately began to walk.

Bas didn’t begin to speak until I had finished my food.

He looked ahead after he put his fork down, and I waited for him to begin speaking, but there was hesitation. Maybe that should have been a sign that this was not as black and white as he wanted me to think. When he began to speak, he didn’t look at me.

“Damian is in Chicago,” he said, then paused.

“Okay…and we are in Texas, right?”

Slowly his head turned my way, and he searched my face, and when the guard he had seconds ago disappeared, his shoulders eased.

“Right, so we have to go to him.”

I nodded because this was obvious.

“Is there something you aren’t telling me?” I cocked my head and searched his features for a telling sign that he was lying.

“There’s going to be an event, Angel, and it’s okay if you want to stay back.”

“No,” I told him. “We’re in this together.”

His eyes flashed, and I could tell my answer had oddly pleased him.

“It’s an auction, Cam,” he said in a softer tone.

One second, I was here. The next, I was falling. Was I weak because I kept going back to the past or strong enough to finally take it?

I didn’t think you could become numb to the cold, but somehow, I had. My throat burned from yelling and lack of water. Every time I tried to swallow, I flinched. Now that I was quiet, I could hear my surroundings, and I wished my voice box had not given up on me. I’d rather hear my screams, my pleas, than those of others. It wasn’t comforting to listen to others going through the same thing. If anything, it was even more terrifying.

“Is she going to the auction?” one of the men roaming the halls outside the cell I was being held in asked. He had an accent I couldn’t place, but it wasn’t as heavy as the one who always spoke Spanish.

“No, the pale demon wants her separated from the rest,” someone else answered him.

“Does my father know this?”

“Yes, and she’s off-limits.”

“I like my women willing.”

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