Page 100 of Of Blood and Smoke

“Della, you’re inferior.” His voice boomed, seeming to shake the building. “Not worthy of the man I crafted, raised, and molded. He will wed someone of high magic stock, someone pure bred—not you.”

The men stopped and he pointed at me when I opened my mouth, instantly erasing the words I attempted to form before I could speak them. Panic filled me again and over my utter helplessness, I couldn’t hear even an echo of my voice like I could the times Josiah had paralyzed me.

I tried to yell at the man and tell him Josiah had already claimed me, but it was too late. Perhaps it was best I was unable; I didn’t want to further instigate his ire. Everything that could go wrong, already was.

There was no magic in my blood, I knew this. Josiah would’ve tasted it.

The women in the dining room were drop-dead gorgeous, unlike anything I’d ever seen. They were so beautiful it was impossible to look away, it was like seeing the northern lights for the first time. Had Josiah wanted one of them, he’d have taken one for himself. He’d had hundreds of years to pick anyone of these women, but he hadn’t. Ezra was deluded thinking he’d choose one now, when he’d had all the time in the world before.

Josiah had chosenme.

“What if I do have magic and you just can’t detect it?” I taunted him, when he released the invisible hold on my mouth.

Ezra gave me a sarcastic smile. “That’s what we’ll figure out. Take her away.” He looked at the two guards, dismissing them.

Even though it was pointless, I continued fighting the men. I was fully aware, had I broken free, there was nowhere to go, but I wasn’t going down without a fight. Of course, I was no match for men twice my size.

As expected, they dropped me off in the same room I’d been retrieved from, and the door was shut firmly behind me. Stomping my way over to the wardrobe, I began peeling off the long gown I’d worn to the so-called dinner party.

It was outrageous that I was supposed to be the main course. I knew Josiah was brutal, and it went without saying that Micha must be too, even though I’d never witnessed it firsthand. He’d just sat there, looking bored, while my boyfriend carved Brett up, and that told me all I needed to know.

These people, the Ancients, had planned on doing the same thing to me—carving me up.

Did it really matter I didn’t have any supernatural DNA? Josiah had never expressed any remorse over the fact, in fact, he seemed to love me just the way I was. I’d never seen him give another woman so much as a second glance. There was no reason to doubt him.

But still, I felt the tiniest sliver of doubt at myself. How could I truly fit into his world if I was lacking? Maybe it didn’t bother him, but it did bother me a little bit. Could I survive solely off my stubbornness?

Lying on the bed, I tried to figure out how I’d freed myself from the invisible chains in times past. When I thought about it, it seemed I’d done it through sheerwill. The determination to escape the bonds had been the strongest driving force within me, nothing else had mattered in the moment.

My face flushed, thinking of all the times I’d tried to convince myself none of this was real, suggesting it was sleight of hand or a costume. I’d been scared, and told myself it was all fake. But it was very real, and I was very caught up in it.

Right then, I realized what it was that’d helped me in the past. Anger and frustration had driven me to the point where I’d gained my freedom, those emotions drove my stubborn nature. It was my fury over what should’ve been impossible—what I’d wanted to believewasimpossible—that instigated it. I’d used the same to make things better for me and my dad and hadn’t let anything stop me.

That same energy would have to be harnessed if I was going to get out of this without being turned into a holiday buffet.

My bedroom door swung open, and Ezra strode in, followed by the two guards who’d dropped me off. This man was now quite different than who he’d been earlier. Long gone were the fatherly vibes and the polite, almost regal, aura.

“Seize her,” he instructed, his voice rough and demanding.

Scrambling backward on the bed, I asked, “What are you going to do to me?”

Someone grabbed my ankle, and I lunged, taking hold of the side of the headboard. It didn’t take long for my fingers to slip away and my face to be dragged along the blankets while I kicked and screamed. My feet pounded the mattress, and the comforter was torn away right along with me.

“Whatever subterfuge this is, I’m going to get to the bottom of it,” Ezra snarled, shoving the bed covering away.

“I’m not doing anything to you. I did everything you asked.” My wrists were snagged and bound behind my back before I was pulled the rest of the way off the bed. “I was told Josiah needed me,” I accused him.

Ezra scowled at me. “And he does.”

FORTY-EIGHT

Della

“So where is he?” There was no reason Josiah shouldn’t have been here already.

Ezra stepped closer to me, leaving about two feet of space between us. “His first loyalty is to this court; I have no doubt of that. I personally made sure. He will come.”

He stared at me for a moment. “But he seems to not understand the urgency of the situation or how it has reversed due to his tardiness.”

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