Page 86 of Of Blood and Smoke

“Where are we going? Can you confirm that with Josiah?” I asked. Kent chose that moment to step away, tugging his cellphone from his pocket. I leaned back to try and grab my phone again when Jude grabbed my waist. I face-planted on the bed before I was removed from its surface. “Let me get my phone. And get dressed. I’m not going anywhere like this.”

He placed me on the floor in front of him. “Get dressed.”

A deep sigh of relief ran through me. For a moment there, I’d thought things were going to go a lot differently. Running my hand through my hair I stepped around him.

“First,” he said. I glanced at him and stopped.

“Clothes. Now.”

I scowled at the robot. He had a very limited, and annoying, vocabulary. “Fine,” I retorted. Opening my closet door, I asked, “Where are we going?”

“You’re going to assist Josiah. Wear something nice.”

Turning around, I appraised Jude. I couldn’t tell what he was, other than he must be something similar to Josiah and Micha, and the other men I’d met. He was tall and stupidly attractive; I knew that much. I couldn’t tell what he was wearing under the cloak.

Returning my attention to my closet, I grabbed a pair of pants and a blouse.

“A dress,” Jude snapped, tearing the garments from me and tossing them to the closet floor.

Rude.

My anxiety was still heightened from the disruption of having a stranger in my bedroom and facing an unexpected turn of events. Josiah had said for me to wait for him in bed, so I’d fully expected him to show up, not to get yanked out of my room in the middle of the night by another cloaked man. He’d never mentioned anyone named Jude.

Flicking through the hangers, I asked, “How do you know Josiah?”

No answer.

I knew Josiah liked red, so I grabbed one of the many crimson-hued dresses he’d bought me and tugged it over my head before shimmying my tank top off. I reached under the hem and dragged my sleep shorts down my legs and kicked them to the side. “How’s this?” I asked Jude.

“Shoes.”

My phone hadn’t gone off once. It would’ve made sense if the device dinged with a notification, something to tell me, to reassure me, that Josiah was waiting for me and this monosyllabic man was supposed to be in my room dictating myoutfit. He’d told me to listen to his guards, that they’d keep me safe if he wasn’t around, so I wasn’t positive what else to do other than what I already was.

“So, where did you meet Josiah? Do you work with him?” Jude ignored my questions.

I glanced at my bodyguard, and he was leaning against the door frame looking utterly bored. There was no undercurrent of tension in the air, I didn’t detect anything that would’ve told me I was in danger. Everything seemed perfectly normal.

“Josiah’s okay, right?” I tried again.

“Hair.”

It was getting to the point where I wanted to punch the man. Instead, I ran my fingers through my hair, untangling a couple knots and smoothing it down. I didn’t have any makeup on but that would have to be okay; it wouldn’t be the first time my boyfriend had seen me without it.

“Better.”

Throwing a dirty look at the man, I said, “Happy to hear I meet your high standards.”

It truly was like dealing with a machine. He took a couple steps toward me and held out his hands. “We’re leaving now?” I asked. My head swiveled searching for Kent. I wanted to ask him what Josiah said, if he’d contacted him by phone.

“Yes,” Jude said, grabbing my forearms.

“I can walk.”

He slid a finger to the underside of my wrists, pulled me close and everything went black.

It felt and sounded like a strong wind rushed around us before suddenly, we were in a patch of fluffy green grass. My back swayed and my legs buckled at the abrupt change of location. I gripped Jude’s arms to keep from falling over.

When I got my bearings, I looked around. We were in a lush garden with flowering shrubs full of white blossoms with a redliquid in the centers. Meandering paths wove around us, with black stone benches and statues, interspersed with a few trees. Something buzzed by my head, and I ducked, catching a glimpse of a small bird with a flash of yellow on its wing. In the distance, I spotted a towering wall that seemed to encircle us, and a faint orange fog hung in the air, wafting through the branches of the trees.

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