Page 82 of Keeping Sarah

Quietly, I made my way back to where I had taken my loin leathers off at the door. I took Omen’s vial out and checked to make sure it wasn’t damaged. The glass was intact.

Now.

I poured the contents into Sarah’s water glass on the nightstand, swishing the blue liquid around until the water went clear again. I had to wake her to get her to drink it.

I smiled, so my voice wouldn’t frighten her, and whispered, “Sarah?” as I turned back around to her.

But it wasn’t Sarah who looked at me.

Rex’s head had perked up from her crooked neck. “You piece of shit,” he growled.

I almost dropped the glass. “What the fuck?”

“You knew I was watching when you fucked her,” he sneered. “What made you think I would stop watching your sexy ass when she was asleep?”

“I thought—"

“That if she was asleep,Iwas asleep?” His evil eyes narrowed on me. “I suppose that is your prize mistake, Cozz.”

I set the water down, and more calmly than I felt inside, I said, “Whatever you think you saw—"

“Don’t test me, Jac.” He pulled out a bone knife from the pillows and held it to Sarah’s sleeping throat. “I am in no mood.”

My heart slammed in my chest. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“What I should have done from the start. Guards!” he yelled.

He threw the bone knife at my feet as Sarah woke up from his shout. Three living men barged in and two of them grabbed me, restraining my arms against my back. She saw the bone knife by my feet and gasped, coming to all the wrong conclusions.

“Take him to the dungeon. Now!” Rex ordered.

“Sarah, this isn’t what it looks like!” I yelled, dying a little inside at the devastated look in her eyes. “I swear, Sarah, I didn’t—"

The very tall handsome guard whacked the back of my head and said, “Follow me, boys.”

He wasn’t in a guard’s uniform—he wore only a pair of shorts. He was young, with gray hair and hazel eyes. He reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t place him. His sneer did not line up with anyone I knew.

They dragged me down the halls and pushed me down a flight of stairs that ended beneath the manor. I landed in a heap. It was dank down there, like fresh air no longer existed. My head rang from the fall. The darkness was oppressive. Somewhere, water dripped.

The good-looking one in a pair of shorts said, “You were supposed to stay out of Faithless, but according to my family, you suck at taking direction.”

“Who are you?”

“Tantalus. Helios’ cousin.”

Oh, shit.

I was shoved into a barred cell, and the door slammed shut. There wasn’t even hay for a bed or a bucket for bodily waste. I jumped to my feet and looked back at Tantalus. “What happens now?”

He smirked and looked my naked body over. “Oh, any number of things could happen now,” he purred. “You’reveryhandsome.”

My stomach rolled in disgust. “What about Sarah?”

He laughed. “What about her? Rex will do what he always does. Whatever he wants. And he likes me, so I thinkImight get a turn with her, too.”

I gripped the bars in my hands, wishing I had the strength to rip them apart. “Don’t you fucking touch her!”

“Ooh, you think you have any say in what happens now?” His sneer was back. “After we’re all done with her, I’m not sure if Rex will keep her around to fuck her or just kill her and move on. But your little bitch is ours now. Be good, or we’ll have our fun with you, too.”

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