Page 97 of To No End

His foxlike features twisted into a grin. “I’m in the business of procuring rare and beautiful things, hence why I find myself drawn to you.”

I ignored the flattery. I could smell alcohol on his breath, and his eyes were glossy with bad intentions.

“You know, there’s an absolutely stunning view from the private terrace of my room. Let me show you.”

Before I could deny him, he grabbed my hand and began leading me toward a door along the same hallway as the children’s room. I was panicked that he’d hear Varro and Trace tearing through the nursery in search of what we came for. I needed to somehow alert one of them and do something to get their attention.

I began to walk with him and then pretended to trip and fall on my dress. I let out a loud yelp, hoping one of them wouldtake notice. Nix helped me up from the ground, and I acted embarrassed.

“You ladies and those high heels. I don’t envy you. You can slip them off in my room, don’t worry.”

The implication was not lost on me, and I began to worry about my safety and Gia’s. Since Nix arrived at my side, I had tried to penetrate his thoughts. But despite the intoxication, his shields were unbreakable. Unlike the male from earlier whose mental shields were nowhere to be found, thoughts oozing off him like he might as well have said them aloud, this one was a steel trap.

If I was with Nix, headed to his bedroom, where was Gia? Was she okay? As we passed through the threshold of his doorway, I saw Varro out of the corner of my eye and gave him a hand signal to let him know something was off.

When we entered Nix’s bed chamber, he closed the door behind us and the echo of the lock clicking caused a pain in my chest.

“Take your shoes off, we can’t have you taking another tumble, can we?”

There was a padded bench at the end of his bed and I sat down, doing as he instructed but also using it as a way to stall. I began to work on the buckle of my high heel, when suddenly Nix was on his knees before me and taking my foot into his hand.

He fumbled slightly with the latches, but insisted on helping me remove my shoes, giving him a chance to greedily run his hands along my feet and up my bare leg. I anxiously pulled away and stood, trying to make my way to the terrace he mentioned.

“We really should check out the view, how much longer will it last?” I questioned, trying to sound like we were running out of time to see the veil.

When I turned back toward him, he was hovering over me. He grabbed my chin, squeezing it a little too tightly, turning it up toward him. “What do you mean? I have my view right here.”

He ran a finger down my bare chest, in between where the two yellow feathers covered my breasts. Then he placed his other hand on the white fabric of the skirt by my hip and began to drag it upward slowly as he said, “And here is my veil…”

His words were sour with drunkenness and potent lust. I needed to give the team time, but I was beginning to worry that if he ran his hand any higher, he was going to be quite surprised to find a blade on such a delicate bird.

Every fiber of my being didn’t want to do this, but I knew I had to find the courage.Be the bait, I kept repeating to myself. Control the situation, don’t let it control you. I leaned in and kissed him gently on the lips, pulling his hand from my hip up to my face and keeping him far away from finding that blade.

He showed no patience or restraint before his tongue was sweeping into my mouth. The taste of liquor on his tongue made my stomach twist. His kisses became deeper and more fervent with each passing moment. He was sloppy and stumbling, and I tried to keep us both upright as he pressed his body further into me. Then his hands began to roam once more. He pushed them against my chest and began kneading my breast.

I needed to scream, to cry, but instead, I focused my fear inward and let anger turn me hard like a stone. No matter where he touched or fondled, I would not let myself feel it, I would not let my body react the way it would as if this was welcomed or wanted.Just buy the team time, failure is not an option.

I let out a fake small whimper here and a moan there to make him think he was in control, that I was enjoying this. It only fueled his passion further, and that’s when he turned forceful. He shoved me down onto the bed and crawled on top of me.

I could feel the sheath of the blade along my leg beginning to dig into my skin. I wanted to grab it and stick it in his side, over and over, just like I had done with the Vesper, but I knew I could only do that as a last resort.

Saryn had permitted us to do whatever we wanted with Nix, but what if that set off a whole other chain of events leading to more chaos, leading us farther from getting what we came for?

He began to fiddle with his belt buckle and I tried to reason with him, “Maybe we could slow down, I’m not ready for that. Let’s go slo…”

Before I could finish my words, he put his hand over my mouth to muffle the sound of my voice. “Stop talking, little bird, and start singing.”

He tried to position himself over me and shifted his grip in an attempt to lift my dress. I felt his sweaty hands groping at my legs as he tried to reach between my thighs. At the same moment I felt his hand touch the sheath, I heard the loud banging of celebratory fireworks from outside.

Suddenly the doors to his bedroom flung open and Varro was standing there, having kicked straight through the lock. His eyes were wide, brows furrowed in anger as he took in the sight of Nix pinning me to the bed. Despite my attempt at acting, he could see the fear and distress written all over my face. Varro’s features were painted with frantic rage as he scanned the situation before him.

Behind him there were loud noises, yelling, and the sound of rapid footsteps. I knew we had to go quickly; with Nix distracted by Varro’s interruption, I reached for the knife, jamming it into his side and hopping from the bed as fast as possible.

Nix screamed in pain yelling, “You bitch! Guards! Guards!”

He crawled across his bed, blood pouring from around the dagger sticking out of him, and pulled a corded rope. A bellsounded, clearly used to alert the staff that danger was on the premises.

I left my shoes behind, because in reality I was better off barefoot than in those things, and ran toward Varro. The scene on the other side of Nix’s door was unraveling quickly into chaos we had not planned for.

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