Page 24 of Seduced

Wait, why do I have to follow? Why on earth am I doing whatever he tells me to do? What has happened to me?

But before she could contemplate the answers to these questions, her body, accustomed to years of submission, was already following him up the stairs, and then, suddenly there was a closed door in front of them. He opened it.

Hades stepped aside.

And Poppy saw what was inside the door and, just like the Scriptures said, the world ended in an instant.

Her world, at least.

eight

Alexei

He heard a soft thud behind him.

“What on earth—?”

He turned around, and found the boy sagging against the door, his face deathly pale. Alexei had just enough time to catch him before he slid to the floor in a half-swoon.

“What is the matter with you?” he asked in a fierce whisper.

The boy’s eyes were open wide in terror, and a fine sheen of sweat clung to his brow. His shoulders stooped in Alexei’s strong grip, and he was barely breathing.

“Hey! Are you all right?”

The boy was barely breathing, his lips turning white.

“This is ridiculous,” Alexei sighed, as he saw the boy’s eyes roll back in his head.

He tried to support him before he fell on the door and betrayed their presence, and knelt with him on the carpet. The boy’s eyes opened almost immediately, and he gasped for breath, struggling to remain conscious.

“For heaven’s sake, I just fed you,” Alexei said through clenched teeth. “Didn’t you literally just consume the entire breakfast table less than five minutes ago? Why are you fainting now? What is it? Breathe, damn you.”

The boy tried to inhale, but he seemed unable to move, gripped in a state of horrified terror.

“I cann—I can’t breathe—”

“Come on,” Alexei bit out, beginning to be afraid himself now too. “Come on now.”

He helped the boy to a seated position on the floor, suddenly alarmed.

His skin felt clammy and cold.

“What is it?” he asked again, in a different voice. He looked into the boy’s huge eyes and felt his heart stop. The boy was terrified beyond reason.

What in all hell could it be that caused him such unspeakable horror?

“Tell me what you need,” Alexei said quietly, but the boy was not breathing again.

He was turning blue—he couldn’t move or speak. His chest did not move. He looked as if he were about to die. Alexei prided himself on never being frightened—unless he absolutely had to—but he was about to lose his mind.

He shook the boy’s brittle frame.

“Breathe,” he hissed. “Come on, inhale. Get some air in those lungs. Come on.”

The boy took a shuddering, shallow breath, and Alexei rubbed his back. The boy gasped, and looked ready to burst into tears. His face turned from white to red.

“Yer lordship,” he tried to say, still panting for breath. “I saw…It can’t be true…No no no…” He couldn’t draw enough air; he was choking on pure fear.

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