Page 100 of Seduced

“Did you deliver my note?” Alexei asked him impatiently.

Wilder nodded.

“And?”

“She is gone, my lord,” Wilder said.

“No, she’s not,” Alexei said stubbornly.

“I’m sorry, my lord,” Wilder said.

“You’re lying!”

“I’m sorry. She said goodbye to Miss Rania and to Lord Lyon.”

“Wilder, stop it. I’m telling you, there is no way that she—She wouldn’t leave me.”

“I’m sorry, my lord.”

“Wilder…”

Wilder, I’m drowning.

“I’m sorry; it’s true. She’s gone.”

The roar that came out of Alexei’s throat echoed through the halls of the Underworld, all the way upstairs to the Hell Club, through its card rooms and dancing halls, and spilled out into the dark, damp streets of London.

twenty-six

Poppy

Poppy had been back home for three days now.

She did not know what she had been hoping to find there, but whatever it was, she did not find it. Mercy? Change? None of it would be found here. She was back in the prison of pain, trapped beyond hope of rescue.

I wanted to have a brother, she thought with sudden revelation.I wanted it so badly.

But that wasn’t to be found here either.

The minute she saw her brother, even before he spoke, she swallowed her tongue, she swallowed her opinion, she swallowed her thoughts. Just one look from him, stern and cold, and she disappeared. That one look, specific look he always gave her…

She knew it well.

She had been conditioned to respond to it with utter submission.

Just that look was enough for her to lose everything she had gained in these short days at the Underworld.

In his presence, she became small again.

Filled with sin and shame.

She lost herself, and she did not know how it happened, but she found herself once more on her knees, making penance.

Within moments of arriving back, it was as if she had never even been to the Hell Club, never even met Hades.

It was as if he had never existed.

And with him, the version of herself who had spoken and laughed and made friends and been kissed and had rescued a man from drowning…

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