Page 134 of Owned

What did they want?

A crushing weight of helplessness mingled with the fear of what would come next.

I could feel their eyes raking over me, dissecting my every vulnerability. But their silence was more dangerous than anything.

“Please,” I breathed, though I knew it was pointless.

The keylines shimmered. Mocking me.

I’d been stripped of my magic. My freedom.

Did anyone know where I was?

Was anyone coming to find me?

“Avril Velez,” one of the faceless wraiths spoke and their voice was smooth and chilling as it sliced through the silence. “You are a murderer.”

A lump rose in my throat as images of the two masked figures I’d attacked in the forest flew into my mind.

“Theytried to killme,” I spat back. “I defended myself.”

Silence again.

“Where am I?” I demanded. “You can’t keep me here. Lucian— You have no idea what Lucian will do to you… and his sons…”

A crazed laugh bubbled up in my throat as I imagined what Bastian, Valen, and Titus would do to my captors.

“What will they do, child?” someone asked. “Do you think they’ve even noticed your absence? Rotting away in your bedchamber like a forgotten fairytale princess?”

Those words were a slap.

I didn’t want to admit they were right—that I’d worried about the same thing. Briefly. But the thought had been there.

Weaponized doubt.

“They’ll find me,” I said through gritted teeth. “And none of you will survive it.”

Laughter met my strident retort.

“Do you really believe that?” a woman’s voice asked. “Even when you have seen firsthand how quickly Lucian replaces his brides?” She paused to let her words sink in, and I shifted uncomfortably on the floor. My feet were numb. My fingers were cold and stiff.

“Did you truly believe that you could be different? Perhaps we’re doing you a favor—”

“If you want to do me a favor, then let me go,” I snarled. “I was trying to escape— Let me go. You’ll never see me again!”

“Now why would we do that— When you have offered us nothing in return?”

They— They wanted something from me?

“What do you want? I don’thaveanything— No money— Nothing—”

“Position,” the woman said. “Proximity.”

Confusion rippled through me. “I don’t understand—”

“We will release you,” she said. “But only if you make us a promise.”

I didn’t like the sound of that.

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