Page 23 of Splitting Secrets
“Raze doesn’t even need gifts to destroy you,”they had warned on the beach.
So, what the fuck is this?
Tucking my feet beneath me, I slowly lift myself off the ground to stand. My thigh muscles are so sore, I nearly collapse, but I use the wall for support.
“They hurt you.”
The words fuel my fury enough to propel me off the wall and into the empty chair. I fall into it with a wince, then twist around to face him.
“Astute observation.”I choose to play along and send the reply through our mental pathways. “It’s been such a dream living here, in the bowels of hell. What gave it away? Was it the blood dripping down my face or the whistling my lungs make when I take a breath?”
Raze doesn’t look amused. He doesn’t seem pleased by my injuries at all. In fact, for the first time since I’ve known him, he’s somehow allowing exactly what he’s feeling to play across his face and flow into my chest.
And what he’s feeling is pure rage.
More bitter and potent than I’ve ever felt before.
“What do you want?” I voice the question aloud. I’m far too curious to ignore this little game he’s playing.
His rage disappears in an instant. It’s like he’s flipped a light switch and turned it off. Or at least, shut me out. Instead of replying to my smartass mental remarks, he answers the question aloud.
“I want to know what you know about the Midnight Syndicate.”
“The cameras in the room have been disabled, but they’ll still have an Aeternum come in to relay what happens here. You have to play along carefully,”he silently warns.
Inhaling through my nose, I lean back in my chair. “Nothing.”
He shakes his head. “Come on, Sonny. That’s not going to get us anywhere.” His voice is tauntingly smooth as silk, with ahint of amusement. It’s the first time I’ve heard him use my real name, and I hate the way it sounds on his lips.
He sounds nothing like the man I knew. Even in my thoughts, his tone is urgent and rushed—a stark contrast to his snide, grumpy attitude.
I can’t decide if this is some sort of mental torture they’re using with me, or if he’s truly playing two different people right now.
The Viper and the professor.
“There’s a key in your cell along the back wall.”
That has my eyebrows raising.
“I can’tseeanything in my cell, jackass.”
“Feel around for it, then,” he growls into my psyche impatiently.
“Silence won’t help you,” he coos in a remarkably contrasting tone, reminding me to speak out loud too.
I ignore it.“How are you doing this if you’re a Null?”
His answer is swift.“I’m not a Null.”
“Valeria, then?”I guess, cringing at the thought. Surely, he wouldn’t have slept with me if he thought I was of the same bloodline...right?
His mental response is a gentle purr against my mental walls.“Worse.”
Scraping his chair across the floor, he pushes against the table to stand, then paces toward the wall to my right and leans his shoulder against it. “Sonnet Ellery...” He clicks his tongue tauntingly. “Secret daughter of Constance Chevalier and Carter Ellery.”
That has me seeing red. “Don’t speak their names,” I quickly bark out. It’s a knee jerk reaction that I instantly regret. Lowering my voice, I add, “You don’t deserve to say their names ever again.”
He smirks, but I swear I can feel a hint of remorse wafting off him. Perhaps it’s just my sadness blinding me.
