Page 45 of The Serpent's Bride
More clues. More bits and pieces of a puzzle to start sorting into some kind of order in her head.
It was all she had to go on. She was unarmed. Defenseless. And alone. While she could probably change her shape into somebody two or three times Monica’s size and snap the ropes that had her wrists bound behind her back—the key bit there wasprobably.
And the moment she revealed herself as a fae, they’d open fire, and it was all over. No, that was a bullet you only got to fire once. And she wanted to make sure she didn’t waste her chance. She needed better intelligence on her situation before she acted.
Who were these people? What did they want? And how were they planning on using her to get it?
There were at least two others, judging by the heaviness of their movements. Men, she figured, by the sound of the shoes. No one was speaking. Wherever they were, it was close quarters but vacant, like a long hallway or a series of corridors.
For now, she was content to walk quietly at the direction of the man who had a grasp of her upper arm. He wasn’t harsh with her. In fact, he muttered “Left” or “Right” to her when they were going to turn to keep from yanking her abruptly.
When he pulled her to a stop, she turned her head toward him.
“Stairs,” he explained.
“You can either carry me or be patient.” She smiled underneath the hood. “Your call.”
“Just fuckin’ pick her up, John. We’re wasting time.” That would be one of the other men present. By the sounds of it, someone loosely in charge. Or at least, more in charge than John, the polite one that was guiding her along.
Because of her arms behind her back, that meant only one thing. Fireman’s carry. Oh well. Letting out a sigh, she shrugged and turned toward John. “I’ll try not to puke on you.”
“Thanks, miss,” John muttered. He seemed like a nice boy. Shame she’d probably have to kill him by the time all this was over.
Sure enough, her world upended as he put his shoulder to her midsection and hefted her up. Keeping her wisecracks to herself about how this was hardly how she expected her weddingnight to go, she stayed quiet and didn’t struggle as they brought her wherever it was they were taking her.
They walked for another ten minutes, faster now that she wasn’t slowing them down, before one of the other men knocked on what sounded like a very large and heavy set of metal doors. A creak and a slide, and they were allowed entry.
She heard more people in the room this time, muttering to each other. Oh good, acrowd.That made things far more complicated. But while “complicated” meant more variables, more variables could be either good or bad. They meant more rolls of the dice. And right now, she could use all the rolls she could get.
Her world tilted again as she was put down into a chair. She felt John move behind her to tie her arms to it. Damn. Well, she shouldn’t be surprised.
“Raziel has already broken her spirit, eh?” A man’s voice in front of her broke through the quiet murmuring. His accent was thick. Dread started to build in her, creeping up her spine—but she pushed it away. No. She wouldn’t assume the worst. That accent could have another explanation. “Just like those vampirehrippaiid.”
No.
No, no, no!
Shit. Shit, shit,shit!
This wasn’t part of the plan. Adrenaline coursed through her like electricity.
Focus, Nadi. Focus.If she let it all disintegrate now, she was going to die here. Or worse, everything she’d worked for would fall apart into cinders and nothingness. She struggled to breathe. After a brief moment, she managed to speak. “No. There’s just no point in screaming, crying, or making a fuss. I don’t know where I am, who you are, or what my odds of survival are. Onlything I’ll get by making John’s life miserable is a fist to the skull. I’m not in the position to make enemies right now.”
The male voice huffed a laugh. “Smart girl. Heard you were from the outer posts. Had to grow up with a brain in your head. Take the bag off.”
Somebody grabbed the sack over her head and yanked it away. Blinking at the light, she groaned and shook her head, trying to blow her hair out of her eyes.
Part of her wished they’d left the bag on, though.
Because the moment she looked up, she received confirmation that her life had just become far, far more complicated, which was something she had no idea was even possible at this point.
Sitting on a table across from her, perched with one bare foot up on the wooden lip and the other dangling down, was her captor. Or at least, the one who was clearly in charge of the human men who had done the deed. He was watching her keenly, the creases around the corners of his eyes hinting toward his true age. The beads that were carefully woven into his hair were one of the ways she knew his clan counted the decades. It revealed not only hiscenturiesof age…but the places in the underground Wild he had called his home. Each one marked off somewhere he had been. Somewhere he had claim to.
Pointed, pale-green ears jutted from dark green hair that ran down almost to his waist.
Fae.
Luciento Iltani.
