Page 41 of Kiss the Dawn
Fuck, Eliza’s mates had me. And it didn’t take a genius to figure out their intention. My mind raced as I formulated a strategy, a speech, something to get me out of this situation. Maybe if I faked being unconscious for a little longer, they might say something to confirm their plan.
“She’s awake,” the deep voice said.
No use pretending now. I opened my eyes and tried to lift my head but came up against constraints. My heart burst into a canter as I tried to move my arms and legs and found them restrained too.
“What the fuck? Eliza?”
“Orina, don’t be afraid. I won’t let them hurt you.” I couldn’t see her because I couldn’t move. I fucking couldn’t move. Panic burgeoned inside me, something primal and savage pushing up from beneath my skin.
“What is that?” one of the males said.
“I can feel it too,” another replied.
“Null it. Do it now,” a third voice demanded.
The power surging inside me died, leaving me weak and trembling. “What did you do to me?”
A blond-haired man appeared in my line of sight. “I nulled your power. Power you shouldn’t have. What are you?”
“I’m a member of the Order, so get these damn straps off me now!”
“Brennan, please,” Eliza said. “This is wrong.” She came into view, golden hair spilling over her shoulders, eyes filled with a plea. The guy shook his head and walked away from me. She followed, and my heart sank because now I had no doubt as to what they planned to do to me. The one thing that would allow them to keep Eliza without restriction.
They were going to kill me.
I needed to reason with them. “If you do this, then you doom us all. You realize that, don’t you?”
A man with dark hair stepped forward. “We know about Loviator. The story that’s been told about the vampire king’s curse. Who knows if it’s even real?”
“So that’s what you’re telling yourself to justify murdering me?”
Brennan came back into view, a storm of conflict raging across his face.
These weren’t bad men. They were desperate men. Cornered men. And I’d dealt with their kind plenty of times. All I needed to do was insert a little doubt to weaken their resolve.
“I know the stories are true because I’ve seen it. I was in his head. I saw Ezekiel’s memories. Loviator is real.”
“Don’t listen to her.” A silver-haired man joined them to peer down at me, his lips a thin sneer. “She’ll say anything to get out of this.”
There was no doubt on this one’s face. He had to be the driving force for this plan. Their ringleader. “I’m sure as witches you have a way of checking if I’m lying or not.”
“She’s not lying,” Brennan said.
Shit, I’d gotten lucky with that one.
“So Loviator is real, so what?” Silver Hair said. “Doesn’t mean the curse terms are real. They could be fabricated to keep Dracul in check and?—”
“The public doesn’t know about the curse terms.Not even the nobles know about it.” Now even silver-hair guy looked worried. He glanced at Brennan, who nodded, confirming I was telling the truth. “Heck, I wageryouonly know about it because the Circle wants to replace Eliza with me.” I realized my mistake in mentioning her when all their expressions hardened.
“I can’t lose her,” silver-hair guy said. “Loviator or not. I won’t.” He turned to the others. “We have power. The Isle has wards. This isn’t our problem.”
No. This could not be happening. Heat flooded my veins, and a vise gripped my lungs. “Kill me and you could doom the fuckin’ world.”
“Zarin.” Eliza clutched the silver-haired guy’s arm. “We can’t do this.”
She’d gone fromI won’t let you do thistowe can’t do this…This was bad.
Zarin cupped her face and stared deep into her eyes. “You don’t have to do anything, my sweet. You don’t even know about this.”
