Page 93 of Dance of the Phoenix
“You ...” I spluttered, unable to find the words as panic rose inside me. “Where am I? Why are you here? What—”
“Easy,” he cut me off softly. “I’ll answer all your questions, don’t worry. But first, I need to check something.”
The Jinni who’d once kidnapped Isora and Zoey and fought Ragnor and me all those weeks ago, stretched his arm toward me. I flinched,not wanting him to even breathe next to me, but he touched my temple despite my evident recoil.
“Interesting,” he murmured, withdrawing his hand. “It seems you somehow retained your sanity, despite losing your Alara Morreh.”
The shock returned with a vengeance, only this time, it was multiplied by the thousands.
He didn’t just sayAlara Morreh, did he?
“That definitely makes things easier for me,” Wode said, smiling again, just as the door behind him opened, followed by what seemed to be a maid holding a tray. “Ah, food is here. You must be hungry. I also got some blood for you. I hope B plus is all right.”
Wode took the tray from the maid and shooed her away before he put it on the nightstand. “Come on now,” he said. “Sit up and eat. You look like you haven’t eaten in days.”
I wasn’t hungry. I wasn’t even thirsty. I was too shocked to even register such unimportant needs.
He sighed. “You either sit up by yourself or I make you,” he said, giving me an almost pitying look. “What will it be?”
Beyond the shock, the thought of him, or anyone else, touching me was distressing enough that I sat up, took a spoon, and ate the porridge on the tray.
“Good girl,” Wode murmured soothingly, “you’ll need all the energy you can get for the next few days.”
I had no idea what he was talking about, and I didn’t care. I had to get out of here, so nothing else mattered.
Wode kept quiet until I finished the food and drank every drop of blood. Only then did he say, “Let’s talk.”
Ragnor’s face suddenly flashed in my head, and the pain in my chest doubled, making me sick to my stomach. Seemingly aware of what was happening, Wode got a bucket from God knew where and gave it to me. I emptied the entire meal right into it, heaving until nothing was left.
“That won’t do, Aileen,” Wode said with another sigh. “As I said, the next few days are going to be hard on you. The process of removing an Imprint is quite hard on the body.”
I froze, raising my head to stare at him, eyes wide. “What did you just say?”
Wode grinned sinisterly. “Ah, yeah, that caught your attention, didn’t it?”
“What did you say?” I repeated, my heart beating so hard, it was almost deafening.
He leaned back against the chair and crossed his arms behind his head. “As I said, we have a lot to discuss. Let me tell you some dry details first.”
He spread one arm to gesture over the room before he returned it behind his head. “We’re in our new headquarters in Vegas. I know,” he added when he saw shock slamming into my face yet again, “it’s kind of like we’re closing a circle. We met here for the first time a few months ago, after all.”
“How long have I been out?” I said, fear now replacing the shock. How could I be in Vegas, when I had just been in Houston? I couldn’t have been out for more than a few hours ...
“It’s been three days,” he said, shrugging. “You were unconscious for a while, which makes sense, since you have just lost your Alara Morreh.”
I began to tremble. “You keep saying my Alara Morreh,” I said, voice shaking just as much, “but I have no such thing.”
Wode’s eyes widened. It seemed nowhewas shocked. “Didn’t Rayne tell you?”
My trembling grew worse as a foreboding feeling settled in my gut. “Tell me what?” I asked, feeling tears welling in my eyes. I knew what he was going to say before he did, and I didn’t want to hear it.
I couldn’t take hearing it.
But Wode was merciless, and he said the thing I feared most. “You were Ragnor Rayne’s Alara Morreh. ‘The one who’s promised,’ as those winged assholes call it.”
Shaking my head slowly, all I could say was, “No.”
He arched a brow. “You seem to know whatAlara Morrehmeans, so that means you know about the Malachi,” he said, “but it appears you didn’t know that way before he was a vampire, let alone even a human, Ragnor was a Malachi.”
