Page 121 of Savage Blood
Ice poured through my system,and the sweat coating my skin quickly cooled the longer I stared at the empty cell, the stark white and silver interior devoid of any life.
Ruin was gone.
Fane slammed his fist against the wall, though not hard enough to break anything, and snarled. “I knew he wouldn’t stay locked up for long.”
Invisible claws raked over my chest as my mind tumbled down a black hole. “But did he go willingly, or did Roxie take him?”
Fane scowled in my direction. “You really think Ruin, a powerful high demon, could be bested by Roxie, a twenty-something-year-old raven?”
“He has a Malbraxis manacle,” I pointed out. “He’s not at full power.”
I liked to think the panic came from the loss of our link to Hawk and had nothing to do with fearing for Ruin’s life.
Yes, he was an asshole and a villain.
And I’d already mourned him.
But I still cared for him despite all the horrible things he’d done. The bastard was hard to shake.
As we raced from Silver Ridge to the lab, Fane called Logan and Wrath, and of course, both were out when they received the same alert on the security cameras as Fane did. Logan wasn’t even on Earth. He was in Illyria, the witch realm.
Neither Wrath nor Logan thought Ruin could break out of his cell. Hediddesign them to keep shifters and demons locked up.
Of course, none of them expected Roxie to just waltz right through the place.
I jogged down the hall to another cell where Estella, the beautiful dux demon and former alchemist, perched on her cot, reading a chemistry book. “What happened?”
She didn’t even peek up from the glossy pages, as if she couldn’t hear me. My eyes narrowed, and I banged on the glass.
“Estella, where’s Ruin?”
“How should I know?” She finally deemed me worthy and lifted her electric blue gaze from her book. “He’s the reason I’m locked up here, and he’s barely spared me a second glance.”
The bitterness clinging to her words made me flinch. Estella was totally in love with Ruin, but he never returned those feelings. Maybe she’d finally grown tired of pining after someone she couldn’t have.
“Did you see what happened?” Fane asked, looming at my back like a wall of fury and heat. “It’s important, Estella. Please.”
After we caught Roxie walking through the lab, the camera feed mysteriously cut out. I wouldn’t be surprised if she bought an enchantment charm on the black market to screw with the cameras.
By now, she could have already killed Ruin and hidden his body.
The dux demon just flicked her emerald braid to her other shoulder and turned to another page in her book.
“I’ll talk to Wrath and Logan,” Fane said. “See about getting you out of here.”
She scoffed. “They’ll never let me out. Logan doesn’t want me to leave, so he can use my mind whenever he has an alchemy problem he can’t solve.”
The edges of Fane’s lips curved into a sexy smile as he moved past me and leaned his elbow against the glass. “I’ll make sure they listen, at least give you more freedom. How about moving back into your old room upstairs?”
I arched an eyebrow.“Should I leave you two alone?”
“After what you did—without even talking to me about it—I should lock you up in one of these cells for a few days as punishment.”
“Try it, Maverick. I dare you.”
Estella slammed her book closed and sat up, crossing her legs. “All I saw was that low-class raven whore saunter down the hall like she owned the place. Ruin’s cell unlocked, and then their footsteps traveled in the opposite direction.”
“So you don’t know if Ruin left on his own or if she coerced him?” I explored the floor for any signs of demon blood. “You didn’t hear them speak?”
