Page 15 of Beneath the Flames
I arched a brow, studying his features more closely.He had to be lying.Aside from the unique coloring of his eyes, he looked normal.Even the tattoo vining up his forearm beneath his rolled sleeve was a normal sight.This was just another one of his schemes to rattle me, to make me submissive.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Trust me.”Rhydian raised his arm and whistled as he lowered it, mimicking me fainting.“Stronger humans have fainted.What makes you thinkyou’dbe able to handle it?”
“Is that a challenge?”I asked.My teeth clicked together from how hard I closed my mouth.What was I thinking?This guy could kill me without a single touch.Provoking him was not smart, nor was inviting him to remove whatever his Veil was.Why couldn’t I control my reactions around him?I’d had a lifetime of practice.
Rhydian’s eyes narrowed, his annoyed glare sending prickles across my skin.But, after a moment, something shifted in his expression and in the tension of his shoulders.It was so slight, if I hadn’t been watching closely, I would have missed it.It almost looked like curiosity.Surprise flitted through me at witnessing an emotion other than annoyance or anger on his face.
“Do you want it to be?”he asked, head cocked to the side.
“I’d like your mind games to end,” I replied instead.Ineeded to understand this man—or whatever he was—and this world if I ever wanted to get out of here.That started by understanding him and this world.I wasn’t sure what this so-called Veil was, but I had a hard time believing that I wouldactuallyfaint once he removed it.And even if he did have some hideous features hiding beneath, I would grit my teeth and face it.I wouldn’t cower like he was expecting me to.
“Show me.”
Rhydian blinked at me, his lips pressing into a thin line.“Are you actually asking me to remove my Veil?”he asked, eyes widening.
I tried to feign indifference, calling on that emotionless mask I was so used to.Maybe if I acted like I didn’t care, he’d be more likely to acquiesce.I gave a shrug.“Well, if what you’ve said is true, then either I die now or I die from trying to escape this infernal place.What’s a few minutes?”
Rhydian shook his head, cracking his knuckles.“I have yet to meet a human who wasn’t frightened when I revealed myself.”
I felt the blood drain from my face, a question immediately bursting to my lips.“How many humans have you brought here?”An even worse thought had my gut sinking.“How many have you brought here to die?”
An unexpected wince contorted his face for a split second, the tips of his ears turning red, before he turned away from me.He started pacing again.“That’s none of your concern.”
I gaped at him.“You…you brought me to a place where I can’t leave, which apparently you’ve done before—many times by the guilt on your face—and that’s none of my concern?”
Rhydian stopped in his tracks, struggling to keep his expression neutral as he glared at me.“Well, maybe you should’ve been more careful.You shouldn’t have let yourguard down and let that man try to take you.”
It was clear I was getting under his skin, and I watched for any sign that he was about to hurt me.When he didn’t take a single step toward me, and that golden light stayed absent, I swallowed my fear, and dared to say, “Yes, because I knew the moment I stepped out of that bakery with a donut stuffed into my mouth that a strange man would try to grab me.”I crossed my arms.“I should’ve been running fromyouthe moment you spoke to me in the store.”
For a moment, he was silent.Then in a quiet, deep rumble that made my insides clench, he said, “Yes, you should’ve.”
Before I could ask what he meant, his hands began glowing with that gold light like they had when he killed the other kidnapper.
Was this it?Had he tired of me already?Was he about to slay me where I stood?
I pictured Lila’s cute nose scrunch and Joey’s gap-toothed grin in my mind, and the crestfallen look on my mom’s face this morning when I’d made that rude comment.Regret was a slimy feeling in my stomach.How was I ever supposed to apologize now?
I never even got to say goodbye.
Saying a silent prayer that they would be all right without me, I braced myself for the icy cold I imagined death would be.
Gold light filled the cave, forcing my eyes to close.
I waited, holding my breath, for death to find me.
I didn’t know what to expect.Maybe it would be a smothering darkness that wrapped me in an embrace.Or maybe it would just be a separation from my body, and my soul would wander this mysterious place forever.Or maybe I wouldn’t know anything happened at all, and I would just cease to be.
A few moments passed and nothing happened.The goldfaded from behind my closed eyes.
“What are you doing?”Rhydian asked, and I flinched.
“Waiting to die,” I blurted, keeping my eyes firmly closed.I wished I could say I was brave enough to meet death with eyes wide open, but that was the biggest lie I would ever tell.
“Death didn’t want you.”His voice held a trace of something I hadn’t heard from him before.Was that…humor?
“Open your eyes,” he commanded.
