Page 60 of Twisted By Darkness

I taste fucking enamel. “Yes, the others.”

“Worry not about the others.” He points at Ren. “This is the one who’s still alive. Shouldn’t you worry about keeping him so?”

Fear washes over me, not like cold water, but like knives. I shiver, pain makes me wince. No, I can’t let him see I’m afraid for them. They can’t be dead. They’re strong, brave men, and they would not go down this easily. I won’t let this villain, this angel with a demonic heart, convince me otherwise.

“They’re not dead,” I say with my best nonchalant voice. And I’ve spent long enough teaching myself not to sound and not to look worried about my prospects. So when the Collector looks back at me, one of his eyebrows is arched up on his forehead.

“You sound very certain.”

“I am.”

“Then you wouldn’t mind if I killed this one.”

I frown. “What? What does that have to do with the others?”

“Well, why do you need so many of them?” He motions for me. “You have grown into your power, Cassandra. You don’t need them to keep you safe.” And he reaches for a phone over his desk.

“They’re not with me to keep me safe.” I shake my head. “I mean, they do that, but that’s not the reason they’re with me.”

He swipes his fingers on the screen, but his eyes are on me. “Not your protectors? Then what?”

“They are my family.”

He stops. Both brows shoot up now. “Your family? I thought your family had died.”

“They did. They’re my new family. A family I chose.”

“Mm,” the Collector hums, looking back at the cell phone for a moment before putting it away. “Strange concept. Humans, magic-dwellers or not, tend to need others, don’t you? You’re powerful, Cassandra. Why would you need others? You can learn and take over the world if you so wish. The Dark Realm is there,” he waves off his window, “ready for you to pluck. Ready to be bent, to be turned into your playground.”

“I don’t want that.”

“And that’s what I don’t understand.” He steps closer, and I close my hands in fists, keeping the shadows leashed. No use lashing up at him now, not when Ren could get hurt. “Your entire life you lived in poverty, Cassandra. In rejection. Why won’t you claim what’s yours by right?”

“I don’t want to rule anyone.” All I want is my men, and some peaceful time for me to learn this power. I want them to stay safe, and I want Oreo to grow and flourish. For a change, I want to not feel hunted.

“A ruler keeps their people safe. Why do you think Kayn wants to break into the Dark Realm and supplant his mother?”

I open my mouth to retort, but there’s nothing to say. He’s right, and worse — Kayn is right, too. Gods, how can this be? How can I agree with Kayn — if that’s truly what he wants to do? Am I agreeing with the man I’ve been running from since the beginning? The man who almost killed Donatello?

No. No, no. I can’t agree with him. He must have ulterior motives. There’s no way he’s in this just to keep his family and friends safe. No way he’s killed my parents for something like this.

My face burns, my mind whirls. I don’t know what to do. Kayn has to be on his way. The Collector is in front of me, the man who started it all. The man who kidnapped Tristan, who hurt so many others. He took me away from Apollo and Ren, he’s been the subject of Apollo’s entire life work.

I can’t let him get away. But what about Ren? Can I attack the Collector without wounding him?

Ren lifts his head, long hair curtaining his face. I barely see his eyes, but they burn when he looks at me. He’s not hurt. The swelling disappeared from around his eye. Thank the gods for his shifter healing. Ren moves his lips, but I don’t hear a word. Narrowing my eyes, I glance at the guards, making sure they’re not watching me. Is Ren trying to say something?

He repeats the action, moving his lips. I can’t hear a thing, and the way his hair falls on his face makes it impossible for me to read his lips. Does he think I’m better at this than I actually am? Shit, we never discussed lip-reading. Does he have a plan? I can’t read his words. My stomach churns, flips, and my hands start to shake. Shit shit, what am I supposed to do?

Then his eyes move to somewhere over my shoulder. They focus there. I turn my head an inch, checking what’s behind me, but there’s nothing. This is just the way I came through, the door and the servants’ passage, and...

Wait. Oh, shit, it’s so obvious now. How was I so stupid?

Ren is not talking to me.

CHAPTER31

CASSANDRA

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