Page 54 of Heartless Enemy

I dragged my gaze up to his face. Wide blue eyes stared back at me in fear.

“Derek Reynolds?” I asked.

“Y-yes,” he said, confirming that he was indeed the healer. Then, even though I hadn’t done or said anything else, he added, “Please don’t.”

Frowning, I touched my palms together and then raised my hand so that I could remove his restraints. But I never got that far, because he did something I hadn’t expected.

He flinched.

His whole body trembled as he held up his hands again as if to protect himself. “Please don’t.”

I jerked back, losing the grip on my magic as I stared at him.

He flicked a desperate glance around the room. The chain grated against the floor as he tried to edge away again.

Shock and disbelief pulsed inside me because I recognized those signs all too well. They meant that he expected to be punished. Expected us to hurt him even though he hadn’t done anything. I knew, because I used to flinch like that too whenever that fucking blacksmith whose name I refused to utter would raise his hand.

“Christian White beats his healer.” The words were out of my mouth before I could even think them through properly. But the realization had stunned me so much that I was having trouble thinking straight. “Ahealer.”

Healers were worth their weight in gold. So why would White treat one like this? It didn’t match up with what Eve had told me about him. That he had ordered his men not to hurt her when he had taken her captive. That all the bruises and wounds she had sported when I rescued her were caused by those three dark mages I slaughtered in the cabin.

Confusion entered Derek’s blue eyes as he flicked his gaze between the two of us again. He must have assumed that we were White’s people, but was now starting to realize that we weren’t.

I cast another glance down at the chain resting like a snake on the floor. Derek Reynolds was trapped in this room, shackled to the floor, by someone who abused him enough to put terror in his eyes the moment someone so much as raised a hand.

And it was allmydoing.

He had been living a peaceful life in a village out on the coast, safe from harm and people who abused him. Then I had ratted him out. I had gotten Maggie to locate him. And then I had traded his life for Gemma’s.

Don’t get me wrong, to save Gemma, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

But I still couldn’t quite swallow down the guilt that crawled up my throat as I watched Derek flinch again when I took a step forward.

“I don’t understand,” I began, holding his terrified stare. “Christian White beats you?”

Panic flashed across his face, and he cast another look around the room as if checking whether this was some kind of trap. When no threat materialized, he returned his confused stare back to me and admitted, “Yes.”

Shaking my head, I turned to Eve. “But you said—”

“I lied.”

I blinked.

Eve cleared her throat and glanced away before repeating, “I lied.”

“Eve.” My voice dropped low, pulsing with the promise of vengeance. “Look at me.”

She dragged her gaze back to me.

“You lied about what?” I prompted.

For a moment, it looked like she wasn’t going to reply. Then she sucked her teeth and blew out a long sigh. “He beat me too. When he took me captive.”

“He didwhat,” I growled. It wasn’t a question.

“Look, I didn’t tell you because I knew how you feel about settling scores. And I didn’t want you to fly into a blind rage and get yourself killed.” She cast a glance filled with regret towards Derek, who stared at us with stunned surprise in his blue eyes. “But yeah, it wasn’t just White’s people. It was him too. He was trying to force me to reveal my powers, so he beat me up and cut me.” She pushed up her sleeve to show a long scar along her forearm. “Saying that he would let me heal myself too if I healed one of his guys.”

My hand shot out. Wrapping my fingers around her wrist, I held her arm up like that before she could drop it again. Rage roared through me, making blood pound in my ears, as I stared down at that huge fucking scar. It was so all-consuming that I was having trouble thinking straight. All I wanted to do was to paint this glittering castle red with White’s blood.

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