.2

.2


ELINDIN’S POV

RILEY LOOKED NEARLY unrecognisable, I took note of as I tugged the sheet over her, my fingers trembling and my stomach in painful knots.

When she had been brought into bed by Dominus Seneca hours ago, it had just been the swelling on her forehead, the blood converged around the wound, and the splatter over the front of the jersey hanging off her frame. 

She had been unmoving but still whispering in her sleep.

But now, beneath the faint glow of her bedside lamp—my chest heaved in ragged breaths—Riley looked dead. No whispers. No movement. No occasional twitch beneath her lid. 

Just dead.

I remembered my mother telling me that sometimes, when people were between worlds, talking to them and reminding them of what they had to return to, could draw them back.

There was only one thing I could discuss that might reach her at the crossroads of death.

Nina.

My heart ached because I had gone in search of her like I promised and hadn't found her. 

I followed every hint, every trail, asked the other maids, and everyone had no answer to give about where she’d been taken.

Then Tamsin, one of the maids with frightened green eyes, had cornered me. “The possibility of Nina being taken to a hospital for treatment is zero,” she'd whispered, clutching my arm. “We all saw her being taken away on that stretcher. It could be to dump her body. She could have been eaten by demons…. but, Elin, she was already so weak. They wouldn't waste effort on treatment.”

The message was clear: there was zero chance Nina was still alive.

But, I didn't want to believe it. 

Not until I confirmed it with my own eyes.

So I lied.

“My lady,” I started softly, clutching the sheet where I sat at the foot of her bed. “I… I found Elin. She’s not here, yet, but she's getting much better.”

I scooted closer, watching for any flicker, any slight breath. 

“And the Dominus said she'd be returned to her work once her burn healed…”

Nothing. 

“...which surprisingly looks better than it did the last time I saw her. I spoke to her and she asked about you…” 

Still nothing. 

“.... She even teased about a demon child growing in your womb.”

Not even a twitch beneath her lids. 

“The Dominus took her to really good doctors so you should be rest assured…”

I paused, reached up and touched her foot through the sheet, but immediately recoiled with a wheeze. She was burning hot. So much my fingers sizzled like they’d been pressed to the hot surface of a cooking gas.

I wanted to tell her the real thing, give her the real information, not the soft lie I was feeding her. 

The head of the rebels had found her so important that they moved before I even finished tapping out the warning.

It had only taken a few minutes after the message went out from the hidden cell I kept under the floorboards in the maids quarters. I had barely sent the words The breeder got attacked at an evening out. when my device buzzed in response.

You were placed there because of her. Protect her at all cost.

I had stared at that message for a long time, trying to make sense of how a slave who was turned into a breeder could ever hold that level of value. 

Trying to understand why they pushed me into this castle two months ago under the pretence of being a slave.

My being here was never a coincidence. The Dominus choosing her was never a coincidence. Everything circled back to her in ways I still did not understand.

I leaned forward and let my voice fall into a trembling whisper. “We’re getting you out of here before dawn.”

Instantly, an unexpected lightning struck so close to the window that the room was momentarily washed in a blinding, terrifying white light.

I screeched from the suddenness and cowered away from the bedside, my arms flung up instinctively. It was as if someone had just heard my whispered secrets and was about to strike me dead with the bolt from the sky.

Thunder rolled in a vibrating rumble, and in that instant, the rain began. 

Violently. 

Wind filled the room. 

The curtains billowed wildly mid air. 

Fat flecks of rain drops sprayed into the room. 

I didn’t want to take my eyes off Riley. 

Not even for a second, but I needed to keep the air out. 

I lunged towards the windows. 

I fought the drapes. 

I struggled with the handles. 

I’d only turned for a few seconds to keep the windows shut and rain out, but when I turned back, Riley was spasming in bed.

Her whole body arched, twisted, and smoke spiraled in the air like she’d been set on fire. 

She was screaming loudly, thrashing the sheets into a tangled mess, her eyes rolled back into her head, showing only the whites.

I tripped over my own feet and went sprawling over the tiles. 

“My Lady! Stop!”

I scrambled up, rushing to the bed. 

Just as I reached out to grab her to try and hold her down, to stay put, to stop the demonic thrashing….

The door burst open, and a huge man sauntered in.