Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 54625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
I inched toward Ares next, but one of the humans rushed toward the center of the room, sending me stepping backward blindly.
My back hit a table, making the contents on the top wobble around.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
I rushed to the side, hiding in a corner, heart punching against my ribcage, bile rising up in my throat, sure I was found out.
But the gods, they were oblivious, already a little high on whatever golden liquid was in their cups.
They didn’t even notice.
But I needed to waste another moment to pull myself back together, to wait for my hands to stop trembling. I would spill half of the extract if I tried to pour it right then.
But as I stood there, cocooned in my shadow, I could feel myself starting to fade, to shake for an entirely different reason.
I needed to hurry the hell up.
I forced myself away from the wall and across the sprawling room.
Ares was lounged on a chaise in the corner, a woman—oh, gross—bobbing up and down on his lap.
Well, he couldn’t get more distracted than a blowjob, could he?
I averted my eyes from their activities and focused on his glass instead, the liquid mostly gone. I hoped the extract wouldn’t be too detectable without being watered down by… whatever was in his glass. Or that he swallowed too much before he noticed.
I was so relieved when I finished with Ares’s drink that it wasn’t until I was outside again that I realized something.
Someone was missing.
Oizys, who was, arguably, the worst of my siblings; she was the one who did the most diabolical damage to others—mental, emotional damage. She’d quite literally driven people insane.
Where was she?
I wondered if maybe I should go back inside, head upstairs, see if she was in one of the bedrooms.
But who was to say she was even at the estate at all? Maybe she was out looking for new victims.
And I could be wasting the elixir trying to chase down someone who may or may not even be around?
“Daemon?” I whispered as I stepped into the woods where I’d left him, my heart in my throat, but also somehow in his hands. “Daemon, it’s done, but… Daemon?”
With each crunch of leaves in the underbrush, though, I knew something was wrong. He wouldn’t just walk away.
We’d walked through Hell together. Literally.
“Daemon?” I called, my voice getting louder, a little hysterical, as I tore through the woods, looking for any sign of him.
Nothing.
No.
No, no, no.
What if… what if he was back in the cellar? If Oizys found him and was torturing him there again?
I didn’t stop to think.
I cloaked and ran.
The second the door opened, the smell of decay met my nose, making me retch and hold my breath as I forced myself to descend the stairs.
I knew there was a body down there. But I couldn’t let my hesitation over seeing it stop me from making sure Daemon wasn’t being held captive again.
The body was crumpled on the floor just past the stairs, the damage done to him unspeakable. I couldn’t help but think that the torture he’d endured was somehow worse than that created by the demons that had escaped through the Hellmouth.
But I forced my gaze away, seeking answers to the questions growing in my mind.
There was nothing to find, though.
Just the body.
Blood on the walls.
Flies.
I ran back up the steps, slamming my back against the brick of the home, breath coming in ragged, unsteady huffs.
My head spun.
My heart sank.
Where was he?
A sob bubbled up, and I had to press my lips together to keep it in.
Daemon was immortal.
Even if he was being hurt somewhere, he would survive. He’d already survived so much.
Or, I forced my mind to entertain—despite my heart cracking at the thought—if he had run off on me, I couldn’t let everything we’d already done—everything I’d done even before he came along—all be for nothing.
The gods had to be well and drugged by now.
The poppies were gone.
I had one shot at this.
Adrenaline surged, chasing away the tiredness in my muscles, in my bones.
I had to finish this.
With or without Daemon.
Sucking in a steadying breath, I stood up straight, shook the tension out of my shoulders, called my shadows, then moved back to the front door.
I listened for a moment, wanting to make sure there was no outrage, no accusations of drugging.
Instead, I heard nearly hysterical laughter.
Before, suddenly, the front door sprang open, and several of the girls I’d seen earlier came rushing out, eyes wild.
“What the fuck is wrong with them?” one of them asked.
“I don’t know,” another answered, all red hair and smudged eye makeup. “And I’m not sticking around to figure it out.”
Smart girl.
With that, they took off at a run.
Well, it seemed like the poppies were doing their job.
Steeling my nerves, I rushed inside. I didn’t waste time trying to see what the gods were doing.