“They’ve got eight hours to respond.” Taz’s breathy, nervous voice makes me think of a hyena. A spineless, lying hyena. “What then?”
Metal scrapes across concrete as Blix rises from his chair. “Then we incentivize them.”
I know what that means, and my stomach sinks. Eight hours… It’s the length of a workday, and it will go by fast. How much time has gone by already? It can’t have been longer than a day… I can’t tell since we don’t have a window, and I can’t read a clock. Less than twenty-four hours.
Ava is on a cot, but I’m on the concrete floor. The warehouse is cold and damp, and it smells faintly of gasoline exhaust. A loud drill clatters, and the sound of cranes lifting boxes never stops. Occasionally a strange beating noise I can’t seem to place will run for about ten minutes then fade away.
In spite of the din, I managed to doze for a while. Now I’m awake. My hip still throbs, but my head has stopped hurting. We’re all in one large room together, but Ava’s too far for me to talk to her. I can’t tell if they’re worried about us trying to escape, or if they simply don’t want to hear our voices. Not that we can accomplish much with me injured and blind.
The only hope we have is our plan. I’m not sure how we can make it work in our present situation. Still, I know our trigger word.
Blix is walking around, and I notice he stopped where I’m sitting. His feet are in front of me, and I can make out his dark shape looming above.
“You loved him?” he asks.
Occitan feels like a dream to me now. Logan feels like a dream. When my eyes are closed, I can see his smile clear as a bell. I can see his eyes, and even though his face has matured, it still smolders in my memory. I can feel his arms and his lips on my skin. I can feel his beard teasing my thighs.
“Not answering me?” Blix is waiting, but he’ll only use whatever I say against me.
“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have been any use to you.” I say, not giving him anything he doesn’t already know.
“You’re no use to me now.”
How many times have I watched him at this game? How many times have I wondered when it would be my turn to play it?
“I must be of some use or I’d be dead.”
“Touché, Cassandra, although your usefulness will only cause you pain.” He touches my chin, moving it roughly with his finger. I jerk my face away. “For a few moments, I actually wondered if it would be hard for me to kill you.”
“Don’t kid yourself. When the time comes, you won’t even see me. I’ll be meat for you to carve up for your purposes.”
He exhales as if he knows the meaning of regret. “No one knows me like you do.”
I’m about to respond when he turns and walks away. I listen to him take five steps to the left before stopping again. “Your majesty.”
Ava’s voice is as defiant as mine. “What do you want?”
He takes a few more steps, then a scraping noise like he turned on his heel. “So beautiful…” Shuffling noises come next then Ava inhales a sharp breath. “It would be a shame to ruin it.”
Her voice is still strong. “I don’t care if you cut me.”
“It’s easy to say until the cutting starts.” He chuckles, and anger burns in my stomach. He’s holding a knife on her, probably against her cheek like he always does to me.
Searching my mind, I try to think of anything to distract him. Ava beats me to it. “Beauty has cut me deeper than you ever could. It made me a target for abuse when I was a child. It drove us onto the streets. If you’re looking for a way to hurt me, you’ll have to do better than that.”
“I know how to hurt you.” He grabs her, and she emits a startled cry. “Your king won’t want you once I’ve finished with you.”
“Then his love isn’t worth much.” She’s speaking as if he has her by the mouth.
Blix grunts, and she falls back onto the cot. I place my arms on top of my knees and press my forehead against them, willing myself to calm, focus. Ava is okay, and we know where the knife is. The ball is in her court now.
The men are speaking softly to each other. I take a deep breath and
lean my head against the wall. Cam’s death tries to creep into my memory. I’ve done my best to keep it at bay until I can finish our plan. Once we’re out of here, we can go back to the mill, and I can recover his body, bury him… and mourn him. Tears threaten, but I’m able to hold them off when Dev rushes into the group.
“We got something.” They all move quickly to him.
“What is it?” Blix’s voice cuts through the chatter.