I didn’t turn around.
I stepped from the villa that housed a hundred contraptions of persecution and locked the door on a goddess who spoke the truth.
Chapter Twenty-Four
I STOOD UPRIGHT, STRETCHING out the kinks in my entire body.
All night, I’d alternated between sitting and trying to sleep leaning against the bars, lying on my side curled into a tiny ball, or standing to alleviate the biting pain of the bars into my thighs.
The wire bottom was the worst part. It wasn’t the lack of space or claustrophobia; it was the constant fiery lashes of metal biting into the soles of my feet, my legs, my ribcage.
It made me pity animals whose homes included such torture. Mice that lived on wire. Rabbits that lived in hutches. The agony of just a single night drove my mind to jagged points, let alone being my permanent state of existence.
I’d slept intermittently—another bad night’s sleep compounding onto the previous few. I would’ve willingly traded sleeping under a bush to this monstrosity.
After Sully had gone, I’d resigned myself to the darkness, the silence, the strange fear that’d sprung through me when his eyes had gone blank with the past. His mask of indifference and callousness had dropped, revealing a man who carried tangled agony in his heart.
If I could’ve bent the bars to get to him, I would have. I would’ve crawled into his arms and dragged him back from whatever hell he relived. Maybe if I’d touched him, things might’ve worked out differently. But because I hadn’t, his walls reconstructed, his mask repositioned, and whatever connection that’d stealthily bloomed between us was shot with an arrow and left to die on the cage floor with me.
Standing on one leg, I did my best to give my left foot a rest from the wire. When the red welts faded a little from my skin, I gave my right foot a rest, balancing easily and training my mind to stay calm instead of chaotic. Occasionally, I stood on the tray Sully had placed inside with me, but the slippery surface was as equally tortuous as the wire.
I wanted out.
I’d never wanted anything more in my life.
But losing my mind wouldn’t make my release come any faster.
Instead, I watched the sunrise through the windows crowded with cages. I nibbled at the food and rationed the water so I wouldn’t have to use the bucket in the corner. As hours ticked past, I steadily lost my tenacity and became teary with exhaustion.
By afternoon, I’d reduced myself to pissing in the bucket and slouching against the bars in some broken marionette pose. At least such tiredness meant I was able to sleep, able to ignore the pain from the metal wire.
My eyes shot open at the scrape of the villa door opening.
I tried to scramble to my feet, but instead I slipped on the tray and crashed deeper into my discarded puppet pose.
Masculine footsteps paced methodically toward me as I turned to look over my shoulder and braced myself to see Sully.
After a night in this jail, my heart had hardened toward him. I had no tender hope where he was concerned, just smouldering anger. If he could lock me up and leave me here, then he didn’t deserve any understanding. I refused to beg for attention. I would never lower myself to his affection if this was what he was capable of.
I moaned as I clawed my way to my bruised feet.
A pair of green eyes met mine.
Not Sully.
Calvin.
He’s returned from wherever he flew off to.
His stare dropped from mine, skating over my body.
I gulped and rapidly retied the robe. The top had gaped, revealing a breast and the now no longer sunburned skin, thanks to Sully’s serum. No hint of redness existed, and the blisters on my hands had healed practically before my eyes.
No more pain from my attempt at running way.
Only pain delivered as my punishment for returning.
“Good morning, Jinx.” His lips spread into a harsh smile. “I see he found you.”
I puffed up my chest. “I let him find me.”
“Is that so?”
“It is.”
“And how far did you make it? One island…two?”
I cocked my head. “You tell me. He found me on Serigala.”
His eyebrows rose with a faint tinge of respect. “Impressive.”
“How many islands is that?” I’d asked Sully, but he hadn’t replied. I’d also asked how far I’d still had to paddle before I would’ve been free. He’d also refused to answer that.
“Five.” Calvin pulled a key from his pocket and inserted it into the padlock. “Farthest a goddess has managed, so kudos to you.” His mockery made my anger flare.
I stepped from the cage, doing my best not to limp as he opened the door. “How many more miles before I was out of Sully’s dominion?”
Chuckling, he strolled to the exit, expecting me to keep pace. “Another thirty or so. But that doesn’t include the neighbouring islands that are owned by other rich bastards. Some holiday there, some live permanently, and some never visit at all. Either way, it’s a one hour helicopter ride to Java, so I doubt it would be kayakable…especially for someone untrained.”