toward the bed. I caught myself and whipped around.
His arm shot out, the back of his hand connecting with my jaw. Pain erupted along my mouth. I touched my chin, wincing when red smeared my fingertips.
“The prince will be displeased with your actions,” the ancient warned, looking like he wanted to knock me upside the head.
Lip bleeding and aching, I gave him a bloody smile. “Worth it.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
I ate my lunch on day four, even though mustard was not exactly pleasant with a split lip. Faye brought me a sandwich a little bit after one o’clock. She didn’t hang around and chat, which sucked because I was curious about her and what drove her to be so kind to me. Granted, it wasn’t like we were going to go out and get matching “best friend” bracelets, but she wasn’t like the others. But the only thing she said to me on the way out was that I shouldn’t have attacked Breena.
Maybe I shouldn’t have, but oh well.
Out of all the things I could regret in life, that wouldn’t even make the top thirty.
My thoughts went to a strange place, and I thought of Val. How would she treat me if I was here and she was still alive? Would she be kind or spiteful? Part of me wanted to believe she would step up and help me, but it hurt to realize there was very little I knew about Val.
Thinking of her made every part of me ache.
I’d just finished my sandwich when the bedroom door opened. I tensed when I saw that it was Drake. He was dressed in linen pants that most men wouldn’t look right in, and his shirt was half-unbuttoned. His feet were bare.
He was dressed way too casual, and unease stirred in my stomach. Drake had stopped by last night, mostly to yell at me for nearly gouging out Breena’s eyes and to tell me that he was glad I was no longer “filthy.” I was guessing Faye hadn’t told him the razor had gone unused.
“Miss me?” he asked as he stopped in front of the bed.
I snorted. “Not even in the slightest.”
“If I had feelings, I still wouldn’t care.”
Rolling my eyes, I scooted to the edge of the bed and placed my feet on the floor. I didn’t have a lot of space to move around, but I didn’t like being on the bed with him in the room. I stood like I did whenever he came in.
“Do you like the dress I picked out for you?”
He hadn’t asked that question before. “No,” I said, shaking my head.
“I’m not surprised.” He chuckled, and then moved like lightning, curling his fingers around my chin. He tilted my head back. “You know, Valor could’ve done worse to your face.”
Valor, ironically named, was the ancient who’d backhanded me yesterday. “We’ve already had this conversation,” I said, jerking my chin out of his grasp, hating that he’d allowed that and that was the one reason he wasn’t doing worse. “And I’ll say it again. I’m going to kill her.”
“Not likely.”
My eyes narrowed and my hands closed into fists. “You don’t think I’m capable of it?”
One side of his mouth curled upward as he tilted his head forward. His dark hair slid over his shoulders. “You’d kill her because she touched your human male?”
“I’d kill her because what she did to him wasn’t something he wanted,” I shot back. “It wasn’t mutual. If it were mutual, then my problem wouldn’t be with her.”
“How do you know?” he challenged.
I sucked in a sharp breath. “Because I know—because this isn’t mutual. Because being fed on isn’t something Ren would’ve wanted. Because—”
“And you think he truly wants you, even knowing that you’re a halfling?”
My shoulders tensed. Wondering if Ren still cared for me hadn’t been a priority since I was brought here.
“Let me ask you a question,” he said as he pulled the key from his pocket. “How do you think we captured your male so easily?”
“I doubt it was easy.”
His full lips twisted into a smirk. My muscles locked up as he reached around, scooping my hair up with one hand. “It was last Monday,” he said.
My chest squeezed. That was when I’d told Ren I was the halfling, which was what I’d expected. Ren had gone missing that night until Tuesday, then Drake had shown up, masquerading as Ren, on Wednesday.
“It wasn’t me who snatched your human male.” He unlocked the band around my neck and dropped it onto the bed. “It was Breena.”
I didn’t dare move, even though I now had a small measure of freedom. He still held on to my hair, and he was too close. When he spoke, his cool breath caressed my cheek.
“She caught his attention and lured him in quite easily,” he told me.
My hands balled into fists. “He saw past her glamour. It’s our job to go after fae when we see them.”
“And how do you know he was just doing his duty? Breena is beautiful, and you . . . well, you have this hair.” He lifted it up. “Not sure what to make of it.”
“Gee. Thanks.”
He chuckled, dropping the curly mass, but didn’t step back. His hand landed on my shoulder, a heavy, suffocating presence. “She rendered him helpless quite easily,” he continued. “I guess he was distracted.”
Of course he was, and it wasn’t for the reason Drake was suggesting. “I know what you’re trying to do, and it isn’t going to work.”
“It isn’t?” His hand moved from my shoulder to the back of my neck, and he forced my head back so I met his gaze. “Do you know when we feed, we can pick up thoughts? See inside someone? Pieces of their personality, their wants and desires?”
I didn’t know that.
His eyes were like pools of blue ice. “How do you think I was able to convince you I was Ren for a period of time?”
“Only for a handful of hours,” I reminded him.
Drake’s fingers tightened around my neck. “If we hadn’t been interrupted, I would’ve gotten what I came for.”
Anger and embarrassment flushed my skin. I tried to pull away, but he held me in place.
“I learned certain things about him when I fed, as I am sure Breena did.” He paused. “One of the things I picked up from your human male was his concern over those two men—Henry and Kyle.”
Great. But right now that wasn’t one of my biggest problems.
“You should thank me for removing at least one of those threats,” he said, and I clamped my mouth shut. “I did what your human male couldn’t do.”
“Murdering someone in cold blood isn’t exactly a desirable trait,” I shot back.
“We’ll have to disagree on that.” Letting go of my neck, he stepped back. “Do you know what else I learned?”
I all but darted across the room, putting as much space between us as possible. The bedroom door was closed, and I was smart enough to know I wasn’t going to get past him. I wasn’t sure why he’d let me go, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I needed to keep my cool, because the only chance I had was to earn his trust.
“What?” I asked.
Drake smiled tightly. “Your human male isn’t sure how he feels about you. He’s torn. He cares for you, but he loathes half of what you are. He cannot reconcile those two halves.”
The breath I sucked in burned, and a knot formed in the back of my throat, making my voice hoarse. “Why should I believe what you’re saying?”
“Because I’ve been inside your head and you share those same fears,” he replied. “You fear that he feels that way, and you would be right. He does.”