Anger filled my chest for a moment. I’d trusted that woman. I thought she was nice and sweet and kind. She’d helped me, for God’s sake. She’d made that bracelet for me, and…we’d had breakfast together just that morning. Or was it the morning before? There were no windows here that could tell me if the sun was up still.
But we’d had breakfast, and she’d smiled at me like she pitied me the whole time. I thought she was sorry because she knew how I felt about Dominic. But she didn’t care about how I felt. She’d known that this would happen. That’s why she felt sorry for me.
Did Dominic know, I wondered? Was that why he left me alone?
No, it couldn’t be. Derek—unless I’d imagined him—was proof of that. He’d left him there to protect me, because…he knew it was a trap.
Of course he did. The pieces clicking in place made my head hurt even more. This whole thing was doomed from the beginning for me. That it had taken me this long to realize it was sad. I’d been so focused on trying to prove myself, way too focused on Dominic and all that he made me feel, that I hadn’t even suspected a single thing.
But…wait.
Tailsburry’s cut-off head came in front of my mind’s eye, shaking me to my core.
He hadn’t known. If he had, he wouldn’t have been dead now.
So…Sandra? Was she behind all of this? She’d been the one to give me the necklace herself. Did the other agents even know that it was an actual flash drive?
The door of the container opened, and I’d been so lost in my own thoughts, I had no chance of holding still. My head shot up and the moment I saw the high fae coming in, my stomach fell. What did it matter if Sandra had done this herself? I was here now. It was over.
“How are you feeling, Theodora?” the blond fae asked, stopping a few feet from me, while his redheaded friend went straight to the guard typing on the laptop.
“I’ve been better, but I’m not complaining,” I said, trying to keep my voice as light as possible. “I saw the gift you brought me. Thanks for scarring me for life.”
He pressed his lips together tightly. Was that supposed to be a smile? His face was so sharp, so symmetrical, it was hard to believe that he was even real. Impossibly beautiful, just like in the fairytales.
“You’re very welcome,” he said, like he didn’t catch my sarcasm at all. “Now, will you cooperate with us? We’ve cracked the password. All we need is the code to unlock the formulas, and you’ll be free to go.”
Liar.
He was lying through his teeth.
I swallowed hard. “No.”
His jaws clenched so loudly, I was afraid he was going break all his teeth. His hands in front of him fisted, and I expected one of them to connect with my jaw again, but instead, he looked away for a second to compose himself, then spun around and went to his friend.
“It doesn’t matter who gives us what we need—you, your team, your partner…” He let that word hang in the air and looked back at me for a second. Whatever he saw on my face made him smile before he turned to the laptop again. “One of you will.”
“Where is he?” I demanded. The thought that they had Dominic in a place like this somewhere drove me nuts. My entire body jumped up and down, no longer listening to reason. My magic shot out from my fingers violently now, responding to my rage, to my fear, and the shield holding me back finally vibrated a little bit.
Both high fae turned to me with sick smiles on their perfect faces.
“We have him, of course,” the blond said, making my heart skip a beat. “Tell us the code, and I promise we won’t kill him. We’ll let him go instead.”
He didn’t even try to hide the fact that he was lying—both his smile and the glint in his eyes said so.
I thrashed and moved and tried to get up as hard as I could while angry tears spilled down my cheeks, but even though the magic had faded a little bit, it still was too strong to let me move.
I kept trying, though. Now more than ever, I wouldn’t stop.
“Give us the code, Theodora,” the blond said, raising his white brows at me, unconcerned.
“I don’t know the stupid code!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. I didn’t know the code. If I knew it, I’d have given it to them a hundred times by now. I’d have done anything they asked, anything at all, if there was a small chance they’d let Dominic get out of this alive.
He couldn’t die. My God, just the thought of it broke me to pieces. He just couldn’t die.
Suddenly, the redhead was in front of me, his hands on either side of my face. I froze—and not because I wanted to. His magic was ice-cold when it slipped under my skin, even worse than the wraith’s, and it did something to my brain, something that shut down my limbs as if by a switch.
“What are you doing?” I breathed, trying with all my strength to slam my forehead onto his face, but I couldn’t move my neck. Only my eyes and my lips.
“It will all be over soon,” he said, looking down at my lips. “Close your eyes and relax. You can’t fight me, pixie. So don’t try.”
And his fingers dug into my skull, sending shockwaves through my brain. The last thing I remembered was my own thoughts flashing before my eyes, as if someone was pulling them to the front and putting them back again, before sucking out more.