Zaya wasn’t a Noxia demon, but rather something distinctly other. I’d essentially made her mine when I fed her my life energy. It was what connected us in our dreams. It could also link our minds, but only if I allowed the association.
I scooped her petite frame into my arms and stepped out of her cell. We’d both need a shower after this, but
that was the least of my concerns. The fact that she didn’t even stir bothered me much more.
I rushed down the dark stone corridor, then took the stairs two at a time on my way up. It left me slightly winded by the time I reached the holding level, but my anger spurred me onward and directly to Alaric’s desk. He took one look at Zaya and blanched.
“Were you aware of this?” I asked. “And don’t fucking lie to me.” I would be able to hear it in his pulse.
“No, Your Highness.” His heart rate amped up slightly, but I sensed fear in his scent, not duplicity. “I wasn’t on duty the evening she came in.”
“Who was?” I demanded. I would be verifying everything he told me. So, for his sake, I hoped it was the truth.
“Erie,” he replied, swallowing.
“Do you like your job, Alaric?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Then you’ll have no problem escorting Erie and Byron to the fifth level and putting them in Zaya’s former cell.” I turned toward the main stairs, then paused to look at him. “If they’re not in that cell when I come back here, you’ll be going into that cell for a month. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” he repeated, his eyes widening in fear.
Satisfied that he understood my threat, I carried Zaya upstairs and past several stunned guards. They all smartly remained silent.
When I reached my quarters, I found Adrik talking at the door with Cyprus. They both glanced at the bundle in my arms and immediately fell into action.
“What the fuck happened?” Adrik demanded.
I growled, unable to suppress the angry sound dying to escape. “Byron put her on level five.”
“What?” That came from Cyprus, who followed me into my room.
“I want him and Erie found and locked up. Alaric is supposed to be handling it, but he probably needs some help.” I kept him around for his technical abilities, not his brute strength. “Can you send a few guys to assist him?” I asked, acknowledging inside that I might have been a little hard on Alaric. He should have alerted me to Zaya’s placement, but I hadn’t exactly spoken to him about my intentions for her.
“On it,” Cyprus said, his gaze flicking to Zaya briefly. “Is she going to be okay?”
“She needs blood,” I replied, laying her down on my sofa—a sofa I would need to burn after all this. Because now that I could properly see her beneath my own lighting… Fuck. “She’s covered in shit.” Literal shit. Like a bathroom had exploded all over her. “What the hell were they thinking putting her down there?”
Adrik shook his head, his dark gaze holding a myriad of concerns. “I need to make sure Valora doesn’t come in here and witness this.”
I nodded. “Go distract her.”
He didn’t argue, just left with Cyprus at his side.
I looked down at Zaya, taking stock of her dire state. “Forgive me, sweetheart. But you need a bath.”
“Zaya.” Grigory’s deep tones penetrated my head.
I groaned and tried to shift away from him. The nightmares refused to leave me alone, still haunting me even after I defeated them. It was a perpetual circle of emotions within my head that I couldn’t seem to break.
“Zaya,” he repeated.
Please not now. I’m so tired. All I want to do is sleep.
“Come on, Zaya. You’re better than this.”
I nearly growled at him. Better than what? Napia? Your new wife? Because I had no doubt in my mind that they were officially together now.