“No.” I can’t stand. I’ll pass out. I’m sure of it. Instead, I try to straighten a bit where I sit. “I want a new bargain.”
He exhales slowly and turns back to face me. “I’m listening.”
“My father took Wolf and Malachi and Rylan. I want them back.”
Azazel considers me for a long moment, then his gaze goes distant. Finally, he shrugs. “Very well. Seven years’ service and I’ll save them.”
My jaw drops. “That can’t be anywhere as hard as breaking a seraph bond. Why is the cost the same?” Wolf had warned of exactly this, but part of me didn’t believe him.
“I have my reasons.”
I open my mouth, but I don’t have a good argument. Even if I’m willing to do seven years of service—and I am—the complications presented previously still apply. The men won’t like it. More, we don’t know what will happen to the seraph bond if I’m whisked away to another realm. Maybe it would be okay.
Or maybe it would kill us all.
He gives that sharp smile. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Have your answer by then.” He casts a disdainful look at the blood-stained floor. “Next time, use my card.” It appears in the air above me, floating carefully down to rest on my thigh that isn’t covered in blood.
And then he’s gone, melting into the shadows as if he’d never existed.
I lean my head back against the bed and sigh. No good options. No matter what I try, there are no good options. Azazel was a long shot, but I can hand the card off to Grace. Even if we can’t save my men, at least she’ll get a chance to find some resolution about her mother. A small win, I suppose.
I close my eyes and concentrate on taking slow breaths. It’s starting to look like I really only have one choice. If I can’t stage an assault to save the men or sneak them out, there’s only one path left, no matter how foolhardy it sounds.
I have to walk through the front gate and declare myself my father’s heir.
36
Imanage to clean up the blood before I pass out again. This time, when I wake up surrounded by mist, there’s no confusion. I climb to my feet, already looking for whichever one of my men waits for me. Mist swirls at my feet as I start walking, searching the opaque space for familiar forms.
When I see three of them, I almost sob. I break into a run. One step. Two. On the third I’m amongst them. Malachi with his broad shoulders and long dark hair. Rylan who manages to look put together and vaguely annoyed despite the gaunt lines in his cheeks. And Wolf, all wild eyes and fury.
He’s the one who grabs my shoulders. “You’re pregnant.”
The mist around us seems to dampen the sound, but the other two men go even quieter in response to his words. I don’t look at them. I can’t. I just give a shaky nod. “I am. I felt it the day you were taken, but I took a test to confirm.”
Wolf releases me like I’ve burned him. “Is that why we can’t feel her? I thought it was the drugs.”
“It could be both.” Rylan speaks from almost directly behind me. Even his voice is raspier than normal. “Not much is known about seraphim pregnancy. They always disappeared during those months, and any record of it has long since been destroyed.”
“You should have told us.”
I turn to face Malachi, but he’s not looking at me. He’s looking at Rylan, his dark brows pulled together. “If there’s a risk to her because of this—”
“Wake up, Malachi. There’s a risk toallof us. She’s not the one currently chained and injected with poison.”
My stomach drops. “I’m getting you out.” I don’t tell them that I’m exhausted. That I can’t seem to keep down a single bite of food. That I can’t touch the well of magic inside me that only seems to get farther and farther from the tips of my fingers with every day that passes. All of that might be true, but in the end it’s just an excuse.
They’re suffering more than I am.
They have more at stake if I fail.
“No.” Malachi shakes his head. “It’s too dangerous. We’ll figure something out.”
“Like you figured out a way to escape that house?” He spent a hundred years trapped and slowly starving between sacrifices my father sent him. I can’t bear the thought of him suffering through that again, let alone Rylan and Wolf, too. I glare up at him. “Out of the question.”
In fact, as I look from one of them to the other, they all show marks of starvation. It shouldn’t have happened this quickly; it hasn’t even been a week and we all but glutted ourselves on blood before the capture. Yes, we were essentially just passing it back and forth but…
The sinking feeling in my chest gets worse. “You weren’t feeding the way you needed to before this.”