“You bastard!” Damon hissed, standing up. Milo had finished securing the bindings around his wrists, but he still had a mostly functioning right leg. When he took a step forward, someone grabbed his forearm. He turned to find Levi.
“He’s not worth it.”
“I think that’s the first smart thing I’ve ever heard you say,” Elroy said with a chuckle. “Now, which one of you pansy boys is going to carry the whore for me?”
Levi stepped forward to volunteer.
“Good. Let’s get going. My patience is wearing thin.”
When Damon stepped out of the room-Milo helping him limp along the corridor and Levi carrying Alex behind them-he wondered what the hell Elroy hoped to achieve by doing this. Aleena had shown nothing but hospitality toward Alex, so how would she react when she saw this stupid scheme of his?
A chill seized his stomach.
As much as he wanted to believe in their Priestess, he couldn’t help but recall a particular sentence in the book he’d borrowed:
Chapter Twenty-Two
When Ulric opened his eyes and stretched his body, he felt a sense of disorientation. It deepened when he tried to stand up and found that he couldn’t. The top of his shoulders were constricted, and his head was forced to lean into his chest.
He remembered falling asleep underneath Alex’s window, full of anger toward the woman who’d denied him. No one had ever turned him down before-not the way she had. Then again, he’d never made such a serious offer to a woman, either.
In his dreams, he’d fantasized about being the one who made her cry out and squirm at his every touch. It helped him temporarily forget he’d promised himself he’d make her pay.
He rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands and looked around, feeling the pull of his muscles as he struggled to find a comfortable position.
Everywhere he turned, he faced thick, metal bars. He wrapped his fingers around them, pulling hard, trying to break or separate them. They refused to budge. He was trapped inside a cage. How the hell did this happen?
He pressed his face against the bars, defeated yet again.
Pitch black surrounded him, and a cold so severe, it seeped in through his naked flesh and into his very bones. Lowering himself to his knees, he inspected the barren area he was in. It seemed to be some sort of cavernous area with rocky outcrops on the edges. Except for the moon filtering in from the gap high above, there was no other light. Where the cage had been placed, it didn’t reach him, but he could still feel the cool fingers of moonlight trying to reach him.
He’d learned the hard way-if the moon wasn’t touching him, it couldn’t affect him.
Did someone else know, too? Who moved him?
The longer he stared between the bars of the square box he’d been stuck in, the more he could make out. The stairs located behind him appeared to have been literally carved into the rock wall and had been smoothed out by years of constant use. The glare of monitors reflected the area around him. He also noticed that the gap at the top of the ceiling was mirrored on the floor directly below. Several feet from where he was, Ulric could make out an abyss. What was this place, and what the hell was he doing in here?
He might be confused about the location, but what alarmed him the most was the familiarity. For some reason, it felt as if tiny, fragmented memories were trying to seep into his head about this restricted area. He knew no one was supposed to be here, as his mother had told him many times…
He leaned forward, once again placing his face against the cool, metal bars. “Hello?” He doubted anyone would answer, but it was worth a shot. How much more insane could he get at this stage?
“Hello, there,” a female stepped out of the shadows. “I was wondering when you would wake.”
His heart somersaulted in his chest.
The woman took a step closer, and her lovely features glowed under the moon’s radiance. She was beautiful and had the kindest face he’d ever seen. Her blue eyes were pale but warm. Her skin as luminescent as the long dress she wore. Her bare toes peeked out beneath the dress, and her blonde hair was so long, it tumbled over her shoulders and reached her waist. He’d never seen a woman who encompassed what he imagined a Goddess would look like.
Ulric lowered his head in a show of respect. “Who are you, Goddess?” he whispered in awe.
The woman chuckled, and he couldn’t help but gaze at her.
“My name is Priestess Aleena,” she answered.
Even her name was beautiful.
He suddenly felt as if something struck his head, and a multitude of recollections he hadn’t known he carried with him, tumbled into his mind.
“Don’t worry, Ulric. All of your questions will be answered, and very soon, by the sound of it.”
He wasn’t listening, anymore. The rush of unfamiliar memories caused a whirlwind of confusion inside his head, forcing him into a fetal position on the cage floor.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Put me down!” Alex blinked a few times, trying to get her bearings and clear the remnants of being unconscious. It wasn’t an easy task, while being held upside down and bent over someone’s bony shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The back of her head throbbed, but it wasn’t as bad as the rage flowing through her body.
Her mother’s guards carried her around like this whenever she refused to listen to Lorraine’s instructions. She’d hated it then, and she hated it now. It’s why she was so pissed when Damon had done the same to her while crossing into this nightmarish place.
She kicked out and connected with something soft.
“Ow!” The grip on her loosened.
She took the opportunity to dislodge her midsection and stumble to the ground, taking the person doing the carrying with her. After she managed to untangle herself, she looked down into Levi’s familiar face. He seemed too busy cupping between his legs to care that he was now lying on his back, on the harsh ground.
