I braced myself, expecting Devereaux and Evren to begin shouting at August for interfering with their game. Instead, the pair merely exchanged a meaningful glance.
“Evren, please discipline your pet. He is proving unruly,” Devereaux instructed, flinging a lazy arm across his companion’s bronze shoulder.
Evren slid his emerald eyes to August as he reached over to clasp his fingers around August’s neck.
“Wait—!” I blurted out. “Don’t hurt him.” I was acutely aware that August no longer deserved my help. Not after the way he’d severed ties with me so abruptly, and with such cold detachment. Bracing myself, I met Devereaux’s cold gaze. “I’ll do whatever you want but leave August out of it.”
Devereaux huffed out a surprised laugh that echoed around the table as a look of pure, delighted anticipation lit up Evren’s sharp features.
Beside me, August had gone white, his red hair like a beacon against his bloodless skin. Whatever they’d been about to do to August would now be my cross to bear.
My spine stiffened against the hard wood of the chair while Evren continued watching me with that predatory gaze, darting his tongue over his bottom lip. My heart thrummed to the beat of rising panic in my chest like the beating wings of some deranged hummingbird. I’d felt powerless before, but never like this. I was a fluttering bird, defenseless to everything but their lies. Soon, I would be thrashing in the throes of that same, invisible torment that had gripped Zhara. But I was determined not to give them the satisfaction of seeing me writhe in agony. I sucked in a breath and awaited my punishment.
Evren reached out a hand to the center of the table between us, his fingers unfurling like the petals of some venomous flower. “Give me your other hand, girl,” he commanded, smirking at me.
Again, that sinister voice drifted into my ears.Give him your hand.Now. I fought the urge to do exactly as the voice bade as my arm began to tremble.
Evren’s lips twisted in annoyance at the delay. “Would you prefer I choke you?” he offered.
A squeeze of my fingers from Devereaux told me that there was no point in resisting. I was outnumbered and outflanked.One steely breath later, I was pressing my palm onto Evren’s, wincing in anticipation of pain. Instead of intertwining our fingers, as Devereaux had done, Evren grasped onto my wrist, his grip tight enough to cut off my blood circulation.
Oh yes, he was going to make this hurt.
I forced air in through my nose, keeping my breathing even. My jaw flexed as I clenched my teeth and locked my muscles into place—any second now, it would begin.
He cinched harder, his nails digging into my skin, those cruel emerald eyes gleaming with anticipation, at the promise of pain. Fucking sadist, I thought.
My limbs began to tremble from the effort of keeping still—and then, it was the strangest thing—my mouth flooded with iron. Bitter and metallic, like trying to swallow static. But the pain we both expected did not come.
Evren seemed to double his efforts, his brow furrowed in concentration, teeth bared in a feral expression.
A slow, knowing smile creased Devereaux pursed lips. “Well, well,” he said, chuckling at Evren’s eyes, which were bugging out of his skull in stunned disbelief. “It seems as though there are exceptions to every rule.”
Only Veronika and Devereaux dared to look smug at Evren’s failure. The others were suddenly preoccupied with the meager food on their plates.
I stared down at my arms, the left clenched in Evren’s death grip, and the right ensnared in Devereaux’s.
“I believe this is a first for you, dear Evren. However…” Devereaux added with a glance at August, “there are always others for you to play with.”
As if on command, Evren released me, setting his wraithlike fury entirely upon August.
August’s bottom lip trembled as he braced himself for Evren to discharge his punishment, knowing it would be far worse now.I thought again the name Devereaux had called Evren earlier.Bludkravk.
In light of Evren’s terrifying wrath, my own ability was rendered nothing more than a mere party trick. How could my strange gift compare to inflicting invisible agony or stripping someone of their bodily autonomy? And yet, his powers did not work on me. Why? I didn’t have time to consider, or even celebrate this fact, because now Evren was eyeing August with a savage glint in his green eyes.
For all my bluffs, I could do nothing to help August as the little blood that remained drained from his cheeks as Evren’s fingers closed around his throat. What were they going to do to him? I felt the bile rise in my throat?—
“Am I interrupting?” A voice spoke directly behind me.
I whirled around so quickly that I nearly cricked my neck.
Casimir.
Two thoughts warred for dominance: first,what the hell is he doing here?And second, thank the fucking gods that he is.
In his dark jeans and leather jacket, his obsidian hair curled into a crown upon his head, he cut the terrifyingly beautiful figure of an archangel. Whether he was an angel, demon, or self-absorbed sophomore, it did not matter. In this moment, he was my savior.
I caught a glimpse of the storm brewing just beneath his stony expression, but I doubted anyone else noticed. No one watched Casimir the way I did. Casimir’s gaze fell to where Devereaux still gripped my hand at the center of the table, and his eyes narrowed. I glanced to the others to see how Casimir’s sudden appearance had affected them.