Still, he runs through my head, searching in every nook and cranny for some hidden emotion that I must be hiding. Finally, he pulls back, rocking back onto his heels.
“Believe me now?”
He nods. “Thank fuck.” Then he looks at Nyx. “Thank you—you protected her.”
Nyx’s throat tightens until I see the vein in his neck. “I wish I could have protected you as well.”
Ambrose looks like he’s been slapped—the shock that spreads on his face. His cheeks pinken, his body turns white as a ghost.
“I’m—I…” he stutters.
Nyx shakes his head, like he knows now isn’t the time to discuss it.
I slip into Ambrose’s mind, feeling Nyx’s presence there. I don’t ask them if they are okay; I know they aren’t. I’m not ready for the details of what they were forced to do. I know it’s not fair of me that they had to suffer, while I got to dream.
“Don’t—there is no need to feel guilty. We all did what we had to do to survive. We need you strong to get through the rest,”Nyx says, and I know Ambrose can hear us. There are no private mental conversations between Nyx and me anymore.
“If you need to talk—”
“No, we don’t need to talk. We need to prepare for what Isolde has planned next,”Ambrose says.
She’s going to make us do this again.
She’s going to control us at the marking ceremony.
And it’s clear from how men are feeling that she succeeded in her mission. She’s strong enough to do whatever she wants to us. I don’t know how we are supposed to fight back.
“It will be different tonight. She’s invited the vampires and the wolf shifters. The other witch covens. Everyone who matters will be here. We’ll have more allies and more enemies. And we have a weapon that she won’t be prepared for,”Nyx says.
“No,”I respond.“I have no idea how to use my magic. And she’ll have ways to dampen everyone’s magic so that she remains the strongest. I won’t be able to use it anyway.”
Nyx looks from me to Ambrose.“She won’t be expecting you. We’ll find a way to use it to our advantage. Even if it’s just to save you. That will be enough.”
I frown, hating that. If I’m going to save anyone, it’s them. It’s others. Not myself. But I don’t argue with them. I know that’s not helpful at the moment.
Clothes appear in a neat pile. I eye them suspiciously, like they’re a bomb about to go off, instead of what appears to be dress clothes.
A loud thud behind us makes us all jump.
“What the hell?” Ambrose asks, pushing me quickly behind him.
Nyx jumps in front of Ambrose and then chuckles. “A bathtub—I guess Isolde would like us clean and well dressed instead of looking like she’s been holding us captive.”
I exhale the heavy breath I’d been holding as I look around for Isolde to show up and use her magic to command us to bathe and get dressed, but she never shows.
“Are we just going to do it? No resistance. Bathe and get dressed like the good puppets we are?” I ask.
The boys turn, looking at me with a heavy stillness in their eyes.
“We will do whatever you want us to, my queen. If you want to resist, we’ll resist…” Ambrose says.
“But if you want to take a warm bath, get dressed, and save our strength to fight outside of this cage, then that’s what we’ll do,” Nyx says.
I look from man to man, the exhaustion in both of their eyes. I don’t know what they just endured, just that they did. They survived and kept me from the worst of it.
I can feel Ambrose’s magic in the room, charged, ready for whatever fight I want to bring, even if it’s not the full strength of his magic. While Nyx holds steady, barely breathing, knowing that if he has too strong an emotion or scents my blood, he might lose control over himself again.
“We should take a bath, if I’m to survive any longer with the stench of both of you,” I say.