Wouldn’t kiss me.
“Sebastian?”
“Sera, I want to…”
“But?”
“No, but,” he said quickly. “I want to kiss you and I will. And when I do, you should know that it means-”
The door slammed open and both of us jumped and held tighter to each other. Angry, sick men filled the doorway with guns raised. They filed into the room and surrounded us.
I didn’t exactly feel embarrassed to be caught in Sebastian’s arms. None of these men really knew us and I could care less if they used this opportunity to judge me. Although, I didn’t really think they would. They could probably equally care less about my ex-boyfriend drama.
However, it was still an uncomfortable feeling to be caught like this. We were vulnerable. I was vulnerable, more so than I had ever been before in my life.
And also, I felt stupid.
What did it mean to Sebastian to kiss me? Nothing? Everything? Nothing?
God, what timing these assholes had!
“The girl,” the sniveling, heavily accented voice called from the doorway.
I tore my eyes off of the men surrounding us and turned them to Dmitri Terletov. And immediately recoiled. He looked like death personified. His pasty skin glistened with sweat and grease. His shoulders sagged and forced him to hunch over and his hair looked stringy and thinner than the last time I saw him- a half hour ago.
This man was not well.
And yet, he’d captured the Citadel and commanded an unknown number of men who killed for him, who tortured for him, who sacrificed their own lives at his whim.
One of his men made a move toward me. My Magic had only just started to gain strength again and my body was broken. The thought of going through his interrogation made me want to… not go through it again… do whatever it took to never ever ever go through it again.
“Too much of a coward to get her yourself?”
I looked up at those words and shot Sebastian a sharp look. His attention was focused on Terletov though, so he didn’t see it.
What was he doing?
He was going to get us both killed!
“Coward?” Terletov snorted. “Hardly.”
“But you are one, aren’t you? Only a coward would command other men to die for him without any sacrifice to himself.”
Terletov shot off the doorframe. His stolen Magic swelled with his anger and I felt it push against mine. He was furious and crazed in his fury. Spittle pooled in the corners of his mouth, making him appear rabid and deranged.
“Those men died for a cause, not for me. A cause we all believe in.”
Sebastian threw his head back and mocked Terletov’s conviction with a laugh. I wondered where Bastian had gotten the energy to move like that. I could barely lift my head.
“A cause? This is a cause? Killing people? Torturing people? That’s your cause?”
“Cleansing the Kingdom,” Terletov spat. “That’s my cause.”
Sebastian tipped his head down and leveled Terletov with a look that would kill him if it could. “This Kingdom doesn’t need to be cleansed. The rightful King and Queen rule our people. It was their bloodline that was intended to rule from the beginning. The Magic is free because of them. We are Immortal because of Eden and Avalon. And the only thing your insignificant little cause is cleaning is the dust off the Kingdom’s loyalty to them. No true Immortal would ever listen to what you have to say or follow you. No true Immortal would waste their eternal time on an imposter.”
Terletov’s gray eyes flashed with sinister fury. “We are the only true Immortals, you sycophantic dog.”
“True Immortals don’t have to steal Magic in order to do something as simple as breathe.”
I sucked in a silent gasp, but then let out a scream when Terletov’s booted foot swung out and landed in Sebastian’s side.
Sebastian arched off the ground from the impact, holding in every sound. He didn’t even grunt. His back settled back on the ground and his arm flopped uselessly to his side. He was as weak as I was, maybe weaker since his pain was fresher.
I wanted to yell at him for making Terletov so angry, especially since it was apparently my turn to go get tortured. I didn’t know why Sebastian was provoking this evil man. It would only mean evil things for both of us.
I thought it was over though. I assumed they would pick me up and drag me back to their torture chambers.
I thought wrong.
Sebastian looked up at Terletov, and with a cocky brow raised, he started laughing. “So defensive,” Sebastian chuckled. “Tell me, how much does it bother you that the Queen has your Magic. She has it at her fingertips and she knows how to give it back to you and she won’t. She could do it from where she is now. She could do it with the flick of her fingers or a passing thought. She could make you whole again. And yet… she doesn’t. And even better, she doesn’t have to. Because she is the rightful heir to the throne and you are just a poser. You will always be a poser.”
Terletov didn’t stop with kicking this time. He threw his Magic at Sebastian with violent force. He knocked him around the room. He beat Sebastian’s head against the ground. Terletov didn’t stop until Sebastian coughed up blood and his breaths rattled and wheezed.
“I’ve changed my mind,” the monster said to his minions. “Take the prince first. I have something special for his royal highness.”
“No,” I whispered.
Sebastian reached out quicker than I thought was possible in his current state and squeezed my wrist hard. I looked at him, eyes wide and desperate. I would take this for him. He couldn’t go like this because he would die.
He would.
Terletov would kill him for everything he said.
I started to volunteer, “Take-”
“Something special?” Sebastian rasped out. “So you’ve felt it too?”
Terletov stilled for a long moment before taking the bait. “Felt what?”
“The heat between us.”
“The heat?”
“The attraction. The sizzling chemistry. The white-hot sexual tension. I feel it too, Dmitri.”
Terletov’s eyes flashed with understanding and apparently he did not feel the sexual tension between them.
Oh, geez, Sebastian. Could he not take anything seriously?
“Pick him up,” Terletov snapped in a low voice. “Now!” he screamed.
His men quickly obeyed. Two of them jumped forward and grabbed him roughly. They picked him up by his arms, one on each side of him, so that his body from the waist down dragged on the ground. He didn’t even put up a fight. In fact, I swore I saw him smother a grin.
What the hell was he up to?
Terletov marched from the room without giving me a backward glance. His men followed obediently behind him. The last to leave the room dragged Sebastian with him.
I pushed into sitting and stared at him leaving, unable to reconcile what just happened. Terletov had already promised to hurt us, to not stop hurting us! So why had Sebastian gone to such lengths to piss him off even more?
I couldn’t catch my breath as I watched him go. I didn’t know if I would ever see him again. I didn’t know what would happen to him. There was a very good chance Terletov would kill him!
I didn’t have any strength or energy, every muscle, bone and blood vessel in my body screamed with pain. But I still scrambled to kneeling. I would follow after him. I would fight. I would do whatever it took to keep Terletov from hurting him.
“Seraphina!” Sebastian barked from the doorway. He’d finally started to put up a fight. The guards looked annoyed.
My eyes flew to his and I begged him to keep fighting, to refuse to go.
Instead, he said, “Stay. Please.”
The breath whooshed out of me and I felt helpless. Why was he doing this?
He relaxed as soon as I stopped struggling to stand up. The guards resumed dragging him from the room. And then just before he was through the door, he looked over his sho
ulder and winked at me.
The door slammed behind him and I heard locks click into place. I was alone again.
And it wasn’t until I was alone that I realized what Sebastian had done.
He’d done that for me.
He’d stopped Terletov from having me taken to be tortured.
Sebastian did all of that for me.
Chapter Seventeen
Sebastian
Alright. This could be over now.
And if the bloke screaming at the top of his lungs would keep it down a pinch, that would be fantastic.
Oh, I was the bloke screaming at the top of his lungs.
I hadn’t meant to scream, or make any sound, really.
I felt a little like a pansy. Until the next electroshock of misery shot through my Magic and wrung another pained holler at out of me.
My stomach churned with sickness. The pain was so intense my body shook and shivered from it. But it wasn’t just the agonizing torture that got to me, it was the way Terletov went about inflicting pain.
Everything inside of me screamed that this was wrong, unnatural. Nothing should be able to touch my Magic like this. Nothing should be able to worm inside my very essence and twist and destroy and change what made me. This was my life. This Magic inside of me defined my very atoms and DNA. And Terletov had the power to scrape away at it until I knew that it would never be the same again.
He could turn my Magic into something ugly and less than what it should be.
And I hated him for that.
But not just for me. I hated him for all of the others he’d done this to already. I hated him for the humans that he’d kidnapped to experiment on and for turning them something that was unnatural and wrong for them.
And I really, truly, utterly hated him for touching Seraphina, for planning this despicable thing for her and her beautiful Magic.
I would not let that happen. I would not let him get near her and carry through with his sadistic methods of interrogation.
I would also never reveal Eden and Kiran’s whereabouts.
Which probably meant I would die.
I didn’t bother to follow that thought trail any further. I opted to start screaming again instead. That seemed a much more prudent use of my time.
My Magic seared through my body. But it didn’t stop there. My aura, the Magic that hovered around me, and could be used to manipulate the physical world, ached as well. I could feel pain everywhere. I breathed pain. My heart beat with pain. My thoughts were wholly consumed with pain. And I knew it would never end.
Terletov wouldn’t take my Magic because he wanted to keep me alive. Turning me into an empty husk that would wither and die would serve no purpose for him. He would keep me alive, but just barely. He would use me to leverage something he wanted.
Or maybe not.
Maybe he would continue to torture me without ever offering a trade. He probably believed he could eventually break me if he put on the right amount of pressure.
This fun little spa treatment he gave me today would never end. My future would be filled with days like this, all to get me to give him information that I could not.
Where was Eden and Kiran?
Truthfully, I had no idea.
Where were the babies?
Again… no clue.
What was my name again?
I’d forgotten that hours ago.
It would be useless to torture me. I had nothing to give him.
Then again, maybe he didn’t want anything. Maybe he simply liked to be a cruel bastard and torturing me gave him the sick thrill to go on living.
Which clearly he could barely do on his own. He wasn’t exactly a shining picture of health.
“Had enough, Prince?”
I grunted through the agony. The punishing feeling of something blazing through me had eased for the moment, but my body felt broken on the table. Only my skin held together the fragmented pieces that had shattered inside of me.
My Magic stuttered and stumbled as it tried to get to work healing my body. But it was just as broken. I couldn’t make anything function properly, not my limbs, not my Magic and most certainly not my thoughts.
“The artist formerly known as.” My words came out as a hoarse jumble.
“What was that?” Terletov took a step forward so his rodent-like face intruded my hazy vision.
“I go by the artist formerly known as. I’m no longer a prince. So you can stop referring to me as one.”
A sneer turned his thin lips and his empty eyes regarded me with contempt. “The Kendrick’s are still the royal family du jour, are they not?”
I didn’t say anything, for the obvious reason that I’d used all my speaking abilities on sarcasm.
“They are,” he answered for me. “That liar of a Queen promised that she would destroy them. All of them. And yet, the Kendrick heir still wears the crown and now his bloodline has been extended.”
I was wrong. I managed to find more energy to speak. “Weren’t Lucan and you buddies?”
His lip curled in disgust. “I did what I had to in order to survive.”
I made a sound. I hoped it sounded like mocking laughter. “How’s that working out for you?”
Alexi cut in, “You’re awfully cavalier for the position you’re in. I would be more frightened if I were you.” Dmitri’s brother looked just as sickly and near-death as the older Terletov. Only Alexi was still spry. He was the one that had been put in charge of carrying out the torture. Terletov bellowed out a command and Alexi jumped obediently.
I couldn’t wait to kill them both.
“You’re not the first person to tell me that.” I pushed up with one elbow so I could look them both in the eyes. I tried not to wince or groan, but I didn’t entirely succeed. “It doesn’t matter what you do to me, or the lengths you go to survive, you will not win. You will not control this Kingdom. And you will not touch our Kings or Queens. You’ve already lost. And by the looks of it, you’re both already on the way to the afterlife. I’m not frightened of anything because there is nothing to be frightened of.”
The lines around Terletov’s mouth pulled tight as he puckered his lips and scowled at me. Fury radiated off of him and his murderous look promised more pain.
I used the last ounces of energy to sweep the room and search for a way out. There was only one door to this room. This used to be the Titan Guard quarters before Terletov moved in.
I had grown up in this castle, I knew every in and out, every nook and cranny. I also had a vague idea of an escape plan piecing together in my splintered mind. I would need to save my strength though. Somehow I would need to gather some mobility and kick my Magic into gear.
I could easily figure out how to get out of here, but unless I could find the energy to run, we wouldn’t make it very far.
I hoped that Seraphina was in a better position than me. If she could run or even walk quickly, we might be able to make it out of here alive.
“We have the Citadel,” Alexi snarled.
Terletov grunted a sound of agreement and said, “I have men with unprecedented strength and the means and prominence to bend this Kingdom to my will.”
I collapsed back on the steel table and resigned myself to another monologue. “But you don’t have the loyalty of the people.”
“I don’t need the loyalty of the people when I have their fear!” His voice roared through the room and only added to the splitting headache that threatened to rip my skull in half.
I turned my head slightly so I could look him directly in the eyes and say, “Tell that to Lucan. Oh, right. You can’t because he’s dead. Loyalty means more to these people than fear ever will. And you’ll only ever have fear. You’ll never be the kind of leader that rules the people in a way that makes them want to respond. You can take over the Citadel, but when Eden is not here, or Avalon or Amelia or Kiran, this place is just empty buildings to them. This Kingdom has never been a people tied to one specific place and you should know
that. This Kingdom exists outside of the realm of time and place and war. They no more recognize you as their leader than they would me. You are not their chosen King. The Magic did not anoint you. And the Magic does not bow down to you. If you come to terms with that now, you might just be able to live through this.”
Terletov glowered at me with the hatred of a man that truly knew how to hate. I watched the wheels click and turn in his head; I watched his features sharpen into harsh lines and unforgiving angles. I watched him decide how to murder me.
He was tired of my truth and my perspective.
That was fine with me since I was very much tired of his ugly face glaring down at me.
However, I wasn’t quite ready to die just yet.
I at least had to find a way for Seraphina to be rid of all this. And then find a way for her to fall back in love with me.
And after that, I needed to figure out a way to get her to agree to marry me.
Then there would be the babies.
And the happily ever after.
I smiled despite my circumstances. Seraphina had felt bloody wonderful pressed against me on the floor. She had been sweet, warm and pliable next to me.
I knew how her mind worked. She would chalk those moments up to life or death experiences and an uncertain future. But I’d also felt the pull of her Magic and the delicious familiarity of her hands exploring my chest.
She wasn’t as over me as she’d like me to believe. And at this moment, I didn’t care what brought us back together. I didn’t care that this war was the reason we’d split to begin with or that we had to be tortured- literally- to realize how much we still cared for each other.
I was just happy to have finally come to terms with the fact that I would never be over her. I would never stop caring for her, stop loving her. It was time to give up trying and start working to win her back.
She would have reservations, those were natural. She would also have fears and doubts and the natural inclination to muck things up.
But she also had feelings and hormones and a heart that once beat in sync with mine and Magic that pulsed together with mine.