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I’m in acage, having a rushed interaction with my Linked in order to stay alive.
It's not fair to them.
Gently, Zev moves his hand after he's worked me through the aftershocks, but the two continue to keep their hands on me, giving me comforting, silent touches and kisses that speak all the words we can't say in front of the enemy. I try to give them everything back in return, wanting nothing more than to reach for them, to satisfy their needs too, but Gray clears this throat.
“Time’s up,” he says, opening the door to the cell.
I want to demand I stay with them. Better to be trapped down here with them than be locked in some pretty cage on the upper levels of the palace, but I know that won't help any of us. Not when I have a role to play.
I kiss them each one last time, holding their hands for as long as we can stretch until they have to release me, Gray immediately taking my arm and leading me out of the cell before closing the door behind him.
“Did you like what you saw?” I ask when those burning eyes stare down at me for a little too long.
“You tell me,” he says, drawing me flush against him.
I gasp, feeling his hard length against me.
My body reacts, a bolt of lightning zapping down the middle of me. I glare up at him, silently accusing him for my body's betrayal. It's only because my Linked and I didn't get to spend more time together. That's why my body is still so starved for physical touch.
“If you want me toeverentertain feeding from you like that,” I say, suddenly realizing I have a card to play. “You need to release them.”
“No,” Zev growls.
“Liv,” Jagger argues.
Gray fastens them with a look that promises pain if they keep up with their outbursts, before returning focus to me. “You're not really in a position to negotiate.”
“Aren't I?” I ask, shifting against him slightly, the thin silk barely hiding anything between us. I hate that I shiver in his arms, hate that my body is so starved and needy that it doesn't care that it'shimholding me.
“I can't release them,” he says, never taking his eyes off of me. “But I’ll put them in nicer quarters,” he says, taking a step away from me, disconnecting our bodies but keeping a firm hold on my arm. He gives me a sardonic smirk. “Can't have your food spoiling, after all,” he says before pulling me back toward that goddsessforsaken staircase.
I hate him.
Every step we take up to the palace, I hate him even more.
And I'm going to take suchpleasurein killing them all.
Chapter 27
Livana
Afew more days pass, and while I'm grateful for the feed restoring my energy, I'm growing restless in this room, these fucking silver bracelets crushing any hope of ever accessing my power again.
Once, two days ago, Gray stopped by and took me for a very brief tour of a portion of his father's Collection. An entire floor of the palace is dedicated to the creatures he's collected over the years, each one in their own pretty little cage, some of the rooms drenched in magic in order to keep them alive.
Gray moved too quickly for me to try to speak with any of them, and more than half of them I couldn't even see through the viewing glass walls that the Collector created so he could gape at them whenever he wanted.
Most of them were hiding in their selected cages, and my heart never felt as heavy as it did after seeing such a thing. Gray returned me to my chambers that evening, explaining that the tour was a reminder of how to behave, especially if he ever decided to take me before his father.
I gave him a vulgar gesture,afterhe left the room of course. The prince definitely wouldn't be able to handle me if I wasbehaving like my normal self, but lucky for him, I'm playing a part.
I'm mostly respectful, only letting a little snark slip here and there, but I do as I'm told. I wear the clothes offers to me, eat the he food brings me, and spend the rest of my time distracting myself with the books in my room.
I flip through the pages of one now, reading one of the histories of the Fae, thinking about that little boy in the village that I saved. The same village that Gray had been at. I have half a mind to ask him if he knew that his collector core disregarded his orders to leave the villagers be, but I highly doubt he’d care either way.
The door to my chamber swings open, anticipation zinging up my spine at the prospect of another outing. The more times I'm allowed out of my cage, the more information I glean. It's a small and slow progress, but I have to take what I can get.
It's Gray again, not some collector core carrying in a meal. He’s dressed in all black, though this time instead of his normally casual clothes, it's a regal outfit no doubt custom tailored for his body. Silk and sturdy cotton have been sewn together with small gold details threading their way along the edges of the tunic and pants.
