Page 87 of Elysian

I could not fathom why I was so shocked. He had denied wanting to find the Resistance from the beginning.

“Do you never tire of your coercions?” I bit out.

He only shrugged. I didn’t enjoy the twitch of his lips.

“How could you suggest such a thing?” I began pacing from one end of the chamber to the other. I combed my fingers through my hair and whirled back, finding him leaning against the wall. Not a trace of guilt crossed his features. He’d stated what he wanted.

What were my options?

I spun on my heel, pacing to the other end of the chamber near the desk.

If I left with the Resistance, he would either follow me . . . or drag me away from them. I did not doubt he had the potential to make me his captive again.

The effigy.

The satchel remained where I left it on the chair’s surface. I shoved my hand in and grabbed the plush item.

“You will let me leave,” I announced, holding my chin up to meet his gaze with a threat of my own.

His smile faded.

“Now you don’t find it humorous.” I couldn’t hide the annoyance in my tone. Part of me was so incredibly frustrated with his obstinacy. The rest wrestled with the guilt of threatening him.

My hand trembled.

He took a single pace and stopped when my hand stiffened around the neck. If I broke his neck, he would lose consciousness. It would be fast, immediate. Better than if I injured anything else. He would be okay. I would be gone by the time he woke.

“Know if you do this, I will still find you.” The pulse in my ears drowned his words.

I wouldn’t be able to be gone from him long with the wraithling bond. My will wavered. I had not thought this through.

He straightened so suddenly that my hand spasmed. I squeezed the neck I had a grip on. The leather gave with a snap and bent back. I screamed, dropping the effigy quickly.

Cassiel continued to watch me, eyebrow raised.

Silence other than my ragged breaths.

“It no longer works,” he mused and approached. He scooped it off the floor and twisted the leg.

I winced, watching him yank at the effigy about, but nothing happened to him. Al had injected the item. Small little injections into the surface.

As I watched him, he walked to the desk and pulled open the drawer where the quills were. He pulled out a tinderbox. He tossed the effigy in the middle of the desk. With careful movements, he pulled out the steel and struck it against the quartz, angling it at the char cloth.

It blazed with a flame. He set aside the steel and took the effigy, placing it against the flame. The fabric and leather began to char, the edges curling into itself.

“Care to reconsider?” Cassiel tossed the effigy into the metal bin beside the desk. The crumpled parchment inside began to crackle. “It would be a shame if something happened to those mortals.”

“You would hold their lives hostage to force my hand?”

He simply watched me.

Leather crackled as the flames flicked upward. Smoke billowed from the can and filled the chamber with the scent.

He stared directly at me, patiently, with his head cocked. That blasted smirk on his lips.

“I must speak to Liadan.” I rounded the desk and stomped to the door. Before I reached it, he was in my path.

“You needn’t do anything for any male but me.”