Page 134 of A Sweet Destruction

“Stop fucking around,” I gritted out, tasting blood and bile in the back of my throat. “What do you want to know?”

“See,” Elijah said, pointing the knife in my direction while he looked at Ford with a tilt to his head. “She wants to be cooperative.”

I wanted to do no such thing, but I knew that our bargaining power was next to none.

Elijah looked back at Ford just long enough to deliver a verbal punch, “A shocker she puts up with someone like you,” before looking back to me with a too-thoughtful expression.

“Though, I guess neither of you chose this fated pairing. In fact, a little birdie told me that you were both very resistant to the Bond. Imagine my surprise when I meet the two of you and you seem…not so resistant.”

“If you want us to regale the sordid details of our relationship, I suggest you sit down. We’ve been together for eight years.” I supposed I’d phrased it the way one would describe a long-term partnership, but wasn’t that what we had, at the end of the day?

Elijah laughed, easy as one would at a dinner party. He flipped the knife again, as if he knew just how casual his tone was and needed to remind me that this situation was not the least bit casual. “No, that’s alright. I’d like to discuss how you both seem to accomplish physical feats beyond your means. Especially when the situation involves the other.”

There was no use lying. This would come out anyway. “Yes,” I gritted out. “Paranimas seem to have increased strength, reflexes, whatever you want to call it, when their Match is in danger.”

“Something you would think you’d be aware of, considering they seem quite populous on Muli,” Ford cut in, his words edging with a restrained growl. The muscles in his neck were tense and prominent and, even in this awful situation, I had the urge to smooth it out with my fingers.

Elijah snorted a laugh, raising one sardonic eyebrow. “Oh, please, you know that’s bullshit.”

My stomach sank even further, feeling like a puppet on a set of strings. Even then, I couldn’t help but ask, “How did you know?”

A repeated tsk left Elijah’s mouth as he bent down in front of me, resting his forearms on his legs. “This is about me asking you questions, not the other way around. I run this experiment. Speaking of, let’s go through what I know and what I need from you.”

There was something sinister in the way he said that, a note Ford picked up on instantly, lurching forward in his chair with a string of colorfully worded threats.

“I will shut you up if you make me,” Elijah said, still looking at me.

The pain was all-encompassing now, feeling every tense muscle and bruise in Ford’s body in my own, kicked up a thousand degrees. I felt a tear slip out of the corner of my eye and could do nothing but brush it away.

Elijah watched with barely restrained glee as it dripped off my chin and landed on my leg.

He brought one hand up in between us, then started to tick things off on his fingers. “You get stronger, faster when the other is in danger. You have a Bond in your head that helps you stay in tune with the other. You heal fast.” He paused for a second, eyes narrowing.

Whatever he was about to say next was clearly what he found most important. Even though I had a sinking feeling I wasn’t getting out of this unscathed, I couldn’t help but search for the upper hand. “You lose your mind if the other person is hurt, so much so you’ll lose your life if they die.”

Oh.

Ford couldn’t see it, couldn’t see the intention striking clear in Elijah’s eyes. That his little experiment would be to test that right here and now.

I tried to keep it off my face, even as my heart clenched painfully in fear. I’d always had a slight freeze response in times of panic, something I’d worked over and over to combat. I could feel the edges of that paralysis trying to creep in, but I forcefully pushed it away.

Elijah’s voice dropped to a whisper, just loud enough for me to hear it. “I do apologize.”

I couldn’t tell if he was trying to taunt me or not. He sounded shockingly sincere, even as the corner of his mouth twitched up with a smile.

He stood, turning to Ford.

Ford, who was looking at me with a feral intensity that only made this situation all the more fucked up. One of us was going to have to watch the other die.

God, I hoped it was me.

I couldn’t stand the idea of slipping into the great unknown, leaving Ford behind to suffer unimaginable pain.

A sob launched out of my throat before I could catch it.

His family.

Oh, his family.