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“If I could get away with it, you’d be bleeding out right now. But since they’d find your body and Day would connect it to me after our meeting out here, we’ll just have to amuse ourselves in non-lethal ways. What do you say, how about a haircut? Then we’ll do a little body modification.”
She grabbed a hunk of hair at the back of my head and dragged it upward, lifting my face from the ground. Brandishing the knife, I watched the relish on her face as she swung it through the air and lopped off that section of my hair.
I was going to fucking kill her. I would have already if my power hadn’t been caged by the spell she was using. The power within me was still raging in a vicious effort to get to her.
The release from my hair being hacked away had my head dropping back to the pile of leaves, which covered my face even more this time. I wouldn’t see anything she did unless she chose to turn me over. I seethed with impotent fury and loathing.
My hair? MY HAIR?
I could see the symmetry with me turning her hair white, but she could dye hers back to blonde. I couldn’t dye what wasn’t there. And there was no chance in any circle of hell that she was done.
“Oh no, poor ‘Red.’ I wonder if Sam will still call you Curly Puff when I’m done with you. I’m thinking Cueball will be more appropriate.”
The part of me that took things literally wanted to point out that she’d need a razor and water to get my head that smooth, but then I realized she might have that shit stashed in a bush just like the knife and rope.
Plus, I still couldn’t talk.
My head came up off the ground again as I felt a yank of pain from another section of my head. I bucked and kicked, shoved and clawed, but it was all held inside by the magic that bound me.
A crash sounded from beyond us, and I thought it might be the direction we’d come from.
Oh, gods, it’s him. Heath.
My stomach churned. If my power had been able to ooze out of the cuts in my flesh, Illyria and everyone within a seven-mile radius would have dropped dead. Now I understood how Remy had lost control beside the lake when he wasn’t in command of his emotions.
To my surprise, Illyria dropped my head and jumped to her feet, taking off at a sprint in the opposite direction of the noise.
If she hadn’t been expecting it, and was scared enough to run…
I struggled again, desperately trying to free myself with every ounce of might in my body, but to no avail. I was trussed up like a fucking offering to who—or what—ever was coming.
I couldn’t close my eyes to block out the last visual of some psycho killer coming toward me, but Illyria had been kind enough to let my face flop forward so I couldn’t see anything at all.
Closer and closer the pounding steps came, and I realized from the rhythm that it was a person. I wanted to cry out with relief, but that seemed premature. There was no way of knowing who it was, or what they’d do when they saw a naked, vulnerable woman hog-tied alone in the forest.
“Thea.” My name was a ragged whisper of horror and disbelief. And it was a voice that made me want to cry.
Remy, I wanted to call out, but my voice was still bound.
Like I’d conjured him from the memory of our time by the lake, he was here, solid and real as he gathered me from the forest floor.
His hold on me was extremely awkward, which he thankfully realized. Setting me down gently, he went to work on the knots. Either he had the nimblest fingers in all the land, or Illyria was shit at tying knots, because I was unbound in no time.
Which would have been amazing if I could have moved.
“Who did this?” The demand vibrated with a rage that had leaves around us browning and falling from the trees in quick succession. I wanted to calm him before he killed the entire forest, but as he stared at me waiting for an answer, I could see my silence was only infuriating him more.
“Tell me, Fury, and I’ll kill them. Was it Connor?”
I tried to tell him no with my eyes, but since I couldn’t blink—and didn’t know Morse Code—that wasn’t really accomplishing anything.
Just then, he seemed to realize I was still naked. He stripped off the dress shirt he wore and draped it over me, clasping the front together.
“What’s wrong?” He searched my face, and when it dawned on him that I hadn’t so much as blinked, his own eyes widened.
Standing quickly, he searched the area with a sweeping gaze, coming up empty. As I knew he would. Illyria was a fast little bitch. She was long gone by now, and if she knew what was good for her, she would never let me catch her alone again. Hell, I didn’t care if there was anyone with her.
The next time we were outside of Divinity’s grounds, that was it for her. She had to think she’d get away with everything because I would heal, and there’d be no proof of what she’d done. Unless she was stupid enough to hang on to my hair, I couldn’t even prove she’d been the one to hack it off.
