Chapter 35

Brady growled. "Sweetheart? Do exactly as I say." I didn't get a chance to respond before the monster before me flicked his wrist, and the phone flew from my hand to crash against the far wall.

Owen's eyes flashed, red light swallowing both iris and pupil, and burning with hatred. A nightmare of a smile sliced his face as he stepped through the doorway, and I matched the movement with two steps of my own in the opposite direction.

A solitary window behind me offered a glimpse of freedom, my only chance. Not a word was uttered by either of us as I continued backing away, towards the only means of escape, but that silence frightened me more than words ever could.

Owen watched my moves with keen interest, smirking when my back hit the wall, smiling when I reached behind me to try and lift the window pane. He tilted his head. "It won't open."

I jerked the wood, rattling the glass within its frame, but I already knew it wouldn't budge. Even if it did, no way would I make it through before he stopped me. I was powerless, weak, vulnerable, and as I looked into the fiery red eyes of my childhood, the familiar hopelessness of my adolescence coated my skin in a cool sweat. "How?" I sucked in a breath. "The stones. If you're a Jinn, how'd you manage to be around them?"

Owen barked a laugh. "You make it so easy. Isn't it obvious? I made the magic, I put it there, I can make it do whatever I want."

"Why!" I sobbed. "What did I ever do to you!"

In a blur of impossible speed, Owen burst forward, stopping so close and so sudden, I screeched, huddling in on myself with my arms covering my face.

"Why?" He touched my hair. "You're a human. That's like the dog asking why he has a leash. It just is. You're mine. I claimed you long ago."

I peeked out at him. Bile rose into my throat. I needed to move, to get away, but Owen kept me caged. I whimpered, and the look on his face let me know the sound amused him.

"Your fear has always appealed to me," he murmured. He sniffed my hair, then gathered the strands into his hand as he leaned back to study it. "Something about the smell of it." He met my eyes. "Then the precious king," he sneered the word, "shows up, and won't go away." His hand moved to my shoulder. "I've never liked him. He's a disgrace to his kind. Did you know," he continued on, as if we were two old friends sharing the latest gossip, "he refused his birthright. He basically abandoned his people."

His words penetrated through the fear, and despite my desire to simply close my eyes and block out whatever I could of my situation, I listened intently as he spoke.

"Someone with his power should take the oath, bind themselves to the land and lead the people. He trained for it, exceeded all others before him, but when the time came, he refused." He tilted his head. "Do you know why?"

I didn't respond, but my terrified eyes remained wide and fixed on his face.

Owen smiled at my expression. "He did it for you. For a human. Because once he's bound to the ether, he can never leave again. It's disgusting. All of that power wasted on someone who isn't worthy."

Crippling guilt hit me as his words truly sunk in. Brady had sacrificed everything, all because he'd been given a human for a mate, and what did I do? I betrayed him. Placed myself in this situation because I refused to believe him. I refused to see him. All this time, I'd been afraid of the monster, and in the end, I ran to him.

"But now the game is over." He shook his head. "What fun it's been though, watching you refuse him. His pain was almost as funny as your fear." Owen took a step back, allowing me room to finally breath. "Doogal!"

I jumped at his sudden volume, and Owen's smile widened. "I've things to do, and you just made it harder to do them. I wouldn't want you trying to escape."

Doogal walked in and scanned the sight before him, still as expressionless as ever. His eyes met Owen's. "What's changed?"

Owen snorted. "It's obvious isn't it. She knows." He turned away from me and headed towards the door. "I need you to guard her. Don't let her leave this room. I'll be back."

Doogal's eyes shifted to me as Owen disappeared from view. He seemed deep in thought, his gaze intense and unnerving.

I held my breath, my body on high alert. The relief I felt at Owen's retreat meant nothing with the new threat to replace him. What was Doogal? Had he been around all along as well? Had Doogal helped to torture me in my childhood memories? Despite the multitude of questions swimming through my mind, not one escaped. Instead, I stood silent, watching him like a mouse cornered in a house of cats.

Doogal's Adam's apple bobbed, and he glanced back at the still open doorway. "You can sit down. You don't have to stand there."

I didn't respond, my body fixed in place. It wouldn't help me, but moving seemed like a bad idea, as if the slightest shift could cause an attack.

Doogal heaved a breath. His jaw clenched. "This isn't what I expected." He met my eyes.

"What did you expect?" I asked shakily. My heart stopped thundering. My lungs deflated. At any moment, my body would shut down completely. The sensation was so foreign, I could only assume no one had ever experienced it and survived to describe. It was like preparing to die when death was a certainty.

Doogal threw a hand in the air. "I don't know." He shifted and looked away, fixing his eyes on the floor. "Not this." His tone was far away, lost in thoughts I would have given anything to be able to hear. That flat expression morphed into something new. A mental war played across his features. He murmured something beneath his breath, words in a language I couldn't understand, then smacked the side of his head in agitation.

I squeaked at the violence behind it.

Doogal's head shot up at the sound, and he looked behind him to the open door once again. "We're not all blessed with infinite power," he said, voice low. "There are classes. Owen is above me, far above, and in turn I've spent years serving him." He met my gaze. "For survival. It's common. The way our system works, but it will do me no good now."

He stepped forward, still casting furtive glances towards the doorway. "I've got a deal for you."

My eyes widened, and my lungs inflated with hope.

Doogal nodded his head slowly, seeking understanding. "I help you escape, and you make sure the king knows I did it. You make sure he spares me in all of this."

"Yes," I answered immediately. "I'll make sure, just help me, please."

Doogal looked back one last time, then motioned for me to follow him. He paused at the door, peeking both ways before continuing forward. My heart was back to being a tribal drum within my chest. Fighting to pump renewed life force through me, to survive. Adrenaline rushed my system, making my limbs shake as we rushed down the stairs, out the front door, across the yard.

I could see the gates in the distance, the escape just within my grasp. Doogal grabbed my hand halfway, dragging me behind him. I fought to keep up, lungs burning, mind racing. Inside my head, I visualized myself, outside the gates, with Brady.

I wouldn't fight him. I swore it. If I managed to escape, I'd accept him whole heartedly.

Then I did. Doogal punched a code into the keypad, and the gate swung open. His eyes darted in every direction, shifty and nervous. When they landed on me, he waved an aggressive arm to urge me forward.

I rushed past him, through the opening, and the moment I did, a burst of blue lit up the night. Brady's arms circled me, gripping me so tight my feet lifted away from the ground. "I'm so mad at you," he growled, his lips hitting mine, fervent, angry. A punishment. An admonishment.

I gladly received him.

Moisture filled my eyes as relief burst within my chest. My hands shook, and I sucked in lungful after lungful if air as if I'd been drowning before. "Red," I managed to say, my words bordering a sob.

Brady held me closer, burying my head into his neck. "I sent her back. It's okay now. I've got you." His attention turned to Doogal, but he didn't say a word. I felt his muscles stiffen, felt the moment they coiled, readying themselves to take out the threat still standing at the gate.

I was just about to tell him to stop, that Doogal has saved me, when another voice drifted towards my back.

"I suppose it's been bound to come to this," Owen hissed. "I just didn't think it would be so soon."

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