Crimson Mist

by Rachel Jonas

  “We’re headed to Blackthorn,” I exhaled. “It’s time we pay our friend Aaric a visit.”

  Chapter Three

  Corina

  He hadn’t said a single word as he flew me high above the Capitol, above the storm that had only made capturing me an easier feat. He—this monster whose name I hadn’t dared to utter in weeks—hadn’t even parted his lips to threaten my life or taunt me, like he so loved to do. Instead, he remained completely silent while ripping through the sky like a bullet, keeping my body braced tightly against his.

  There was still no explanation given when he brought us down, landing in an open field where we were met by a group of his men. Our physical forms slowly bled into the void where we stood, and soon we were once again visible to the naked eye.

  The six who met us stayed completely silent while binding my hands and feet, and then blindfolding me. There were still no answers given to the many questions I asked before being placed soaking wet into the back of the van that awaited. It was clear I was meant to be left in the dark—a fact that proved to be beyond terrifying.

  The long drive did nothing but make me more tense. The sound of one ragged road after another passing beneath the van’s tires, accompanied by my frantic breathing, had been the soundtrack throughout our entire journey. My body rocked and swayed in the back, bumping the shoulders of the two guards who sat beside me. I tried not to think about what lie ahead, but gruesome images of my own death were seemingly all I could think about.

  What more could come of being captured by the monster who haunted my dreams?

  We came to a stop and I was quickly taken from the vehicle, having both arms cinched in the guards’ tight grasps. Several muffled voices behind us meant the group was splintering, and most of those who’d been with us were going their own way. Clumsy, and trying to count the number of footsteps surrounding me, I stumbled over my own feet as someone rushed me forward. My heart raced a mile a minute, and that feeling only worsened with every metal door that screeched open, and then slammed shut behind us. Worsened with every dank corridor I was led through.

  This whole ordeal could be likened to a nightmare.

  After several twists and turns, I gave up trying to memorize the path we walked. Should I manage to escape, I’d have to make guesses as to where the exit was located.

  We stopped, and I panted when the edge of a sharp blade touched my wrist, but I soon realized my captors only intended to cut me loose. The moment I could, I brought both hands to the blindfold and lifted it. I observed the faces of the two who escorted me, illuminated only by the light of a lantern one held. Aaric was nowhere in sight, but then again, given his abilities, that may not have been entirely true.

  I shuddered to think how many times I’d been in a seemingly empty room, after I thought I escaped him nearly two weeks ago. As I daydreamed about it, my feet were freed from the rope that bound them.

  “Sit tight,” was the first statement that had been spoken directly to me in hours.

  Stumbling, I nearly fell inside a room when one shoved me. The motion wasn’t violent, but maybe rushed for fear of me making a run for it. If so, their assumptions weren’t too far off.

  The space I’d just been locked inside was small and empty, and with every second, the walls seemed to close in on me. All too recently, I’d been in a similar place, under similar circumstances, but this time I was alone.

  I took in my surroundings. The walls weren’t padded this time. Instead they were lined with large stones that seemed appropriate for the wrought-iron gate that fit into the arched doorway. Beyond it, two mounted torches brought minimal light to the narrow passageway, and the view of nothing but more of the stone wall stretched as far as I could see. But then, there wasn’t a view at all, as the two guards abandoned me, removing the torches from the holders, taking the only sources of light with them.

  Minutes turned into hours, and there were only so many things I could do to occupy my time, avoid going crazy. I paced, screamed, then paced some more.

  I had no idea why I’d been brought here. What did he hope to accomplish?

  Left alone in the dark to overthink everything I didn’t understand, I went from being frightened to unfathomably enraged—seeing red. For the most part, I sat against a wall, wishing in vain that I had the strength to tear Aaric limb from limb the moment he returned. He’d thrown his weight around one too many times, and I would have given anything to give him a taste of his own medicine.

  Another hour or two passed and I was already going stir crazy, pacing the limited circumference of what I had now likened to a cell. However, unlike the space I’d been held in before, there was no cot, no water source, only me and the silence.

  With the absence of an exterior window, there was no way of telling if it was morning yet, but I guessed it was. Seeing as how the stretch pants and t-shirt I wore had now dried. It crossed my mind that I might get the chance to communicate with Tomas again, and perhaps he might still be an ally. That is, assuming he hadn’t been sent away or killed for his involvement in our escape.

  Whatever the case, there had to be a way out, something I could do.

  “Aaric!!”

  My throat burned raw when I gripped the bars of the gate and yelled from the top of my lungs. I was also annoyingly aware that my voice was my only means of protest, so I intended to use it until I couldn’t anymore.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  My tone was nearly pleading as I swiped angry tears from my cheeks.

  “Let me out, you bastard!”

  This effort to summon Aaric was likely futile, but I couldn’t just sit there, doing nothing.

  There had been a look in his eyes when he came for me. As I stood in silence, peering through the gate, that same look flashed inside my thoughts again. It hadn’t been the dark expression I attributed to him when we first met. It was … different, less villainous than usual, but his actions that followed—commencing with my capture—made it clear he was still just as wicked as he’d been from the start.

  “Let me out!”

  At least another hour had passed, and I was on the verge of losing it. Not to mention, I was pretty freakin’ tired of being locked away like a criminal. No one had come to check in, so I did the only two things I could.

  Paced and screamed some more.

  Eventually feeling defeated, I slumped to the ground where I panted, but I wasn’t finished. This time, I readied myself to yell obscenities I was certain would only fall on deaf ears, but the idea of letting Aaric know exactly what I thought of him was too tempting.

  My lips parted, and I drew in a breath, but before I even got the chance to release it, a sound halted me.

  Footsteps.

  They echoed down the corridor and I braced myself. The rhythmic thudding was distant at first, but then moved slowly in my direction. Facing the gate, I panted with a strange mix of fear and uncertainty while waiting for the guard to approach.

  However, faint glints of light in the reflective centers of smoldering, silver eyes made my stomach sink. It only took a moment to process that the steps didn’t belong to a guard at all, but to Aaric himself. The darkness behind him was so dense it was as though he’d emerged from an abyss, arriving at the cell out of nowhere.

  My chest heaved and I fought the feeling that came with it—heightened rage, curiosity, and … something else I deemed completely unreasonable.

  Excitement.

  The flicker of orange firelight glowed on the end of a match, and then burned brighter when touched to the wick inside an antique, iron lantern. Standing in a suddenly illuminated corridor, it took longer than what felt natural for Aaric to peer up and meet my gaze. However, when he finally did, he lifted and hung the lantern beside him, brightening his features as the darkness burned away.

  We were silent, staring at one another through the bars. As each breath that puffed from my lips came with more of a rush than the last, I wondered if he felt it, too. The pull between us
that I resented more with each passing second.

  I hated him, beyond the shadow of a doubt, but was undeniably shaken by his presence. Every nerve was suddenly enlivened, and the small hairs on my arms stood on end just at the sight of him—the one who’d played two roles in my dreams. He’d been both—the focus of so many nightmares, and the leading man who’d brought unspeakable pleasure.

  Even now, despite how I loathed the sight of him, I could practically feel his cool hands moving over my flesh.

  Hopefully, he couldn’t read the vulnerability in my expression, couldn’t feel the way the blood bond attempted to sway my abhorrence. His own expression stayed dim, but I noted that it was devoid of that smugness he’d worn like a badge of honor the night we met. Then, he’d been pleased with how I shivered in his presence. Now, there was something different in his soulless stare.

  I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

  He lifted a key to the lock, prompting me to take one step back. If I hadn’t known before how small this room was, I certainly did now, as Aaric moved inside to join me.

  My gaze shifted to his hands as he turned to lock us in together.

  That rage returned, making me ball my fists tightly, aching to bring him the same misery he’d brought me after hours spent here alone, without answers. There was no barrier between us now. It was simply me and the one who’d taken me against my will.

  Twice.

  From the moment the door latched closed, until he leaned casually against the wall, I didn’t move or breathe. Instead, I focused on him, studying him. His eyes weren’t set on me, though. They stayed trained only on the lantern he’d hung before entering. Surprisingly, he hadn’t so much as lifted a hand toward me, despite my being poised and ready for a fight. One I was certain I couldn’t win. Still, something about him wasn’t quite like I remembered, and I wondered if it was simply the bond or … perhaps it was something more.

  Observing him, I deemed him handsome enough that his good looks were a terrible waste. No woman in her right mind would ever find someone as vile as him worth loving. Still, his sex-appeal was about as subtle as a parade roaring through a sleeping town at midnight.

  You’d have to be blind not to notice.

  Clad in a dark t-shirt and jeans, I noted how his lean figure was nearly all muscle. Not an ounce of softness anywhere my eyes roamed. When coupled with his staggering height that matched the princes’, and the bad-boy-gone-wicked vibe he had about him, it was a miracle I hadn’t completely forgotten the ill feelings I harbored.

  But then, the longer he just … stood there, the more I was reminded of my scorn, which allowed frustration to set right back into place.

  “Plan on telling me why I’ve been brought here?” I hissed angrily. “Am I supposed to be bait to lure the princes or something?”

  When he didn’t answer, my fists clenched even tighter.

  “Or maybe this is just another one of your sick power plays, further proving that there’s no line you’re not willing to cross?”

  Aaric’s hand lifted to rub the stubble on his chin. Yet, there was still no explanation.

  Furious, I took a step closer to him, seeming to forget what I’d seen for myself he was capable of doing to me.

  “If you have nothing to say, if you’re not going to tell me what you want, then why are you even here?” I screamed, suddenly losing what little will I had left to cooperate.

  “If you’re using me to draw the princes out into the open, then you should’ve chosen a different mark,” I scoffed. “I’m nowhere near important enough for them to come chasing after.”

  Did he know that was a bold-faced lie? Provided they knew where to look, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that the three would come for me.

  Aaric peered up then, and the intense look made me tremble all over. It pained me to admit that the sensation wasn’t completely fueled by fear.

  “I think we both know better than that.” He never broke his gaze while speaking. It was so strange hearing his voice. Although the tone was deeper and raspier than Levi’s, their accents were identical.

  Those were the first words he’d spoken to me in hours, since we stared at one another’s reflections fading before our eyes in my bedroom mirror.

  The next breath I took left my lungs quickly, and my nerves were frazzled in the presence of my enemy—the one whose silver gaze I had prayed to never meet again.

  He took a step closer and I intended to take several away from him, but the wall behind me prevented that.

  “I don’t know what that means,” I said defiantly, crossing both arms over my chest.

  The change in stance made his eyes slip from mine, wandering to my collarbone, before settling unashamedly at the hint of cleavage my V-neck revealed. The undertones the look held only added to the bizarre vibe that reverberated between us.

  He peered up again and my chest moved with each rapid breath I took.

  “You’re far from being a nobody,” he said with authority, “although, I can understand why you’d want others to believe that.”

  “Whatever you have planned, it’ll never work,” I assured him. “Is that what you think will happen? You’re hoping to lure them here?”

  “Not even close,” he stated with conviction I felt down in my bones.

  He was now within arm’s reach and the strange cocktail of emotions resurfaced. The ones that weren’t negative only made me angrier, because they should have been negative.

  “I’m nobody,” I reiterated. My voice sounded small this time, which wouldn’t help him believe me any more than the last time I said it.

  His brow quirked as my declaration settled with him, and my stupid heart skipped a beat. The sensation only made me want to slam my fist into his face, so I balled it tight at my side again.

  “On the contrary,” he objected. “Some might argue that you’re the most important woman on the planet.” There was a pause when he blinked those silver eyes inquisitively. “I suspected there was something more to you all along, but … never in my wildest dreams did I think you were …”

  His voice trailed off and he was a little too calm for my liking. Here I was, feeling like I’d come undone at the seams, and meanwhile, he remained oddly poised.

  “What are you trying to say?” I forced out when I became too annoyed to hold my tongue.

  The statement left my mouth, but for so many reasons I feared Aaric’s answer, feared that he’d utter a name I’d never be able to un-hear leaving his lips.

  “I know nothing, and yet … everything,” he mused, even cracking an out-of-place smile that quickly faded.

  When he masked his expression from me again, being unable to read him only left me more intrigued. Mostly because—since being attacked, bound and claimed by him—I had settled into thinking of Aaric as the Big Bad in my life’s story. His role was that of the terrible demon who’d stolen my choice that night. Yet, as I observed him now, he could have had me completely fooled. All I saw before me was a man who seemed more confounded by his actions than sure of them. Perhaps this had been the reason he’d only spoken in riddles tonight.

  “Whatever you think you know, you’re wrong,” I deflected, praying I was right about that. Because I desperately needed him to be wrong.

  The false humility I recognized several times since he showed up was back again, but I wasn’t falling for it.

  “You have no reason to trust me,” he admitted, stealing the words right from my thoughts, “but there’s something I need to share with you. Something … urgent in nature.”

  My heart skipped a beat, but I said nothing.

  “You’re in danger,” he eventually revealed, and the statement seemed contradictory on so many levels. Judging by the defeated look he wore, I guessed he imagined this wouldn’t go over well.

  And it certainly did not.

  “You kidnapped me!” I snapped, feeling myself come unhinged. “So, nothing’s a bigger danger to me than you.”

  There was pr
actically smoke billowing from my ears.

  “This wasn’t a kidnapping.” His volume rose with those words. They ricocheted off the surrounding stones as tension spread through his brow. “Think of it as more of a … rescue mission.”

  He didn’t get to do that. Didn’t get to act as though I was the one infuriating him.

  Without giving the repercussions much thought, my hand swung through the air and I can’t even begin to describe the joy I felt when my palm struck his cheek. I was positive that had just hurt me far worse than it hurt him, but I’d never known greater satisfaction.

  His head had snapped violently to the right when I landed the hit, and he had yet to face me again. From what I could tell—heavy breathing, tight fists that hung at his sides—he was trying to hold his composure. Watching as he worked his jaw, the reality of what I’d just done set in and I only regretted it a little.

  Very little.

  “Fair enough,” he seethed through gritted teeth.

  “You’re kidding if you think that makes us even,” I scoffed. “Or maybe you’ve forgotten the hell you put me through that last time you kidnapped me.”

  That word made him flinch again.

  “This isn’t—”

  His sentence trailed off and he met my gaze with fury in his eyes. It wasn’t the same unbridled look I’d seen him give in the past, but it was close.

  “I’m pretty sure I led this conversation by admitting that you had no reason to trust me,” he reiterated.

  “Understatement of the year.”

  Frustrated, Aaric sighed deeply. “Perhaps I’ve gone about this all wrong.”

  “Oh, so there’s a ‘right way’ to abduct someone?” I scoffed.

  He stared a moment, visibly irritated, and seeming to restrain himself from having a verbal explosion.

  “What I meant was, I should have started with an apology.”

  A laugh slipped from my lips. I couldn’t help it. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  Only, much to my surprise, his tone hadn’t held even a hint of insincerity. I had to be mistaken, though. That part of me that had begun to soften toward him—against my will, of course—prevented me from immediately dismissing this rationale.