Clearing my throat, I locked eyes with Basilius. His had narrowed while listening to Esmeralda complaining about her current, pressing issue down below. He’d leaned against the edge of the entrance to the hallway where we were. The anger churning in his eyes caused my stomach to churn, as if he thought we were actually considering doing as Esme requested.
“It’s called venting, which doesn’t end in homicide,” I offered, which should’ve stopped Esme from continuing. Esme didn’t take hints, cues, or general directions well. Instead, she began anew. “Or murder, as you call it around here,” I corrected when a deep frown forced his eyebrows to push together.
“I’m allowed to vent. The man seriously was eye-fucking me so damn hard with those pretty eyes, that my vagina threatened to invite him inside! I’ve never found anyone who made my vagina all tingly without even touching it, yet.” Running her palms over her face, she made complaintive sounds. “Why is that the one time I ask you to hide a body, you won’t even consider it? Besides the fact of it being considered murder, which of course it would be. Obviously in order to hide one, we’d need to murder it first. That’s obvious. As I said before, the neanderthal would just climb out unless he wasn’t able to do so.”
“That, and he’s standing behind you,” I muttered, unnerved at the fury I was witnessing in his mind. “I honestly think he believes you mean to murder him, Esmeralda.” Stepping closer to her, I eyeballed him with a warning burning in my gaze. “Let’s go, Esme.” I refrained from asking, as the turmoil in Basilius’s mind appeared exceedingly unpleasant. I wasn’t leaving her standing in a scarcely lit hallway with him, alone.
“You couldn’t warn me?” she hissed, which, like mine, was more of a shout-whisper.
“When my eyeballs look like they’re a fuzzball, you should pay attention. I’m obviously not suffering from a stroke. Why did you think my eyes were moving to you, then over your damn shoulder?” I asked, which caused a crease in her forehead as her nose scrunched up.
“What the hell is a fuzzball?” That she’d only heard the one word she couldn’t discern was frustrating. “Is it something else you expect to know that is from your world, not ours?”
“Yes,” I admitted. The moment we emerged from the hall, I gazed at the men who were speaking in hushed tones. Walking toward them, I paused at the sound of a rasping purr that vibrated through me. Esme’s hand gripped my shoulder, her nails digging into the flesh. “Basilius, unless you want me to rattle back, I suggest you save your male antics for after I’ve found Knox.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, then removed her hand with a wince at the blood she’d drawn.
“You don’t have to thank me for protecting you. I understand the feel of that primal need currently rushing through your veins like molten lava. That’s how I feel when Knox is near, which I haven’t felt since we arrived.” Stopping in front of the men, I scanned their faces before turning back to Brander and Killian, who watched me closely with an emotion I couldn’t put my finger on, on their faces. “Where is he?”
“Who?” Killian asked. The guilty flush creeping up his throat made my stomach churn.
“Who the hell do you think, Killian? Who would I ask you for? Surely not a palace steward, not when I have a suit of meat on hand.”
“I resent that remark,” he breathed, but it lacked his normal, jovial tone.
Uncrossing my arms, I let them drop to my sides. “You resemble that remark, not resent. Where the hell is Knox?” I asked, noting the heads dropping, as if the floor had become intriguing. “Answer me,” I whispered as fear clamped down around my heart.
Their silence sent every worst-case scenario running through my mind. A chill snaked down my spine as my stomach churned, threatening to empty at my feet. I wanted to shake them until they disclosed to me where Knox was. Or was it because he was with someone else? The pain that thought alone caused was debilitating. Had Knox given up on my returning to him? I’d promised I’d come back. Was there another warming his bed that I’d left cold with my absence? Tears pricked my eyes, singing them as I looked from one person to the other. My breathing turned erratic, matching my heartbeat as it battered against my ribcage.
“Somebody answer me,” I demanded as my fingers curled against my palms, forming a fist.
“He’s gone,” Brander said, shoving his hands into the pockets of the pants he wore.
“Gone where?”
“Aria,” he began, but I wasn’t about to get some lecture from him before he shattered my heart by telling me Knox had found someone else, or worse, he’d married Sabine for real this time.
“Don’t lie or seek to protect me. Just fucking say it, Brander.”
“He’s with Hecate.” Brander’s words might as well have ripped into my chest and removed my heart as it still beat. The echoing sound of it rang in my ears, deafening them to whatever he’d uttered after he’d told me who Knox was with. The entire room spun around me as if I’d stepped onto a carousel. But as I spiraled on it, no horse was available to prevent me from falling. “Aria?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Aria
Aria
In the middle of the library, I stood as dread slammed through me. It felt like violent waves thrashing against the shoreline as the tide came in. The sound of voices around me wouldn’t reach my ears over the deafening sound of my heartbeat and my screams ripping through it. Only, I didn’t scream. I couldn’t. It felt as if someone had reached into my throat, and stolen my ability to make a sound.
The tightness in my chest wouldn’t lessen, not even as I sucked in air as I realized I’d stopped breathing. I swallowed several times to clear my throat, feeling as if something was stuck in it, blocking my airway and trapping the sounds in my throat.
Brander stepped closer, but I shook my head as my hand lifted, warning him to back up. I repeatedly opened my mouth to speak, but everything I wanted to say wouldn’t escape. I couldn’t find the right word to say, and even if I could, they wouldn’t articulate. I fought to regain control of my thoughts, my voice, and the emotions that were presently breaking my heart into sharp, jagged pieces. Gripping my throat, I applied pressure to my breastbone, praying it eased the agony and torment I felt so fucking deeply that I feared looking down, only to discover a gaping hole from where they’d torn my heart from my chest.
“Aria?” Esme whispered, her eyes wide with concern.
“I’m sorry, Brander. You’ll have to repeat that? Because it sounded like you said Knox was with Hecate?”
“You should sit down,” he encouraged as he pulled a chair up beside him.
“I don’t want to sit down,” I hissed as my world shattered into a thousand broken pieces.
The entire room blurred as fear collided with terror at the thought of him being anywhere near her. It took effort to force words to leave my lips. As if I’d lost them with him. It hurt to even think he’d have gone with her, but why the hell would he have done something so fucking stupid? It was Knox. Knox wasn’t stupid! He’d never voluntarily go to the sadistic bitch who’d hurt him, repeatedly. He knew she’d only force him to be a slave, to murder those she placed beneath his blade.