Central (36 page)

“Well, well, well,” said a voice. “Looks like we have perfect timing.”

Ryce
. She couldn’t prevent another surge of fear. Beads of cold sweat appeared on her forehead. His voice immediately invoked the memory of being held by him with a dagger to her throat after the Becoming ceremony. If Amber hadn’t healed her, she would have died.

You’re not the same now as you were then
, James thought.
You could break that hold a hundred times now.

She gave a mental nod even as she registered the impression of more than just one new presence in the room. She also realized that Ryce’s footsteps were getting closer.

“Are you sure you got the right one?” he asked suddenly. His voice sounded as if he was directly in front of her.

“What are you talking about?” asked the male who had carried her into the room. He sounded petulant. “Of course she is the correct one. I saw her green eyes myself before I had to knock her unconscious. She was trying to protect the weak, sniveling Lekwuesti. She killed Gregor.”

“Hmm,” Ryce said consideringly.

And then she felt his hands running along both of her arms. She froze in shock and revulsion as his touch continued down her arms and along her body. The outrage that blasted through her head was not her own. She was too horrified to react.

“She is stronger now,” he said appreciatively.

“Ryce, did I give you permission to touch her?” asked yet another male. This voice was smooth and commanding. And since he was speaking as though Ryce answered to him, she knew exactly who it was.

“I beg your forgiveness, my lord. You know I have been thinking of her for some time now.”

“Yes, well, we have far more important plans for her than to simply hand her over to you to play with.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“We can remove the blindfold now. I would like to see those green eyes for myself.”

Her stomach turned. She could taste her own fear.

Better to see what’s coming
, Caleb conveyed matter-of-factly.
And we’ll get more clues this way.

That very excellent point helped calm her a bit. Her head jerked when the person behind her—she didn’t think it was Ryce—reached up and began loosening the knot. Within a matter of a few seconds, he had the blindfold free.

She expected to have to blink against bright light and was surprised to find the room only dimly lit.

Most Mercesti can see in the dark
, Gabriel informed her.

Even as she absorbed that thought, she swiftly looked around the entire room. The walls, floor and ceiling were all made of some kind of polished stone, again confirming that she was underground. As her eyes touched on the door, she realized it was made out of wood and reinforced with some kind of metal bands.

The entire chamber was about the size of Gabriel and Amber’s bedroom back at Central. She realized that she was actually chained in the middle of it and everyone stood around her like she was some kind of offering on display. A quick count told her that there were twenty Mercesti in the room with her. All of them were male.

When she spotted the long table on one side of the room containing a wide variety of wicked-looking instruments, she deliberately pulled her gaze away as panic flooded her.

Dear Lord…how was she ever going to have the strength and courage to get through this?

James knew that the fear and alarm that coursed through them all at the sight of the instruments of torture was not all Olivia’s. He worked very hard to suppress his emotions, knowing that she needed their support right then.

But heaven help him, he was terrified. What did they have planned for his sweet Olivia?

And why her? They were all very specifically stating that she was the one they wanted. But why?

At the moment, none of that really mattered. What mattered was helping her get through this and finding her location with all speed. While James very much wanted to be the one who walked into that room and freed her, he would gladly settle for helping her remotely like this as long as she was freed. He realized then that their part in this battle would not require their physical armor and weapons. It would instead rely on their unique connection with each other.

That didn’t mean that he wouldn’t hunt Ryce down and saw his hands off at the wrists with a blunt instrument for touching her like he had, of course.

I’ll hold him down for you
, Caleb offered.

They all again focused. Grolkinei was approaching Olivia, his expression curious and pleased.

“Ah, yes. There are those eyes. Welcome, Olivia.” When she didn’t respond, the Mercesti leader smiled. “I am sure you have heard of me. I am Grolkinei.”

She remained silent.

With a look of distinct interest, he took another step closer. “My commanders failed to mention that you are quite beautiful.” His gaze moved to the side. Angius and Ryce stood beside each other, their arms crossed over their chests. “It makes me think that they are each making their own plans for you and your sisters.”

He started walking a slow circle around her. She stared straight ahead.

“If so, I can certainly understand why. You are definitely more fit than Ryce led me to believe. It appears that you have been training.”

James felt a strange sensation at the back of his neck. Then he realized that it was the fall of Olivia’s hair being released from its knot. His jaw clenched painfully.

“Indeed, I do not know that ‘beautiful’ quite captures it,” Grolkinei continued, reaching up and caressing her hair. “What is this strange coloring?”

She didn’t respond. Her eyes followed him when he moved back in front of her.

Nodding, he said, “Very well. I respect your silence for the moment. We shall see whether your mind will respond to my questions where your lovely mouth will not.”

He looked at Angius. “Send Kanika in.”

Olivia watched the door. When it opened, she strained to see beyond it. All she saw was a dark hallway.

Deflated because she had no more clues to send her family to aid them, she returned her attention to the former Orculesti who had tried to kill Amber. She looked very much the same with the exception of her new red eyes and red markings around her eyes. Amber had once told her that Kanika’s second power was the ability to conjure objects with just her mind.

Her hips swayed as she walked. It was a surprise to Olivia that the males in the room seemed interested in that sway of her hips. Other Estilorian males weren’t generally like that.

Mercesti are, uh, different
, Gabriel said hesitantly.

She knew he was censoring his thoughts to keep her from being alarmed. It didn’t help, especially after the way Ryce had felt her up. She finally started noting some of the looks being sent her way from the unknown Mercesti males standing around the room. They sent a shiver up her spine.

Kanika paused a foot from her. Her eyes shifted to Olivia’s hair. “The green hair is new.”

Grolkinei stood right behind Kanika. “What do you suspect it signifies?”

“I am uncertain. Perhaps some alteration of her mental status.” Kanika looked thoughtful. Then she said, “I will certainly find out for you.” And she reached up to put her hands on either side of Olivia’s face.

Remember Knorbis’ techniques
, Amber thought.

I need a song.

Understanding, Amber returned,
Beatles, “Help!”

Olivia and her sisters did a mental dance routine to the song. It took all of Olivia’s focus to concentrate on the mental movements, releasing no information to the probing mind of the Mercesti.

As Kanika’s brows knit in frustration and they neared the end of the routine, Skye said,
Rhianna, “Hard.”

They completed that one and were in the middle of Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie” when Kanika shoved Olivia backwards with as much strength as she could muster. It didn’t move her much.

“I can get nothing,” she snarled, turning and stepping away from Olivia.

“
What?
” Grolkinei grasped Kanika’s shoulders and whirled her around to face him. “You said she was the easiest to read.”

“I did not,” Kanika returned with a great deal of heat. “I said the youngest was the easiest and the one avowed to Gabriel was unreadable. You were the one who decided that this—” she waved at Olivia, “—was a better option than fighting the holy light.”

Olivia felt Skye’s gasp and knew her younger sister had just realized she would have been their target if it wasn’t for her abilities. Olivia was personally happy to be there instead of her sister.

Stop it, Liv
, Skye thought, obviously intensely pained.

Before she could compose a response, another set of thoughts entered her mind. She realized immediately that she was in the mind of Aurora’s mate.

Titan
, James offered.

Titan had a distinct mental signature. He was telling her he was close. He scented her and the Mercesti who had been on the beach with her. He was, essentially, hot on her trail.

As the series of thoughts bounced from Titan to Olivia, then through to Gabriel and on to the elders and everyone searching for her, she was filled with hope. And it occurred to her that there was every possibility this could end here forever. Grolkinei himself was present. His death and the deaths of his commanders would bring the Mercesti down.

It was a goal worthy of sucking it up for a few more minutes, she decided. She refocused only to realize that Grolkinei was standing in front of her, staring at her intently.

“Her eyes were just glowing. What does that mean?” he asked.

None of them knew. Even Ryce wouldn’t have known, as her back had been to him when she had communicated with Aurora after the Becoming ceremony.

His jaw working, Grolkinei crossed his arms over his chest and continued to study her. “It seems you are full of surprises, Olivia. You come to us having conditioned yourself physically as well as mentally. I cannot say that this displeases me. It actually makes my future plans for you much more exciting.” His gaze moved over to the table of instruments. “The stronger they are, the harder they are to break, after all.”

Her heart soared into her throat. She knew she wasn’t completely successful at masking her fear when she saw the commanders giving her knowing smirks from their spots around the room. Grolkinei turned and walked over to the table, selecting a sharp, two-pronged tool. It looked something like a meat skewer that could fit into the palm of a hand.

As he got closer, she focused on his face, refusing to give him the satisfaction of staring at the object in his hand. She could hear her own rapid breathing and felt a line of sweat drip down her back and knew she wasn’t fooling anyone, but it was the point of the matter.

Damn right it is
, Amber agreed. But Olivia felt her sister’s agonized fear.

“I understand that today’s humans,” Grolkinei said, moving close enough to place one prong of the fork just below Olivia’s navel, “are oddly modest creatures.”

The sound of fabric ripping filled the room. She felt the air touching her midriff as her tank top was sheared. She also felt her face flame with the modest embarrassment he was referencing. And lastly, she felt the prong of the instrument pressing against the middle of her breastbone where it had completed its ascent.

“My next cut will completely remove the garment,” he said, his red eyes looking incongruously dangerous and coaxing at the same time.

He moved the prong so that she could feel its sharpness. Looking at him with a disinterest she didn’t feel, she finally spoke. “It’s only skin, Grolkinei.”

Then, when his eyes flashed angrily, she smoothly added, “But what do you want to know?”

Chapter Thirty-Three

Harold found Titan
, Gabriel conveyed.

The relief and excitement that coursed through them was intense but short-lived. After all, they didn’t know how many Mercesti were within whatever holding contained Olivia, and she needed to remain safe until her rescuers could reach her.

They all refocused their efforts on doing what they could to help her through their connection. She would surely need it in her face-off with Grolkinei.

If James had harbored a rather nebulous dislike of the Mercesti elder before that day, it had most certainly crystallized into full-blown, want-to-break-every-bone-in-your-body hatred the moment Grolkinei picked up the tool from the table with the intent to use it on Olivia. Watching the Mercesti’s advance with that tool while feeling her warranted fear and being powerless to help her had been gut-wrenching beyond words.

Now, after she issued her nonchalant question—earning brief smiles from her sisters—Grolkinei responded, “Why did your eyes glow?”

“A result of my efforts to block Kanika’s intrusion,” she lied easily, obviously having thought of the falsehood in the brief span of time she had been given.

Grolkinei stared at her consideringly. As he had no reason to doubt her, he swiftly switched subjects. “I want to know how to travel between the planes.”

Tell him things he likely already knows
, Gabriel told her.

Like what?
she returned, clearly panicked.

The Gloresti-Corgloresti connection.

Her brow wrinkled. “I don’t get it,” she said out loud. “Everyone here seems to know how the transition between the planes works. I can’t imagine how someone as powerful as you wouldn’t know the specifics.”

James gave her a mental nod of approval. The scattered and perplexed tone was exactly the one she needed to strike.

Raising his eyebrows and waving the pronged instrument in his hand, Grolkinei responded, “I believe it would behoove you to indulge me.”

Giving a long-suffering sigh that had Amber and Skye issuing mental chuckles, she responded, “Fine.” As if she was reading from a textbook, she continued, “The transition between the planes must be done by a Corgloresti with the aid of a Gloresti.” She tilted her head and looked at Grolkinei expectantly.