From Burning Ashes (Collector Series #4) (34 page)

“Not so fast,” a thick, familiar Irish brogue
whispered in my ear. Garrett. His arms swiftly grasped me and
slipped goblin metal around my wrists. Then he tugged the gun out
of my hands, and put it in the waistband of his jeans. “Don’t want
you taking me to some exotic resort in Tahiti…well, not quite yet.
We’ll have time for that later, sweetheart.”

I grunted as I fell against him, my magic
subdued by the metal. Cadoc, Maxen, and all the rest of his
nameless cronies surrounded us. One I didn’t know patted me down.
Cadoc held Amara by the throat, her eyes slanted in anger.

“Always good to see you, Mar.” Garrett
settled his chin on my shoulder, keeping me pressed against
him.

“Can’t say the same.”

“Come on, luv. We’ve had some good times
together. Even you can’t deny that.”

“It’s called faking it, Garrett. You probably
wouldn’t be able to tell though, since all the girls do it with
you.”

“Deny all you want, luv. But it was you
crawling into my bed each night. Begging me.” She scrunched her
face and looked away, and Garrett laughed wickedly.

“Come on, li’l sis. Daddy is going to lock
you in your room for disobeying him.” Garrett yanked my cuffed arm
and pulled me forward. When Ryker and I were first on the run,
Garrett showed a picture of me to locate us, pretending I was his
missing sister.

As we passed Amara, he slapped her ass. “I’ll
be punishing you later, but Vadik wants to see you first.”

She glowered at Garrett with ferocity, but he
didn’t appear to care. He and one of his nameless goons shoved me
up the stairs. I knew they were taking me to a cell. My mind ran
through any possibility, any hope, to get out of this. I had goblin
metal stealing my powers, which were sporadic anyway. I had no
weapons, and a gun was pressed against the back of my head.
Sometimes you were just screwed.

Garrett took me to the second floor, to a
room far in the corner. This room held no beds or chairs, only
chains pressed against the walls on either side. I gulped as he
pulled me in. My body was slammed against the wall, and the click
of metal cuffs around my legs and wrists sounded before I could
even take a breath.

Garrett’s speed was his advantage. His blurry
form stopped in front of me. A smile spread over his striking face.
A perfectly trimmed red beard lined his jaw. “So much trouble
crammed into such a tiny, cute package.”

I pulled my arms, rattling the chains holding
me to the wall. My fury emanated in a snarl.

“Easy, sweetheart.” Garrett patted my head.
“Why don’t you hang out here and think about what you’ve done?” He
turned for the door and stepped out with the other fae. He slid the
cell door close, the lock snapping in place.

“Oh, and don’t you worry your pretty head
about your
boyfriend
.” Garrett smirked, wrapping his hands
around the bars. “He’s getting some father-son bonding time.”

As if on cue, a pained roar tore through the
building.

Ryker!

My soul sank to my toes and my body
instinctively struggled to move toward him. To get to him. The
shackles clanked as I tried to fight them. I knew what bonding time
meant. Torture.

“Go ahead, wear yourself out.” Garrett winked
and turned for the stairs. “I’ll be back for you soon after I
gather up the humans you set free. You thought you saved them?” He
clicked his tongue. “You just got them killed.” Garrett blew me a
kiss and disappeared along with his minion.

Another bellow came from below, tearing out
my heart. Hearing Ryker being tortured was more painful than if it
was me. My arms and legs failed against their restraints, bucking
and slamming against the wall until I gasped for air, a strangled
cry twisting my vocal cords. All I was doing was hemorrhaging
energy. The chains weren’t meant to hold fae, but that didn’t mean
I could get out of them. Being fae didn’t suddenly turn me into the
Hulk or Superman.

I wish.

The sounds, grunts, and voices rose to me in
waves from the room where they were holding Ryker, punishing my
mind with images. Every cry from Ryker created a despairing whimper
from me. I hated that all I could do was wait to be released from
the chains. It was my only possibility to get away. Finding
Annabeth and getting Ryker and Sprig were at the top of my plan,
but I had no idea how to accomplish any of it.

A shadow obstructed the light briefly, and I
jerked my head toward the shape moving to my cell door. Purple hair
high in a ponytail swished across her black leather jacket.

“Amara!” I exhaled with relief. “Never
thought I’d be so happy to see you. How did you get away?”

She tugged a key out of her pocket, unlocking
the cell door, sliding it open.

“You have a key?” I hissed excitedly. “Where
did you get it? Never mind, just help me get out of these. Then we
can go get Ryker and find Sprig.”

“Why would I do that?” She tilted her head.
“You’re exactly where I want you.”

Trepidation fluttered in my chest. “I know
you don’t like me, but we need to go after Ryker.”

“You are both where I need you to be for the
moment.”

“What are you talking about?” My throat
struggled to get words out.

“Ryker is finally away from you. And all
their attention is on him. Not you.”

“This is all because of you?” I rattled
against my chains. “
You
set us up. You led me down that
hallway on purpose, didn’t you? Why?”

“Because you have two things I want.” She
crossed the room. A knife hung off her belt loop, a guard’s gun
tucked in her back belt. Weapons, I realized, that Garrett’s gang
never took away from her. This had been all an act, and she went to
great lengths to keep Ryker and me believing she remained on our
side, even killing one of the nameless guards in the training
room.

“And what is that?” It really wasn’t a
question. Her desires were transparent.

“Ryker and the stone, of course,” she
answered. “And both were always with you.”

“You thought it best to work with the man who
tortured Ryker, almost killed you, just so you could get me away
from Ryker?”

“I am not really working with Vadik.” Her
upper lip hooked up in disgust. “He might think I am, and I allowed
him to believe so. I needed to be sure you and Ryker were
separated.” Her dark eyes glinted with rage. “Because he never left
your side. Ever. It was disgusting.”

“And you’re an idiot,” I stated. “You think
Vadik is just going to let you have the stone? Or Ryker?”

“Vadik doesn’t know about the stone’s true
whereabouts. I led him to the conclusion it wasn’t with you, and
Ryker is the only one who knows where it is. Why do you think Ryker
is downstairs and you are here with little security?” She held her
arms out in the tiny space. “All in all, this worked better than I
imagined. Now you and I can have some quality girl time.”

“You want to braid my hair?” I lifted an
eyebrow. “Sure, go for it, but don’t be surprised when it becomes
your noose.”

Amara put her hands on her hips, strands of
her plum hair hanging down. Even covered in dirt and blood, she
looked as if she were posing for a magazine. “Oh, Zoey. Aren’t you
just the cutest thing?”

“That’s what I hear.” I shrugged, the
manacles jangling. “But let’s get past the bullshit. Get to what
you want, Amara.”

“I already told you.”

“Neither one is for me to give, nor are they
for the taking.”

“Big words coming from a girl restrained to a
wall. Defenseless.”

She did have me there.

“The entire time you were with us, you were
scheming to bring us back here?”

“No.” The word burst out of her mouth as she
moved closer to me. She stopped, taking a breath. “I hate Vadik,
what he’s done to me, but I work with what I am given. Your little
human friend locked up here gave me great opportunity.”

“Where is she?”

“That I don’t know. Like you, I thought she
was still here. I have no idea what happened to her, nor do I
care.”

I jammed my lids together, breathing out.
One thing at a time, Zoey
. I needed to get out of these
chains and this cell before I could help anyone.

“All of this,” I opened my eyes, looking
around the space, “is just to get Ryker back? He
doesn’t
love you, Amara. Let him go.”

Her nostrils flared.

“Was saving me the other night only to gain
my trust and his appreciation? Make us less inclined to suspect
you?”

“Yes and no. Like I said before, I’ve always
been honest with how I feel about you. I don’t like you, but
killing you would not benefit me. I understood that when Ryker
followed you down into DMG. Helping you is another thing…” She let
the sentence drift off. “Arlo was a viral dog who needed to be put
down. He presented a great opportunity. I wasn’t going to let him
really hurt you. I just needed you to be threatened enough to need
me.”

My jaw went slack.
How did I not see this
coming?
“You were working with Arlo?”

“You think he would have found us otherwise?”
she exclaimed. “He couldn’t find his ass if he tried.”

I felt so stupid. Amara was a trickster, a
deceiver. It was in her DNA; she couldn’t help herself. And we
walked right into it. She used Basic Magic 101: create a
distraction so they won’t see the trick you pulled right in front
of their eyes. Arlo had been the distraction, an unaware pawn. She
had set him up as well.

“You are psychotic.”

“No, I’m a survivor.” Amara sauntered up to
me, a smugness drawn over her features. “You are so easy to play
with, Zoey. You practically walk into traps without my help. Your
weakness for people makes you incredibly vulnerable.”

“At least they don’t turn me into a
cold-hearted bitch no one cares about. Even the man whom I never
thought would stop loving you, no matter what awful things you did,
doesn’t care about you anymore.” I leaned forward, the chains only
allowing an insignificant amount of leeway. “Even
he
chose
me
.”

Low blow.

She snarled. “Croygen is a fool. He always
has been.” Her nose twitched. “He never got me. He made it too easy
with his love and his willingness to be at my beck and call.”

I tilted my head back, taking her in,
understanding twitching my lips. “I get it. Ryker was the
unattainable. A game to you. If he ever had turned around and told
you he loved you, you probably would have left him too.”

“Shut up,” she snarled, glaring at me.

“But you knew deep down he would
never
love you. That became the draw. The desire to make him truly and
fully want you. But he never did…or would.”

“I said shut up,” she yelled and stepped
closer to me.

“It must have killed you to watch him with
me.” I grinned, knowing perfectly well I was poking her. “To see
him love someone. To know a
human
got the exact thing you
wanted for so long. His heart.”

Her hand clashed against my cheek, which
first went numb, then ached. I twisted my head back to her, our
faces only inches apart, and I smiled.

“Is that why I’m here, Amara? Because you’re
a sore loser?” I tipped my head in closer, keeping my voice low.
Seductive.

I had come to terms with the dark, twisted
part of me who loved a good fight, the taste of blood, learning how
best to get under the skin of your opponent. It made me feel alive,
and like a dog in mud, I rolled in it with glee.

Amara was a good opponent. Most people I
fought were easy to read. Either I stayed silent, letting them
waste their energy with meaningless words, or I found their
Achilles heel and clamped down on it until they lost. Amara’s only
weakness was Ryker. And sadly it wasn’t even about him.

Fury flamed in her eyes, but then her mouth
twisted in a superior grin. “Do you know how many nights he yelled
out my name? How many beds we broke? You can pretend all you want,
little girl, that he cares about you, but he will grow so
unbelievably
bored of you. You don’t think I haven’t seen it
before? The list of women he has been with is endless, but he
always
came back to me. And he will again.”

Pretending her words didn’t bother me was
difficult, but I kept my face complacent. “You are pathetic,
Amara.” I chuckled. “You don’t even see it. The way you treat
Croygen? It’s how Ryker treats you. He’s used you because you were
there and more than willing. A doormat.”

“Shut up!” She shoved me back against the
wall. My laugh echoed off the wall, like a demented witch. “I said
shut up!”

I turned off my cackle like a light switch
and leered at her. “Come on, Amara. You think having us captured by
Vadik is the best way to get Ryker? You just handed him over to be
tortured and killed.”

“Vadik won’t kill him. He assured me. No
matter what he says, Ryker
is
his son. But he will kill you.
That was part of our deal.” She lifted her hand, brushing my hair
back off my face. Icicles rushed down my spine. “Too bad I won’t be
around to see it. But to answer your question, my plan does end
with Ryker coming for me. He’s forgiven me for a lot worse. And I
promise you, he
will
follow me again.”

Her confidence unsettled me. Either she was
truly nuts or she knew something I didn’t. It wasn’t long till I
got her meaning.

Amara dropped to her knees in front of me,
reaching for my right boot. Fear struck like a belt to my back, air
catching in my throat.
Oh shit.

She winked up at me as she undid my laces. I
tried to pull back, but there was nowhere I could go. “Amara,
don’t.”

Her fingers gripped my heel, pulling on the
shoe.

“You don’t know what you are doing.” I
thrashed against the chains.

“I know exactly what I am doing.” She slipped
the boot off my foot. She was taking the stone from me. Panic
struck at my magic, but it was under the weight of the goblin metal
still poisoning my system. I sensed it wanting to explode from its
hold, but it still couldn’t fully break through.