Rush (Roam Series, Book Four) (11 page)

“
God, Violet…,
”

His struggle for control was evident in his voice.
I cried out into his mouth, unable to form words. Everything I’d known until that moment centered on him, and the way that he was making me feel. I moved against him a certain way, again, and then again until I finally understood what was happening.

“
The way…
you’re
moving
…,”

He broke away from my kiss and groaned my name, falling over me
at the same time that I lost all ability to think. I broke apart, caring about nothing, not the past, present, or future.

I loved the way his arms trembled just slightly as he struggled to come back to
this world.

“I didn’t know… it could be like this,”
he panted against my ear.

His boyish voice, so vulnerable, made me clutch him to my chest.

“
I love you, Logan.
I hope you know that.”

He met my eyes in the darkness of his bedroom. The scent of him was everywhere, on his sheets, on my body… I drowned in the warmth of his arms.

“I love you, Violet.” He caught my lips in his. “Glad that’s settled.”

Shaking my head, my chest rose as I broke into laughter
.

Icepond

Logan

“Her fever is gone. She is gaining strength.”

At the creepy doctor’s words, I turned to Troy.

He sprawled in his throne, nodding once at the old man before waving his hand in dismissal. I gripped the sword in my hand, my palms instantly sweaty.

Don’t react… don’t react.
“Logan.” He turned to me, gesturing to the weapon I held. “That is enough practice for today. You’re getting better, brother.”

The sword was taken from me by two guards. I approached the throne as Troy curled his fingers
towards me.

“Can I see her?” I asked immediately, unable to hold back the request another second longer.

“That’s not necessary. You heard my physician; she is well.”

That’s what I’m afraid of.
Over the last ten days, on more than one occasion, I had actually found myself praying for her death.

Roam’s face, so thin and pale, had freaked me the fuck out. I’d seen her sick before, but never
that
sick. When the doctor said she’d begun puking and hadn’t held anything down for two straight days, I knew she had the same flu that everyone at school had been coming down with.

At least she’s safe from
Troy. Or was.

“It’ll take some time for her to get over this,” I said, tentative, lowering to the bench next to the two thrones.

“She’s had enough time.”

He’s going after her.
I mentally assessed the guards on either side of the throne, and then calculated my distance to Troy. “You’ve asked for my… opinions a lot since I got here. You want us to trust each other- like brothers. Well, I
know
Roam. You have to convince her to like you. If you force her, she’ll never be… what you
want
her to be.”

He turned sharply to me, his ice blue eyes wide with anger. “
Your opinions, when it comes to my queen, are never warranted. Hold your tongue.”

Well, then.
I glared at him before looking down at my booted feet. His
queen
.

H
e’s out of his fucking mind.

“
I’m sorry.” I shifted, waiting for the guards to lower their weapons aimed in my direction. As Troy waved his hand again, they resumed their sentinel positions.

“Forgotten.” He growled.

That was as close to an apology as I was going to get.

“She drives me mad with need. I’ll have her this evening. Then, maybe, I will think straight again.”

Picturing his hands on Roam’s thin, weakened body boiled my blood.
She couldn’t even fight back if she tried.

Break his neck. He’s not immortal here.

I curled my fingers around the stone bench, trying to even my breathing.
You will die, Logan.
Even if you do manage to kill him, they will kill you instantly.

Suddenly picturing Violet’s face, I froze, waiting.

You love her. She means everything to you.

And like the selfish asshole that I was, I tried to rationalize letting Troy go after Roam.
She’d live. He won’t kill her. He intends to keep her, not kill her.
Comparing scenarios, I’d be dead if I attacked Troy, but she’d live if he took from her what he wanted.

If he raped her.

“
Fuck
,” I breathed, focused on Roam’s face.

I can’
t let him hurt her. She is my best friend.

I love her.

Preparing for the best way to strike, I waited until Troy was given a goblet from a pretty servant girl. Before the girl could walk away, he grabbed her around the waist, turning to me. “You need something to distract you, brother.”

The brunette pleaded, her dark eyes darting between the guards and Troy.

“No thanks,” I couldn’t keep the sarcasm from my voice. “Not interested.”

He chuckled, releasing the girl. “Ah yes. You prefer blondes.”

I measured the distance between us; I could reach him in two strides.

“
In all of these lifetimes, Roam has never looked more like my Mina. Her hair is the very same color… shades of brown, black, and auburn.”

What
in the hell is he rambling about?
I tried to remember West’s instructions, and the way I’d broken his neck in 1955.
Quick, position, turn.

“
When I am through with her, she will be begging for me. Willingly.”

Oh, fucking gross.
Before I could doubt myself one more time, I launched at him from behind, tightening my arms around his neck. His hands locked on my elbow, but I jerked, my thundering heartbeat overcompensating for the adrenaline rush sending flashes of light into my eyes.

A fist was slamming into my face. A boot in my ribs as I lay on the ground, and another in the other rib.
Pain
.

Troy towering over me, rearing back and pounding his knuckles into my face.

“
Dungeon
,” he hissed. Two guards wrenched my arms backwards, and it felt like they were ripped from my shoulders. Troy’s face came within centimeters from mine. “This is your one chance, brother. You will rot in a cell for two days for this. No food, no water. And in those two days,
you can think about the hundreds of ways I’m fucking her.
”

I roared, a sound I didn’t even recognize from my own chest, finding some strength from deep within my gut to
hoist myself up on the guards shoulders and climb up Troy’s body, kicking him in the face.

After that, I remembered nothing else.

True to his word, I woke up in a stone cell, every part of my body swollen and throbbing in pain. Exhaling slowly, I held my ribs, guessing that more than one was broken. My lips cracked as I moved my mouth to moan quietly; my tongue was dried and stuck to my teeth. I tasted old blood.

No water.

A thin cot lined one wall, and a single, stinking urinal was the only other object in the cell. “
Hello
,” I coughed, brushing at crusted blood at the corner of my mouth. A guard’s movement, just outside the cell, drew my attention. “Water?”

“No.” The guard’s reply was just as I expected, at the same moment he spoke, I remembered why I was down here.

I remembered Roam.

“
Is she okay? Is Roam- is the queen- okay?” I begged, holding my sides. Every breath, every word, sent razors to my lungs.

“Silence.” The guard replied.

I moved slowly to the cot, trying to dig deep for comforting thoughts.
West taught her a little about fighting. I sent her to a few kickboxing lessons.

She’s the smartest person I know. She’ll get out of this.

He’s more than twice her size.
The horrible nightmares surfaced in my mind, and I leaned my pounding head back against the wall.

“
I’m sorry, Cam,
” I whispered, focused on the stone ceiling through my watery gaze. What was he doing to her?

“You are quite brave.” A man’s voice jolted me from my misery. He spoke to the gu
ard, and the guard bowed to him before leaving his post at my cell.

“
Don’t bother coming in here unless you have water
or
you want to get punched in the fucking face.”

He snorted, pressing some buttons on a pad near the door. I had expected a giant ring of old, metal keys, not an electronic lock.
When he lifted his eyes to mine, I recognized Troy’s icy blue glare immediately.

Who the fuck is this guy?

“I don’t see any water, so I guess it’s your face. You’ll have to come to me, though. Everything hurts too fucking much to move.”

“Logan,” he closed the cell door behind him. “
Do not do this again.”

“Oh, I get it, you’re the
enforcer
. All mocking and cool, but then you whip out some pliers to pull out my molars.”

He narrowed his eyes, a small smile on his face. “I have no intention of removing your teeth. Sometimes, I wonder if your world is far more barbaric than mine.”

I rolled my eyes. “What, then?”

“I came here because I know that you suffer. While I cannot provide you water or medical attention, as it is against the king’s commands, I can at least provide you with information.” He moved, and I flattened myself painfully against the wall.

“That’s close enough.”

He stopped, lowering his voice. Everything about him looked like a younger version of Troy, from his height to his dark hair and cleft chin.
Everything but his behavior.
“Roam is alive. She is refusing food and drink, and her mind is… altered. But- she lives.”

“Altered? What the fuck does that mean?” Panic beat against my bruised chest.

“She will not speak. She is… still. I can arrange for you to speak to her, but when I do,
you
must convince her to stop fighting and allow the king his way. The longer she behaves like this, the faster he will lose interest. When he loses interest… her life is in jeopardy.”

“You want me to go in there and
try to make her
feel better?
”

“I do not
want
anything. As I said, it is in your best interest that she cooperates.”

“What’s it to you?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “My motives are not of your concern. I do, however, possess more than a shred of humanity, and it sickens me to see you both suffer as you do. You are both very young.”

I looked down, trying to figure out what this guy was up to. “Are you related to Troy? You look like him.”

“I am his son.”

Holy fucking plot twist.
“Are you shitting me?”

“My name is Will. As I said, I’ll arrange for you to speak to Roam. Focus on the smallest amount of meaningful words that you can say to her. What will motivate her to fight for her life? Think. You have
forty-eight hours.”

With that, he left the cell, locking the door behind him.

I drifted in and out of consciousness for the remainder of the time, my headache getting so bad that I wanted to bang my head against the wall. At one point, I woke in a sweat, thinking about Eva for the first time in the ten days since we got there.
Did she make it through the inclined plane? Is Violet taking care of her?

How is she alive?

Hours turned into days; the pain grew so intense, I wondered if maybe I had internal bleeding. No one would care.
I am dispensable here.
When I stopped getting the urge to piss, I knew that I was severely dehydrated.

A woman’s crazed scream jolted me awake several times. I knew that it wasn’t Roam, but the tortured moaning made me wonder how many others were locked in the cells surrounding me.

I tried to move around as little as possible, concentrating on what I was going to say to Roam.
Remind her of home, of her mom and dad… of West and Eva.

Footsteps interrupted my thoughts, and Will appeared again, this time with two other guards. “Take him to the queen. Allow him to speak to her.”

They chained me and dragged me when I couldn’t keep up with their pace; my mouth was so dry, I could barely form words or sounds. Up a stone stairwell and into a decorated hallway, they positioned me outside of a giant, wooden door. I was offered a cup of water, and I drank as much as I could before it was wrenched away from me.