Page 70 of Crown of Death
“I…” I stutter, and I hate it. I need to sell this. “I need another week. I have half now, but you moving up the date likethis-”
“Excuse me?” he says, leaning in, his face too close. “I said today. You agreed to my terms, however flexible they may need to be, back when you came to me. Twice.” He growls, his breath fowl. I barely hold back a gag. “I said today. Payment will be madetoday.”
I swallow once. I reach into my pocket with trembling hands. “I have five hundred now,” I say, forcing my voice not to quiver. “I’ll have the rest a week fromtoday.”
Shylock snatches the money from my hand and I flinch back half astep.
His hand lurches out, grabbing the front of my shirt. He yanks me forward into his face as he slips the money into hispocket.
“Not good enough,Lo,” he hisses, using Amelia’s nickname for me. “And now I’m going to have to charge you some kind ofinterest.”
He pulls me closer, crushing us chest to chest. I let out a little squeal, a mix of anger and fear. He reaches forward, sliding his hand down mybackside.
I shove against him, but he yanks me close again. The fabric of my shirt rips at the collar, tearing halfway down to mystomach.
I let out an angry cry, shoving against him again, but he just gives a disgusting little laugh and pulls me forward with his hands cupped around myrear.
“She’s a feisty little fighter,” he breathes, pressing his nose into my ear, whispering against mycheek.
“Get your slimy hands off of me,” I growl, shoving against the man who outweighs me by well over a hundredpounds.
He just laughs again. With his weight, he backs me against the wall, and I smash into it, pain shooting out along the contact points. He reaches down between us, searching for the button of mypants.
A low growl whips both of our heads to theleft.
Through the dim light, a pair of glowing red eyes stares usdown.
“I was going to intervene,” a low, calm but dangerous voice says. And my pulse skyrockets. “I was going to offer to pay her debt off and let you go your own way.” One step, Cyrus enters the alleyway. “But then you had to go and put your hands on her. And touching my things is an unforgiveablesin.”
Shylock is stiff,wary.
Cyrus is smaller than Shylock. Shorter. Not asmuscled.
But when a man with glowing red eyes is fixated on you, when he speaks with dangerous, controlled words, you’d best fear for yourlife.
“This here has nothing to do with you, freak,” Shylock growls. But there’s a hint of uncertainty in his voice. “Just keepwalking.”
Cyrus smiles, and oh how terrifying the man’s smileis.
“Oh, but it has a great deal to do with me,” he says. “You’ve threatened this rather incredible woman. And now you’ve put her hands onher.”
Shylock spits in Cyrus’ direction, landing on hisboot.
And like he can really ignore Cyrus’ presence, Shylock searches again, and this time succeeds in unbuttoning mypants.
One second he was there. The next, Shylock isgone.
A scream is strangled from my throat when I’m nearly knocked over as Cyrus pounces on Shylock. They hit the ground ten feet from me, rolling onlyonce.
Cyrus lands on top of him. One hand wraps around Shylock’s throat. He looks up at the King with wide, terrifiedeyes.
Cyrus leans in close, their noses only two inchesapart.
“Perhaps the world has forgotten common decency,” Cyrus says in that controlled voice of his. “This world is full of all kinds of predators. I would know since I made the most powerful ones. But you…” he trails off, his lip curling in a sneer. “You are the worstkind.”
I can’t figure out what happened atfirst.
There’s a little popsound.