Page 31 of Wicked Enemy

Surprise pulsed through me as Karim just poured a slow stream of water into my mouth. I gulped it down greedily. Maybe I had been too pessimistic when I thought they would—

Before I could finish that thought, his other hand shot out and grabbed my jaw. Keeping it forced open, he abruptly tipped the pitcher forward and began pouring a massive torrent straight into my throat.

Panic crackled through me as I choked on it. I tried to yank my head away, but his grip on my jaw only tightened. Gurgling noises ripped from me as the water splashed down my throat. I yanked hard against the handcuffs and thrashed wildly, trying to throw my whole body sideways, while my mind screamed that I was going to drown.

Then the water at last stopped.

I doubled over, coughing and spitting water, as Karim finally released my jaw. The now empty pitcher dangled from his fingers as he stood there watching me retch and gasp on the bed.

“Look at me,” he demanded.

Since it still felt as though I had an entire ocean sloshing around inside my lungs, I just continued coughing and dragging in more breaths.

A hand locked around my throat.

With his fingers digging into my skin, he forced my head up so that I met his cold eyes. “I said, look at me.”

Not bothering to reply, I just glared back up at him.

“The next time you want something, you beg for it.” His eyes bored into me. “You say,yes, please, sir. Got it?”

I scoffed. “I wouldn’t beg you for anything even if my life depended on it.”

“If Arden doesn’t show up with his healer, I will follow through on my promise and worldwalk you back to my castle and torture you to death.”

All three thugs whipped around towards where Christian White had suddenly appeared out of thin air in the middle of the cabin. Karim released my jaw immediately as the three of them bowed and murmured a greeting to their master. But White’s eyes remained locked on mine.

“So you might want to rethink that statement,” he finished.

A wave of terrible hopelessness suddenly crashed over me, ripping the previous bravado out of my soul. Dropping my gaze, I simply scooted back against the wall again and pulled my knees up to my chest.

White let out a satisfied chuckle, as if he was pleased by the submissive gesture. But I didn’t care.

If Arden doesn’t show up with his healer…

The trade was scheduled to happen soon. And there was no way that Levi would ever do it.

Lifting my shackled hands towards my chest, I wrapped my fingers around the small ruby necklace I wore underneath my shirt, and squeezed the precious stone hard through the fabric.

Fear clawed its way up my throat, so intense that I thought I was going to choke on it.

No one, not Chief Anderson, not Ulric, not a single one of my colleagues, knew where I was. I had snuck out of the building to warn Gemma without telling anyone where I was going or what I was doing. They had no idea that I had been kidnapped and that the clock was now ticking mercilessly down towards my death.

A sudden wave of bitterness flashed through me.

Even if they had known where I was, none of them would have come for me. Not when they would be facing a worldwalker. Ulric would probably have tried to convince them to go after me, but in the end, he would never have come here alone to try to rescue me. Because hewouldhave been alone.

None of the others would ever have dared to do it. For Current’s sake, my colleagues had cut and run when it had just been Levi in that watchtower. They would never have risked going up against a fucking worldwalker just to save me. They would have chalked me up as an unfortunate casualty in a dark mage war. Ulric would have cried at my funeral. But then life would go on. I was a constable, after all. And constables died all the time.

Closing my eyes, I rested my forehead against my knees.

Levi’s words from back when he was washing off the blood of the people who had hurt me flooded my mind unbidden. The words he had spoken when I had asked him why he had come for me when I was attacked at the warehouse.

Because you’re mine now. And I protect my own.

I squeezed the necklace tighter through the fabric of my shirt.

If I hadn’t betrayed him, Levi would have come for me. Even against a worldwalker, Levi would have come straight here, magic blazing and swords slashing, to get me out.