She studied his face like she was trying to memorize every detail. “If he comes back, I’ll give him another taste of my powers. Trust me, Silas Ravenwood can’t hurt us. No one can.”
“Maybe that’s true, but we don’t need to stay down here locked up like animals to prove a point.” Nox turned toward the hallway that led away from the cells, her hand curled inside his.
Ridley’s fingers slipped from between his. Nox tried to catch them, but when he turned around, he realized it wasn’t an accident.
She was standing inside her cell again.
“Rid, no!” He started toward her, moving as fast as he could with his ribs jabbing him.
Nox closed his hand around one of the bars just as she slammed the cell door shut, trapping herself inside.
He let his head fall against the bars. “Why, Rid? We could be on our way somewhere safe. Together.”
She reached through the spaces between the bars and took his face in her hands again. “Shh. You worry too much, Nox. Everything is going to be fine. We’ll leave as soon as I get my next infusion. I promise. It’s just—I think there’s more I could get from Silas. Things I might need, if I’m going to take down his organization.” She looked more determined than he’d ever seen her. “The whole House of Ravenwood is going down.”
Nox’s blood ran cold. “What are you talking about? You can’t let him do this to you again.”
She ran her thumbs along Nox’s jawline. “I’m not letting anyone do anything to me. I want it, Baby. Don’t you understand?”
“You aren’t thinking straight. Whatever Silas gave you is messing with your head.”
Ridley’s lips grazed his, and every nerve in Nox’s body burned for her. She let her lips hover just in front of his, then pressed them against the bars, pulling him even closer. This time, she kissed him the way he’d always wanted to kiss her. Like she belonged to him—and he belonged to her.
“Does that feel like I’m not thinking straight?” she murmured against his mouth. “I need this, Nox. The power—it’s part of me now, and I need it just like I need you.”
“Rid, I don’t—”
She found his mouth again, raking her hand through his hair. “Don’t you need me?”
He nodded, unwilling to move his mouth away from hers.
“We tried being good, Nox. I know you tried for me,” she whispered. “But we aren’t cut out for it. I’m not saying we’re bad … we’re just different. I can do things no other Siren has ever been capable of. And you can see the future. We finally have a chance to be who we are, and to be together.”
Rid sounded sincere, but there was no way to know if she was in her right mind.
Does it matter?
Nox tried to tell himself it didn’t, but he wasn’t sure.
“Are you sure that’s what you really want?” Nox couldn’t believe he was asking the question.
But I need to know if this is real. If she wants me as much as I want her.
She dragged her lips up to his ear. “Of course I’m sure.”
He swallowed hard.
You have to ask her.
Nox reached through the bars and held Ridley by the shoulders, pushing her back so he could look at her. “What about Link?”
Her violet eyes met his without hesitation. “Link who?”
CHAPTER 25: LINK
Diary of a Madman
This isn’t over, Caster,” Chloe said, her body still under Angelique’s control.
The Cataclyst eyed her coldly. “It certainly looks over to me, and you are horribly tiresome.” She flung her fingers open, and the Darkborns’ bodies hurtled back again. Angelique aimed strategically, and the Darkborns slammed into the trees behind them.
Chloe’s head cracked against a thick trunk, and she collapsed on the ground in a heap. The other Darkborns all suffered the same fate.
“Are they dead?” Link asked, not sure which answer would worry him more.
Angelique strode past the crumpled forms. “One can only hope. At the very least, radically incapacitated.”
Maybe she didn’t know how to kill a Darkborn any more than he did. This was the first time he’d ever seen anyone take one down—let alone a whole posse.
“Do you think Silas knows we’re here?” Sampson asked as they followed Angelique to the cement building the Darkborns had been guarding.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if that sick bastard was watching us right now,” John said, anger churning in his eyes.
Link knew coming back to the place where Abraham had experimented on him had to be tough. But John wasn’t the kind of guy who complained. He took the punches life threw at him, just like Link.
Still, that didn’t make returning to the scene of the crime any easier.
Sampson beat Angelique to the door. “Want me to go in first?” he asked.
She laughed and pushed him aside. “After my demonstration just now, I think we both know I don’t need your protection.” She patted his cheek as she walked by. “But don’t feel bad, Goliath. If I had a purse, I’d let you carry it for me.”
“It’s Sampson,” Sam muttered, looking embarrassed.
Link whacked him on the back. “Don’t take it so hard, Sammy Boy. It’s nothin’ personal. She’s just a—”
“Narcissistic egomaniac?” Sampson finished.
“Pretty much,” Liv said, following Angelique through the heavy metal door at the side of the building.