From Blood and Ash (Blood And Ash #1) - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,195

cognitive thinking.

But if that wasn’t true, if the Dark One couldn’t control them, then did that mean the Ascended were using them to control the populace? To stop them from asking too many questions, and make them willing to hand over their children so the gods wouldn’t become displeased, exposing their cities to a Craven attack?

It almost felt like I’d be struck down for even questioning that. Because Hawke was right. It was a religion.

I started pacing again.

How did the Craven make it to a town that hadn’t seen an attack in decades the moment I arrived with my family unless the Dark One had sent them?

It didn’t make any sense, and all of this back and forth was starting to make my head hurt. Even if some of what Hawke had claimed was true, it didn’t change that they were still responsible for so much death themselves.

It couldn’t all be true, because there was no way my soft, gentle brother would’ve Ascended if he knew what was being done. There was no way.

Hawke was…he was just messing with my head, making me weak-minded and uncertain. I wouldn’t put it past him.

I stopped, staring down at my hands. He was going to return me to the very people he claimed abused him. How horrible was that?

Dampness pressed at the backs of my eyes, but I drew in a deep breath. I would not cry. I wouldn’t shed a single tear for Hawke, for what may have been done to him, and for what he’d done to me. I wouldn’t allow it to break me. Not when he’d already shattered my heart.

The door at the end of the hall opened, and I lifted my head. Delano came into view, along with another man with rich brown skin. His eyes were the same golden brown as some of the others.

Atlantian.

“Glad you’re awake,” Delano said. “Didn’t want to disturb you earlier when I checked on you.”

I didn’t even want to think about the fact that he’d been down here while I slept.

“I’m going to open this door, and Naill and I are going to escort you to more comfortable arrangements,” he explained, and my brows rose. “And you’re not going to do anything foolish. Right?”

“Right,” I repeated, hope sparking.

Delano smiled. “That wasn’t even remotely convincing.”

“It really wasn’t,” Naill agreed. “Not that I can blame her. If that was me, I would be thinking this is a good chance for escape.”

Hope fizzled.

Delano’s smile faded. “You need to understand something, Maiden. I’m a wolven.”

“I figured that out already.”

“Then you have to know that the only reason you outran Kieran the day before is because he didn’t want to catch you. I will want to catch you.”

A shiver shimmied over my skin.

“I have impeccable tracking skills. There is nowhere you can run that I would not find you,” he continued.

“Truth is,” Niall said, drawing my gaze to his high, sharp cheekbones, “I’m even faster than he is, and neither of us wants to harm you. That will unfortunately happen if you run because I have a feeling you will somehow turn empty air into a weapon, and we’d have to defend ourselves. I doubt he will make a distinction between us wanting to hurt you and us being forced to by trying to defend ourselves.”

My nostrils flared on the ragged breath I exhaled. I didn’t care what he wanted, did, or thought.

“He’d have us pinned to the walls in the Hall, and both of us enjoy breathing and having all our body parts. So, please, be nice,” Delano said, unlocking the door. “Because even though losing my hand or certain death would be terrible, I abhor the idea of having to strike a female.” He stepped into the cell. “Even someone as apparently dangerous as you.”

I smiled at him, and it wasn’t exactly a nice expression. It came because I was glad that they knew I was dangerous.

But I also wasn’t stupid. I wouldn’t be able to run from them. I knew that. There was no point in me getting myself hurt just to make things difficult. Even I could recognize that.

I lifted my wrists, rattling the chains.

Delano eyed me as he fished out a key from his tunic pocket and unhooked the shackles. They slipped, clanging off the hard-packed ground.

Naill turned away first, his head cranking toward the entrance, and then Delano followed suit. And there I was, my eyes fastened to the sword attached to Delano’s waist, and my hands unbound.

“Shit,” Naill said, and