Cara MIA - By Book One of the Immortyl Revolution - By Denise Verrico Page 0,62
over you.”
“And now he has that hold over you.”
“I’m part of you, just like we’re both part of him.”
“Whore! Nothing can ever be the same!”
I dropped my voice to a whisper, “Is that what you really think?”
“Don’t play games. What does he want from us?”
“Nothing… ”
He grasped my shoulders. “Liar!” He slammed me against the wall, smacking my head. A jolt of pain traveled from the back of my skull down my spine. Tears came, but I refused to let them fall. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. I rose and squared off, slugging him back. He hissed and knocked me to the ground, placing his foot over my throat. I didn’t dare move. For once I really believed he might kill me, but he lifted his foot away. “I warned you but you fell for him anyway!” He dragged me by the hair to throw me face down onto the bed, forcing my hands behind my back. This couldn’t be happening. I was numbed, not believing he was doing this to me, oddly detached from it all, as if I watched the proceedings from afar. He threw his body over me. I attempted to drag myself forward only to find myself pinned by his greater strength. He laughed. I never hated anyone as much as I hated Ethan at that moment.
He whispered in my ear, “Rape is child’s play compared to what I have in mind for you.”
His mouth closed on my throat and punctured the carotid. I tried to wriggle away, as his arm closed tighter around me. I burned all over. Veins alternately exploded and collapsed as my head threatened to crack open. My thirst grew as my body rushed to stave off death, saliva flowing freely down my chin. Throbbing pain pulsated through my flesh. I begged for mercy as so many of my victims had. My fingernails raked his skin, but he didn’t budge. The mouth that had given pleasure in the past brought only pain.
Consciousness grew misty as I slipped into a shadow realm. His face swam around me in a circle as he crouched beside me, studying. The look of contempt was gone, now he simply observed my ordeal, detached until he dissolved into millions of black specks. “Tell me what he asked of you!”
The dark prince materialized before me, dragging me toward a dark pool in center of a garden. He grabbed my head, pushing it down under. I flailed, drowning.
Suddenly, I was pulled out into the arms of another. “You’ll never take, what she won’t give, you fool! She’ll die first.” Brovik’s voice blended with the fair demon’s, thundering through the mist, “Mia, drink! Now! Do you hear me? Drink or you’ll die!’
My mouth was forced open.
I regained consciousness to find Brovik standing over me, my mouth fastened to his bleeding wrist, and Ethan, looking miserable.
A wave of revulsion swept over me. “Monster!”
Brovik chided him, “Who’s the barbarian now? Are you proud of your handiwork?
A strangled sob came from Ethan, “What have I done?” He threw himself protectively over me. “I’ll see you rot in hell, Brovik!”
I pushed Ethan away. “I hate you!”
Ethan clambered to his feet, grabbing Brovik by the shoulders. “You did this!”
“You did this, not me,” Brovik said, extracting himself from Ethan’s grasp.
“You can’t bear for me to have something of my own!”
“She’s no more yours, than you are mine!”
Ethan stared at him dazed. “What did you promise her?”
Brovik stared Ethan down. “She sees visions in the blood, did you know? Imagine what she’s seen inside you?” He turned away and left us all alone.
I gathered my robe around me. “Don’t ever touch me again!”
Ethan stood heaving. “I told you he could bend minds like stalks of wheat, but you couldn’t resist him… ”
“Can you?”
“Everything about him is a lie.”
“You’re ridiculous, clinging to your past. Go back to Virginia and haunt your stupid house, you malevolent ghost!”
“You’re a mere child. You know nothing. You will see, Mia. In time, you will see.”
TWELVE
* * * *
Convinced he was no longer the center of my universe, Ethan retreated ever farther into shadow, while Brovik welcomed me into both his arms and bed on a regular basis. It took a great deal of persuasion on Brovik’s part to place me there, but Ethan eventually succumbed. Who could resist Brovik? It was folly, and I a mere pawn in the game between them, but I didn’t care.
On the final night of our visit, as we three lay bathed in the glow of