Darkblood Prison - G.K. DeRosa Page 0,27

could do.”

“Now they definitely saw.”

“I’ll talk to Maxim, Azara. This isn’t over. It was my fault, and I’ll fix this.”

I seared him with a fiery glare. “What do you care anyway? Just let me rot in Darkblood where I belong.”

“You don’t belong there. Stop saying that.”

“Don’t I? Whenever given the chance, I lose it. It’s no use, I’ll never get my demon under control.” My head dipped, and I let myself plummet down the endless spiral of guilt.

Rough fingers gripped my chin and forced it back up. Talon captured me in his gaze, and I was useless to break free. “Azara, you’re being too hard on yourself. You know I’m the first one to tell you when you’ve screwed up, but today wasn’t one of those times. You were attacked, and you did what you had to so you’d survive. This is nothing like what happened at the Fae club—which we still haven’t figured out anyway.”

I wrapped my fingers around his hand and jerked it away from my chin. “What. Do. You. Care?”

His lips screwed into a pout, and the tendon in his jaw fluttered. “You’re tied to me now. Don’t you see that? When I gave you my blood, everything changed. No matter how hard I try to fight it, I can’t. I care about what happens to you, okay?”

A stupid smile split my lips before I could suppress it. Then a thought flickered to mind. “Wait a second. Aren’t there cameras in here?”

“Of course, there are. I turned them off when Ella left.”

After his startling confession, I felt slightly guilty lying to him about my cousin. But not enough to spill the truth—not yet anyway. We sat in silence for a few minutes as I digested his words. I tried to ignore the swirl of delight his words had incited, but it was too late. My traitorous heart broke into a happy dance. I had to remind myself the only reason the surly dragon cared was his blood running through my veins. Once the side effects faded, whatever we had would be over.

I wanted to ask him about the psychic connection we had developed, but decided I’d put it off for another time. I doubted my dragon bodyguard would open up to me twice in one day. Let alone while in the trial room of SIA headquarters.

“So now what?” I finally asked.

“Now we meet with Maxim and go over the results.”

I gulped. I didn’t think the director of the SIA would take kindly to me soul-sucking a demon. But who knows?

Chapter Ten

Ella watched from her perch at the sink as I towel dried my hair and changed back into my clothes. Talon had given me a pair of jeans and a few tops before we left the prison, but I hadn’t asked where they’d come from. I hoped they weren’t my cousin’s. The shower had felt amazing. It was the first time I’d been allowed to soak in warm water for more than three minutes.

“You did good in there, Azara.”

My brow arched. “Seriously? My magic decided to take a vacation, and I soul-sucked a demon.”

“A super powerful one that could’ve killed you and probably would’ve given the majority of our field agents a run for their money.”

I finished lacing up my prison-issued boots and stood up. “Well, thanks. I don’t feel like I did.”

“Magic is tricky, and I know you didn’t grow up in Azar like the rest of us. You’ll get a hang of it eventually.”

“Speaking of magic, what’s going to happen to those three inmates that saw me? They didn’t win so they’re not getting released. What if they recognize me at Darkblood?”

“They’ll have their memory wiped and then returned to their cells. No one ever actually gets freed.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t worry Azara, we’re looking out for you.”

Again, I wondered why my cousin was being so nice. Prison had turned me into a paranoid freak. I chased the stray thoughts away and grabbed my coat from the cubby, throwing it over my arm.

“Anyway, the director might surprise you,” she continued. “We don’t have many demons at the agency and with your mixed blood, you could be quite an asset.”

“Right. If I could only get my magic to work reliably.”

“If anyone can successfully train you, it’s Talon.” Her lips puckered for a second before returning to normal. “He seems to care about you.”

I snorted on a laugh. “Right.”

“I’m serious. You know how that tendon in his jaw twitches when he’s angry or worried?”

I nodded. I knew it well. I