out of his way. “Let’s retrieve what we can while we await Lucien’s return. We’re better together, and that’s final.”
* * *
“It’s good to see you...wife.”
Katarina hissed at the man who’d brought her so much pain and misery. “You aren’t my husband. You were my blackmailer and my brother’s supplier. Now you’re my dogs’ murderer.”
“You can buy more dogs. Many more. In fact, it looks like you’ve already begun.”
Panchart! The hate she’d managed to bury welled up, nearly drowning her as surely as her grief. He deserved to suffer, and yet he looked perfectly content. The chain wrapped around his waist was the only indication he wasn’t there of his own free will.
“Did the redhead buy you those mutts?” The corner of his eye twitched. “You should return to sender. You deserve dogs with a pedigree a mile long.”
The dogs sat beside her, the fur on their backs raised, their gazes glued to Alek. As well behaved as dogs she’d worked with for months.
“Baden is none of your concern. Nor am I. Nor are the dogs.” She ripped the hem from her dress and wrapped the material around her thigh to stanch the flow of blood. “And pedigree says nothing about worth.”
Alek glared at her. “Have you fucked him?”
Was the blunt question meant to intimidate her? “I could work my way through an army and still it wouldn’t be a concern of yours.”
“Don’t kid yourself. You are my concern, because you are mine. My wife...and my property.”
The dogs took offense to his tone, jumping up and emitting a low warning growl.
Knowing better than to startle an angry animal with an unsolicited touch, she began to hum. They relaxed and settled on their haunches.
The ceiling shook, more dust raining down. Where was Baden? Was he okay?
“I suggest you play nice, wife.” Alek attempted to scoot closer to her, but the chain stopped him. “Soon I’ll use the coin to dethrone Hades and take his place in the underworld. I’ll be a king.”
A king. Of the underworld. Aka, of evil. On paper, it was actually the perfect job for him. “That’s what the coin does? Buys you a kingdom?”
“It forces Hades to grant my wish, whatever that wish might be.”
“How did you get it?”
He hesitated only a moment before replying. “A gift from my mother.”
“You have a mother? Aw, is she proud of her murderous little sociopath?”
“She’s dead. I blame my father.” He smiled with a touch of mania. “But Papa got his in the end. I made sure of it. And if you want to keep your pretty tongue, you won’t speak of my mother again.”
The dogs barked, but remained in place.
Tongue removal must be all the rage among evil overlords. She’d noticed the winged devil had lacked one.
“Is my brother alive or did you kill him, too?” she asked, facing the wall to press her hands against the cold stone. There had to be a way out. Not that she doubted her safety. But the women and children might need her and the dogs.
“After the massacre at the chapel, I sent Dominik to my country estate. I won’t harm him...as long as you treat me with the deference I deserve.”
This. This would have become her life if Baden hadn’t showed up. Threats and coercion. She owed the warrior a debt of gratitude.
She managed to extract an already loosened stone.
“You think to leave me?” Alek rattled the chain as he tried to stand. “No. You will stay. Do you hear me? You will stay!”
She turned and lobbed the stone at him, only to gasp. His eyes...they were lit up with sparks of red.
Baden was right. Alek wasn’t human.
How? How was that possible? How had she not known?
“When I’m king of Hades’s realm,” Alek said, his tone low and silky now, “you will be my queen. Don’t you want to be my queen, princezná?”
“I’d rather be a servant for a good king than the queen of a bad one.”
“So...yes?”
“Hard no.” But...
Katarina drew in a breath, slowly released it. Right now, she was part of Baden’s world. He admired strength, and she’d often claimed to be strong. It was time to prove it.
If she couldn’t escape, she might as well go on an information hunt.
“Where’s the coin now?” she asked and winced. Too much too fast.
Another manic smile bloomed. “You can search the world, but you’ll never find it.”
He was so confident. Search the world...
So, where else could she search, if not the world? The underworld he’d mentioned?