to the underground. Her eyes pricked, but she blinked away the tears.
The walls seemed to close in on her. But she kept her head held high. She wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. They put her in the same cell.
She stood in the center of the room while Silas unfastened the cuffs. She just had to hold it together until they were gone.
Finally, they turned away, but at the last moment, Dr. Yang came back and pressed the ereader into Destiny’s hands. “I’m sorry.”
Then she was gone, and the door clicked shut behind them. And Destiny was alone.
I have a role to play. I’m special. Important.
I’m not a prisoner. They’re just keeping me safe.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“Hatred is blind; rage carries you away; and he who pours out vengeance runs the risk of tasting a bitter draught.”
—Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
Everything hurt.
Milo wasn’t sure he wanted to actually wake up. At the same time, he had this nagging feeling that there was something important he needed to do.
He pried his eyes open and tried to work out—without actually moving anything—where he was. Nope. No clue. He closed them again.
“Wakey, wakey,” an annoyingly cheerful voice said. “I’ve checked you over, and while you look like shit, there’s nothing seriously wrong with you.”
Somehow, he doubted that was true. He distinctly remembered the crack of breaking bones. And his hand was one throbbing lump of pain.
“Well, apart from a couple of broken ribs, a broken nose, and three snapped fingers. But you’ll recover.”
“Piss off,” he murmured. He exhaled, opened his eyes, and tried to sit up. The first attempt was a total failure, his body just didn’t respond to the commands of his brain. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to turn his head in the direction of the voice. Dylan was seated on a chair beside the bed. “Fuck.”
“Welcome back,” Dylan said with a grin. “I thought we’d lost you there. And that would have been a real pity, considering.”
He thought about asking “considering what?” But maybe he didn’t want to know. Then he thought about sitting up and decided he didn’t want to attempt it again just yet. Because he’d hate to look like a complete wimp in front of Dylan.
“Destiny?”
“At a guess, back in her old quarters underneath Camelot.”
“Fuck.” He might as well have told the fuckers where she was and saved himself a hell of a lot of pain.
“Aw, it was sweet really. She cares about you, and I’m betting that doesn’t happen a lot.”
“We have to get her back.”
“No. We don’t have to do anything. But if you’re nice to me, then I might help you get her back anyway. Because I like her.” He rubbed his chin as if contemplating what to say next. “But perhaps you should consider the idea that she’s safer where she is. She’s obviously important to them. She might be better off there.”
“Why?”
Dylan frowned. “Why what?”
“Why is she important to them? We still have no clue, and I don’t fucking like it.”
“How bad can it be?”
The truth was he had no idea. But he imagined pretty bad. They were evil people. He wouldn’t leave her with them. “She saved my life. We get her back.”
Dylan pursed his lips and then nodded. “Okay. We get her back. But right now, you need to heal, or you’ll be no good to anyone.”
“My wand?”
“Lost. Actually, I presume Kinross has it. But hopefully, he won’t have a clue what to do with it.”
“Damn.” He might have been able to heal the broken bones with his wand. He was powerless without it. “How long have I been out?”
“You’ve been unconscious twenty-eight hours.”
Jesus, anything could have happened in that time. He tried to push himself up, but pain shot from his hand up his arm and it collapsed under him.
“Just relax,” Dylan snapped. “You’re no good to anybody like this.” He stood up, hands in his pockets. “Rico will be here soon.”
“Great,” he muttered. As long as the vampire didn’t stand in Milo’s way.
“I thought you’d be pleased.”
“How long?”
“He’ll be arriving in orbit any moment. I’m going to meet him, bring him back here. You rest. Then we’ll work out a plan. And we’ll get her back.” He picked up a glass from the table beside the bed. “Here, drink this.”
“What is it?”
“Painkillers.”
That sounded like a really good idea right now.
He closed his eyes as Dylan left the room. Maybe she didn’t want to be with him. After all, right from the start, she’d told him that she