leading me to another room that appeared to be set up for massages. I sniffed the air for any signs of foul play in the room and only found the too-sweet aroma of fragrant oils.
The mortal pulled a handful of towels out from a cabinet and went to work on trying to pamper the table. I nearly told him to stop, but his tremors had me striving for patience. These humans were all terrified of me.
Fucking Silvano, I thought, angry all over again.
When the kid finished, I laid Rick down and nodded for Willow to come inside. She’d been observing from the threshold. “Can you help me?” I asked her softly.
She replied by joining me and running her hands over Rick in a similar manner to how she had the servant girl after she’d been whipped. “Where did you learn this?”
“University,” she replied, focusing on his neck first.
“They have medical classes?”
“No.” She looked up at me. “But I had a lot of exposure to broken bones throughout the years. Some of us chose to help.”
I frowned, not liking the sound of that. However, now wasn’t the time to press for more information. “I’ll be right back,” I promised her, leaving to go retrieve my bag from the street. I dug inside it to find a phone that wouldn’t rely on Lilith’s network to operate, then I dialed Damien again.
It rang twice before he picked up.
Only it wasn’t him on the other line.
“Hello, Ryder,” Lilith greeted. “How nice of you to call. It’s been a few weeks since we last spoke.”
31
Willow
The polite clearing of a throat had me glancing at the doorway to find Patricia waiting with clothes. I finished setting Rick’s leg, then turned toward her. “Thank you,” I said softly, unsure of how to act around her. Ryder and I had agreed on me playing the submissive role in public, but that was before the attack on the street.
Rather than turn to leave, she joined me in the room and walked over to light a candle in the corner. I didn’t need it to see, but the human in the room visibly relaxed. He had gone to stand by the wall, silently awaiting his next order.
“What’s your name?” Patricia asked.
Apparently, we were going to have this conversation while I changed. All right, then. “Willow,” I said as I set the clothes on a chair. My dress was glued to my skin by my dried blood, making it a rather painful process to remove.
Patricia moved to a sink and dampened a towel with water before handing it to me. “Here.”
“Thanks,” I replied, wary.
“You must be new,” she said after a beat. I glanced up at her, confused. “You remind me of myself when I first changed,” she added. “Timid. Uncertain of how to address the beings who are no longer your superiors.”
I swallowed, unsure of how to respond to that. So I focused on removing my dress instead.
“You didn’t win the Immortal Cup this year,” she murmured. Not an accusation, but more of an assessment. “And you smell like a lycan but have the grace of a vampire.”
Since that wasn’t a question, I continued minding my own business and sort of wished she would, too.
“Are you all right?” she asked softly, the concern in her voice giving me pause as I finished wiping the blood away from my legs. My dress was in tatters on the floor, the lace unsalvageable.
I looked up at her. “They were superficial scratches. I’m healed now.”
“That’s not what I meant.” She bent to pick up the fabric and threw it in a nearby bin. Then she went to wash her hands. “The first twenty-two years, there was no Immortal Cup. It’s something they don’t tell you. But they had to go through an entire generation of brainwashing before they produced a prime crop for the fight. Six were actually chosen that year to win, not two. Lilith said it was to reward the first successful graduating class.”
I watched her as I drew on a pair of stretchy black pants, curious to know where she was going with this.
“Jace was given first pick. Then Kylan. And finally, Silvano.” Her eyes took on a faraway gleam. “I’d wanted to be a lycan, but Silvano felt otherwise. He dragged me back here…” She swallowed, blinking away the memory before locking gazes with me. “I’m just saying, if you need someone to talk to, I might understand more than you think.”