I had my answer. She stuck a few under the sink in the kitchen, dampening them, then went to the girl on the floor to begin washing her wounds.
“Did Meghan whip you?” I asked, studying the markings along her creamy skin.
“Yes, My Prince,” the girl said, her voice hoarse. “I promise not to—”
“Stop with the vows. I’m not displeased with you.” Meghan, however, would need to take a few notes on pleading, because I was definitely going to slaughter her when I saw her again.
The next several minutes passed in tense silence. Willow tended to the girl while I watched the sun rise over the city outside.
My first night in Silvano City had me wishing it could be my last.
Unfortunately, this was just the beginning.
16
Willow
I washed the towels in the sink, watching numbly as the red water swirled around the drain.
The vampires had whipped that poor girl.
Fourteen marks, some deeper than the rest.
She’d vibrated with fear the entire time I tended to her, refusing to say a word even when I spoke to her. It was as if the lights had gone out in her eyes, chased away by years of oppression.
I understood that all too well. Without Rae and Silas, I never would have survived the university. They grounded me, befriended me, and kept me sane, even through our harshest hours.
Until the breeding camp.
I’d gone there alone, while they’d been sent to the Immortal Cup to fight for a chance at immortality. Had they won? Were they still there now?
Part of me wanted to ask Ryder, to see if he knew. But he’d admitted to being a recluse and not well versed in recent events, so he probably didn’t know.
Perhaps I could find out from someone else here?
No. That would be dangerous. And if the female I’d just finished cleaning up was any indication, they wouldn’t be all that chatty, either.
A light touch to my lower back had me jumping away from the sink, only to find Ryder beside me, observing me with those piercing dark eyes. The man moved on silent feet, reminding me of a stealthy animal seeking out his prey.
“You’re distraught,” he said, studying my features. “Because of the girl?”
“I…” I swallowed. “No. I’ve seen worse.” A memory of an assembly passed through my mind, a young male screaming for his life as the vampires lashed him from every angle before devouring his body.
We’d all been forced to watch.
Those who cried were punished.
It was a lesson on stoicism and acceptance and served as a warning of our fate should we choose to disobey.
I shivered at the gruesome imagery, then refocused on the towels. They were still pink, the white fabric forever tarnished by blood. When I reached for them to try again, Ryder captured my wrists beneath one palm and pulled me away.
“Leave them,” he said softly, studying me once more. “Are you hungry?”
I should have been starving, as I’d gone most of the night without food, but my stomach protested at the notion of eating. So I shook my head. “No.”
He drew me toward him, then released my wrists to cup my face between his palms. “Damien will take care of her. She’s not going back to the kitchens.”
I’d overheard that part of their conversation, as well as the subsequent discussion about Ryder’s penchant for saving humans.
“You can’t save them all,” Damien had told him. “They’re cattle, Ryder.”
“There’s nothing wrong with respecting our food. Yet everyone in this new world seems to take immense enjoyment in cruelty, as though we have some sort of statement to make. Our kind won the war. Wasn’t that enough?”
Damien had replied in a different language after that, one I didn’t understand, but it sounded guttural and angry. It had made the girl with me shiver in fear, which had drawn his predatory gaze toward her. Then he’d sighed and muttered, “I’ll take care of it.”
“He won’t harm her,” Ryder said now, bringing me back into the present. “Just like he didn’t harm you.”
I stared at him—this vampire I didn’t understand—and had no idea what to say to him. He was trying to make me feel better, and I had no idea why. That didn’t happen in this world. Yet Ryder continued to defy every expectation, his words and actions making me see the man beneath his vampire veneer.
And what I found there scared me.
Because I liked that man.
“Your pupils are dilating,” Ryder murmured, his gaze dancing across my features. “You’re no longer distraught, but I don’t know how to