she shot back at him.
“Do I worry you’re able to?” He asked. “Sure. Do I worry that you will? No. Because you love the thing behind that blanket too much, and you know she’d burn alive in here if you so much as went to the warden about me, forget killing me.”
There was a creaking sound; he must have been sitting down on the bed. Jensen’s face was growing as dark and stormy as Sebastian’s, and I begged them with my eyes to wait. Give Isabelle as long as she needed to find a way out.
“Come here, sweet thing. Undress for me.”
Isabelle’s feet moved quietly over the floor. I dared to glance out through the gap where the blanket met the wall, suddenly certain that Tobias’s attention was focused elsewhere. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, his knees wide open, and Isabelle stood between his knees.
“I’m unbuttoning my blouse now,” she said softly, and her fingers went to the top button.
Tobias watched her, impatience written across his face. He suddenly reached up and grabbed her, slamming her down on the bed. She let out a soft cry, and Sebastian moved forward before she said, “It’s okay. It’s fine.”
“You know it’s better for me when you pretend you like it,” Tobias said, climbing on top of her. He must think she meant those words for herself, because he certainly didn’t care to assure her.
I stared at the guys, mouthing to them that we needed a plan. Surely Tobias had left the door unlocked when he came in; we had our way out. We’d have to escape right away, though. Maybe if Isabelle could get through the wards, we all could. We could head through the woods and wait for Rafe and Silas to join us.
Taking Keen with us would be almost impossible, though, since she was confined to bed.
Sebastian suddenly threw off Jensen, whose eyes popped in exasperation, and headed for the blankets. I shrugged at Jensen because Seb was just doing what we all wanted to do; now that the fight was unavoidable, I welcomed it.
The three of us exploded into the room. Isabelle was half-undressed, and Tobias was slobbering a kiss over her lips.
I raised my arms to push him off her with magic, even before common sense kicked in; I couldn’t use my magic.
But magic blasted him halfway across the room.
The next second, the worst pain I’d ever experienced flooded my body. It began with the tattooed rune, which seemed to be on fire, but it swept through every vein, every muscle. I let out a scream of pain as I dropped to the floor. My head slammed into the hard wooden floorboards over and over as my body seized.
There was a violent, wet sound from the corner as Jensen and Sebastian took Tobias down, and then the next second, Jensen was back by my side.
“Maddie,” he said, cradling my head from the floor so I wouldn’t hurt myself.
Then suddenly the pain was gone. The rune tattoo on my hand was smoking, but magic flared between my fingers again.
And the guard was on the ground in the corner.
“What did you do?” Isabelle demanded.
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
Silas stepped into the room. “You beat the rune, Maddie. I had a feeling you would.”
I just stared at him in shock. “You had a feeling I would? Does it ever occur to you to share your feelings with me, Silas?”
“It’s not good for you to know every guess or prophecy or wishful bit of thinking—you don’t need to worry about what we expect from you,” he said lightly. “I do still have my practical side.”
He squatted, studying the coppery-haired guard who had tried to rape Isabelle. Then he pulled a coin out of his pocket. “I also have my vengeful side.”
He tossed the coin onto the man’s chest.
“What’s that for?” I asked, staring at the golden coin that glittered under the dim lighting, contrasting with the dark blue coat the guard wore.
Silas smiled mysteriously but didn’t answer. He checked his watch and said, “I just wanted to stop in and say hi. I’ve got another date.”
“Silas Zip—” I began, but he was already gone.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Rafe
* * *
One of the guards saw me as I came around the corner of a building and called, “Hey, we need you over here, Hunt!”
I nodded and headed in his direction, although my mind was spinning. I didn’t want to risk breaking our cover, but I also trusted that when Silas