Crown of Cinders (Imdalind #7)(65)

“You should have kept calling,” I snapped as I turned toward him. The ends of my hair tickled against my back, the sheer fabric of my dark top not enough to completely cover the skin. “What are you doing back here?”

“I have been calling you, my lady,” he repeated, his voice shaking even more as he began to writhe his hands one over another.

I laughed loudly, one loud sound of irritation, as I moved away from the wall that, until a second ago, had been my target. Now I moved toward a new one, the man seeming to break down with every step I took.

The light of the skylight washed over me, warming my skin as it reflected off my hair, making everything glisten.

His eyes widened at the illusion of an angel, and I smiled, the nefarious gleam in my eyes taking away the heaven and replacing it with hell.

He took a step back, still writhing his hands.

“And you assumed you could come back here?” My voice was calm, the storm behind it clear.

I almost expected him to turn tail and run, but he stayed his ground. The muscles in my back tensed as those in my stomach began to writhe with as much panicked urgency as his hands.

He looked at me once, and the sensation continued. However, I kept my face strong, my back straight, and my jaw tight. I felt as fearful as he did right then.

“Did Sain send you?” I asked, my voice strong despite everything else in me shaking, a million panicked questions ripping within my mind.

How long had Damek been standing there?

Had he seen?

Did Sain see?

Clenching my teeth, I took another step forward, tapping my fingers against my hip bones as I pressed my palms against my lower back. “Spit it out, Damek.”

The man nodded furiously, taking another step back, as if he were prepared to make a running escape, his eyes darting away from me.

Darting past the closet.

Darting to the wall behind me.

He knew. Whether he saw me or not, he knew something.

My heart fell, each heavy beat painful inside my chest. Still, I didn’t let it show. I smiled, my hands eager to reach out and grab the mongrel before me. To shake the information out of him like one did a dog.

“He’s in the main hall, my lady. He’s waiting for you.” He spit the words out in a torrent, the consonants falling over each other, eager to get out.

Sure enough, the moment they had left him, he turned, stumbling in his desperate escape of me.

He didn’t make it more than a few steps before I grabbed him, my magic wrapping around him as I lifted him into the air, swinging him wide before I slammed him against the opposite wall. Hangers and clothes swung from the impact, the soft thud of flesh against stone melodic.

I slammed him again, bringing him back before me.

His eyes were wide as a small trickle of blood began to seep from his nose.

“Silly man,” I seethed, my words grinding against my teeth like snakes. “Did you really think it would be that easy?”

His eyes widened, his mouth opening and closing mechanically as he gasped for air, as he tried to find words to fit the panic he was drowning in.

“What do you know about this wall?” I jerked my head behind me in explanation.

His eyes widened farther as his shoulders stiffened. He lifted his previously flailing hands to wrap around his neck, the plea obvious even without the words.

Rolling my eyes, I dropped him, wishing I hadn’t left my heels in the bathroom. There was nothing dangerous about walking around a man in bare feet.

“Speak, Damek,” I prompted, moving behind him as I blocked his way out. The clothes that were hung on either side shifted a bit from the movement in the tight space. “What do you know? What did you see?”

“I …” he gasped, his chest heaving as he tried to catch a breath. “I didn’t see anything … but Sain … Sain coming out.”

“When?” I spat, my voice a harsh warning, and the man below me curled into a tight little ball, the fear of a hit evident.

“Just once!” he screamed, his fear making him useless. “Just once. I don’t know … anything. I don’t know anything.”

I sighed. As much as Damek had irritated me in the past, he had actually begun to prove himself quite useful. I supposed the way Sain broke his servants was good for one thing. He knew nothing, and his loyalty laid in fear, not body. He wasn’t sharing anything unless someone squeezed it out of him.

“Don’t tell Sain where you found me,” I snarled, squatting over him until my body was like a cage over his, my mouth inches from his ear. My hair fell around both of us like a curtain, adding a depth of secrecy to my hissed warning. One he shivered beneath, the weight holding him still. “Do, and I will kill you.”

He shivered again, and my smile expanded, the joy of dominion ripping away the last of my anger, even if I did have to find my current slave keeper.

I guessed Damek and I had that in common.

“Do you understand?” I asked.

The sniveling man beneath me nodded in desperation, a whine of fear spewing from him as though he had sprung a leak.

“Good. Now go,” I spat as I turned away from him, fully intent on returning to the wall in order to secure the blade before I went to meet Sain, before I would let him meet his fate.

But Damek didn’t move. He stood, folded like a beast, writhing his hands, eyes locked on the floor.