The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld #1)(92)

"Well?"

"Fairy tales teach determination, perseverance and sacrifice. Well, I'm determined, I'll persevere, but what do I sacrifice?" A shudder racked her. Would she be asked to sacrifice her relationship with Maddox? He was everything to her. To save him, though... anything. Even - her stomach clenched, churned - that. "I'm not a princess, and my life is hardly a fairy tale."

A chuckle. "Well, don'tcha want it to be?" A pause. "Ah, shit. Your enemy approaches. Think about what I said and we'll powwow later."

"But you didn't really say anything!"

A second passed and the air seemed to deaden, all sense of life vanishing.

"Better now?" McIntosh suddenly asked.

Ashlyn's eyelids popped open. When had she closed them? McIntosh stood behind the bars. He coughed, this one so strong it doubled him over. He only managed to stay upright by gripping the metal. He looked sicker, paler than when she'd last seen him.

"Better," she said softly. Had she just imagined that entire encounter with the kind-of-invisible goddess?

He unlocked the bars and stumbled inside. Coughing, he pocketed the key. He didn't make it to the stool but collapsed on the dirt behind it. One minute passed, two. He didn't move, didn't make a sound.

"McIntosh? Are you okay?"

Finally, movement. He shook his head, as though he needed to dislodge a thick fog. "Picked up a little cold," he said. "Most of the men did." He rolled to his back and eased to a sitting position, wincing all the while.

She frowned. "How long have we been away from the fortress?"

"The better part of the day."

A day? So sick, so quickly? "None of you appeared sick before."

"Weren't." He coughed yet again and this time blood trickled from the side of his mouth. "Some are sicker than others. Damn winter germs. Pennington actually died, poor bastard. Well, maybe lucky." He scooted back until he rested against the bars.

Died? From a common cold?

"You need a doctor."

Anger flashed in his dark eyes and he made a visible effort to pull himself together. "What I need is that box. Those men are evil, Ashlyn. With their presence alone they spread lies and pain, doubt and misery. They're the reason for war and famine and death." Coughing again, he reached into his pants pocket and weakly tossed several photos in her lap. "We've fought these bastards for as long as I can remember. Their evil does not stop."

She looked automatically. And gagged. Decapitated bodies, a hand attached to nothing, blood flowing like rivers.

"The men you keep defending did this."

Not Maddox, she thought, tearing her gaze away. He wouldn't have done that. He couldn't. "The men I met aren't the source of the world's evil." She gentled her tone. "They could have hurt me, but didn't. They could have raped or killed the other women, but didn't. They could have stormed Budapest and slaughtered its' people, but they didn't do that, either."

His head lolled to the side and for a moment she thought he'd fallen asleep - or died. This was no cold. Couldn't be. Before her eyes, red pockmarks were appearing on his face. "McIntosh?"

He jerked awake. "Sorry. Dizzy."

"Unlock me. Let me help you." Let me escape.

"No. Questions first," he said weakly. "Don't trust you anymore."

"Unlock me, and I'll tell you anything you want to know."

"Told you. Don't trust you. You've been with those monsters. They've corrupted you."

"No, they didn't. They helped me."

"I helped you. I made sure you were protected from harm. I gave you a life even your parents would have denied you."

"Yes, you did help me." Just not the way she'd needed. He'd helped her because it benefited him. "Now unlock the cuffs and let me help you."

A soft sigh escaped him, but ended on a cough. When the fit subsided, he gasped out, "You should have gone home like I told you. But you defied me and your guards failed to report in. By the time I checked your location, it was too late. Wish I had gotten to you sooner, but couldn't just knock on the door. Had to plan."

"Checked my location? What plan?"

"The explosion. Distract the creatures to get you back. GPS. In your arm."

Oh God. They had detonated that bomb because of her. Guilty tears stung her eyes. My fault. They all could have died because of her. "I don't understand about the GPS." She could barely get the words past the hard lump in her throat.

"Not birth control like we told you. Chip. We've always been able to track you."

Her mouth fell open as another hot flood of betrayal washed through her. Betrayal and hurt and fury, all blending with her guilt. How dare they! Never had she felt more violated. She wanted to cry; she wanted to scream. For once in her life, she wanted to kill.

Guess I was bait after all, she thought almost hysterically. However unintentionally, she'd led the hunters straight to Maddox's doorstep.

"We let one of our guys be captured yesterday," he said, his eyes glazed and far away. "He led the demons to a club. We left them there when we could have taken them. For you." He gave a weak smile before hunching over from another round of coughing. When he quieted, she saw that red branched from his eyes like molten rivers of poison.