Chapter Eighteen

***Remi***

A few hours after riding, I’m back in my room and sealed.

Vienna had offered me some small comforts, some small glimpses that I’m not a prisoner here, but the second she informed me she had business to attend to, told me she would be back in a few hours, and clicked the lock, every feeling of imprisonment came back to me in full force.

And naturally, alone with my thoughts and chained to a bed, my thoughts wandered back to my Kingdom, my sisters.

The Solis Kingdom was my home, and I loved every inch of it. The twin-towered white castle, the gardens that stretched on for miles, the tea parties my sisters and I had among them, and the flowers. Gods how I miss the flowers.

There are two members of my immediate family that I now have to mark as gone from this world. My father, whom I’ve been grieving for years now…but Reiyna…Commander of the Solis Legion, Reiyna wasn’t supposed to die.

I spent the better half of the late afternoon grieving for her. Feeling the pain as much as I can bear without tipping over. Then I travel to the window and stare at the city. The two hundred and fifty thousand souls whose lives I hold in my palm–or more accurately, the blood within my palms.

The lock of my door clicks, and I turn around in the vanity chair I barely reach with my chains and turn to meet Vienna.

Except it’s not Vienna, it’s one of her brothers.

My heart skips a beat. It’s Kallias, the one who got drunk and called me his last night.

We make eye contact, the sun has nearly set over the horizon, and his violet eyes look like they’re glowing. The air in the room is electric, and Kallias comes over to my bed and unchains me.

“If you promise not to run,” he says, “I’ll talk to Kieran about removing the chains.”

I stare at him in the reflection of the vanity mirror I now sit at. A brush in my left hand. I never knew why my sisters always thought me so innocent until this very moment, because of the look I give Kallias, I look like a scared little girl.

An obedient little girl.

“I won’t run,” I say softly, then rise, cautiously. “M-may I bathe? And change for tonight?”

Kallias just snaps, lights a cigarette, and nods.

When the bathroom door shuts behind me, a hot bath is already waiting for me. Thanks to Kallias, no doubt. All four of the males here have magic, what kind, I’m not sure, but something feels wrong about Kieran’s, and something is definitely wrong with Xadens.

I bathe quickly and pick out the palest blue gown from the wardrobe. I look the same as I did at home–pale skin, long, light brown hair, and bright blue, wide eyes.

“The gown brings your eyes out.”

I yelp at Kallias’s intrusion as if he hadn’t seen me fully naked in the very same bath just two days ago.

He nods at the laces of the corset, “I could sense you needed help,” he says, walking over to me slowly, “may I?”

I nod at him in the mirror. I like Kallias more than the others, more than his brother, maybe. Because where Rhodes whipped me on my upper thighs, Kallias runs his fingers over and says, “I’m so sorry he did this to you.”

Some pain in his voice makes me wonder if he really is the nice one. “T-they shouldn’t punish you for running, you’re here against your will.”

Wait a second.

“Rhodes didn’t punish me because I ran,” I say, trying not to shiver as Kallias begins lacing the corset.

His rough palms skim slightly against my skin, causing my breath to catch. “No?”

My cheeks turn pink at the memory of last night, and for a second I consider lying to Kallias, brushing the whole flirting with sadism thing off, but something about him draws me to him. Something, and not fear, makes me want to be good, and honest with him.

So I wear my shameful blush and meet his gaze. “I asked Rhodes to punish me,” I confess.

Kallias looks away, processing. I just try not to make it obvious how wet I’ve become.

“Why?” he finally asks.
I falter at this question.

“I-I don’t know,” I say, suddenly losing my confidence. “I asked Rhodes to do it to offer him…control…predictability?”

Kallias raises an eyebrow. “Go on.”

I swallow hard. “Rhodes seemed to be struggling with restraint, with what to do with his body. I wanted to offer myself to him in a way that he could easily understand and process.”

Kallias frowns at me. I’m not quite sure why.

He breaks away from me, and I follow him back into my bedroom. “You were kidnapped and chained to a bed,” he says, “you don’t have to…adhere to any of us.”

Something like anger flashes in my gut. How dare Kallias imply that I’m doing that–am I doing that? Have I just gone mad with Stockholm Syndrome?

“We’re not supposed to touch the Offerings, it's Kieran’s rule–”

“For your information, Kieran was the only one last night who even bordered on touching me.”

The memory of Rhodes, of Kieran watching everything, of them both commanding me to go to my bed and show them my body…if only Kallias had been there too, watching me, calling me his as the others argued–heat flashes between my legs and chest and throat.

I’m so flustered that I have to run my palms over the satin dress to keep from sweating–to keep from revealing myself.

But Kallias, the once-warrior was noticed.

“It was my own choice,” is all I say, plopping myself on the couch, “and if you wouldn’t mind, I’m going to sit here and wait for Vienna now.”

The corner of the twin's mouth quirks. Smirking, he’s smirking at me, gods what I do to wrap my thighs around his tattooed throat–

I stopped myself from going further with that thought.

What is wrong with me? Just because Kallias got drunk and possessive last night doesn’t mean he wants to fight for me. He was just turned on, I’m just the same to him, if not less, as all those women he was within the gardens last night.

“Jealousy looks cute on you,” Kallias notes with that same bashful smirk.
The comment throws me back to day one. The first time I met him. Arrogant, self-absorbed, asshole.

“I could say the same for you,” I say, a fire on my tongue, “You were so quick to stand up to your King last night when you saw my injuries. What was it you called me…?”

Any other male from my Kingdom would have been pissed, but Kallias…the warrior looks like he’s been let loose at a carnival.

He leans forward, his violet eyes alive in the twilight. “And did you enjoy me fighting for your attention, Remi?”

My name on his tongue makes me cross my legs. Gods I’m soaked, and he hasn’t even touched me.

But much like his twin brother, Kallias distances himself. They are males who enjoy playing games. And if I’m learning if I want to play, they decide when it begins and ends.

“Vienna is waiting for us at the gates,” he says, blowing out the last of the smoke from his cigarette. “If you want to go into the city, I suggest we go now, the Demon Hunter will be busy retrieving the King from his tomb.”

“What?” I ask as Kallias rises.

He winces.

“Did you say Kieran is in a tomb?”

Kallias rolls his eyes. “Not all of us vampires are able to walk in the sunlight.”

Right, they’re vampires.

I so often forget that around Kallias.

“Come out when you’re ready, three doors down the hall,” he says, and I nod. “And Remi,” he calls.

He said it again. Remi. My heart jumps to my throat at my name on his lips.

It’s a war to remain calm.

“Don’t ever be embarrassed to explore what…lights you up. Even though it may seem like you’re trapped here, and hell, Kieran has his hands tied with the Witches, you’re able to make your own decisions and choices here. At least with me, and Rhodes.”
The door shuts behind him, the difference this time is there’s no click of a lock.

I sit with his words for a while. With what my own decisions and choices have been, what they might become.

The problem is, I don’t know what, or more accurately who, I want.