me back to his chest.
“You are the most amazing eighteen-year-old I have ever encountered. You have the cognitive abilities of someone thousands of years old, but you have no thought for yourself. It is as if self-preservation is secondary,” he explains quickly.
“That’s not true at all, Reed. It’s just that I know what I cannot survive without so the risk of dying isn’t as grave as the risk of losing what I love,” I reply, turning in his arms to look at him.
“Then I will protect what you love so that you will survive,” he says and I know that he is thinking of Russell.
And I will protect you, I tell myself, but I don’t say it out loud because he is always so adamant that he doesn’t need protection.
I want to argue with him about the bodyguards, but this isn’t the place to do that. We are out in the open where we can be overheard by just about everyone. Finally, I begin to relax a little as I weigh the benefits of having these angels around when Brennus arrives. “Evie, what are you thinking?” Reed asks.
“I was thinking that whoever you pick to guard me couldn’t be as sketchy as my last bodyguards. Although, I don’t really know if you can call them bodyguards because they were mostly there to prevent me from leaving. At least the angels won’t stink like Declan, Lachlan, Faolan and Eion,” I say, remembering the sweet, sticky scent of my Gancanagh entourage. Their smell was so potent to me before I was bitten that it burned my nose. The scary part was that, after I was bitten, their scent began to smell pleasant to me. I wonder how they will smell to me when I see them again, I think.
“Do you realize that this is the first you have spoken of your captivity with the Gancanagh since we’ve been here?” Reed asks in a gentle tone. He hugs me to him, pressing his lips against my temple when he sees the color drain from my face. He was careful not to say Brennus’ name, but I know what he meant.
“Really…huh?” I murmur, trying to act nonchalant, but I’m shaking so I’m probably not fooling him.
“Really,” he says, stroking my hair, making tears well up in my eyes. “You haven’t said any more about what you went through.”
“Well, I already told you what happened, so there is not a lot left to say,” I reply in a low tone because my throat feels tight, like someone is squeezing it.
“You didn’t tell me everything. You told me most of it, but there are details that you omitted…” he says, trailing off to see if I’ll say anything more about being Brennus’ favorite slave. “You gave me a general understanding of the events. You gave me the facts. You didn’t tell me the details or how you felt when certain things were happening to you.”
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” I reply, giving him a ghost of a smile, as my mind races with images of the piles of dead women stacked upon each other, waiting to be incinerated in the ornately carved fireplaces. “I don’t want to waste any of my time with you talking about him.”
“Why?” he asks me gently, “I want to know.”
“Well, I don’t want to tell you,” I reply, feeling hollow.
“Preben and the others are going to ask you questions about the Gancanagh,” he points out and I stiffen. “They will want to go over all of the facts again and they will want you to tell them everything—every conversation you had while you were there—every conversation that you overheard—how they operate—who is the second in command—who is next in line after him…”
“I can’t,” I whisper, feeling frozen and thinking of Finn. I never mentioned Brennus’ brother and second in command to anyone. Finn helped me when no one else would and I haven’t forgotten that.
“Why not?” he probes.
“I already told them everything they need to know,” I mumble, trying to avoid his eyes.
“Evie,” Reed says, making me look at him, “why can’t you talk to me about this?”
“What about
“You are the most amazing eighteen-year-old I have ever encountered. You have the cognitive abilities of someone thousands of years old, but you have no thought for yourself. It is as if self-preservation is secondary,” he explains quickly.
“That’s not true at all, Reed. It’s just that I know what I cannot survive without so the risk of dying isn’t as grave as the risk of losing what I love,” I reply, turning in his arms to look at him.
“Then I will protect what you love so that you will survive,” he says and I know that he is thinking of Russell.
And I will protect you, I tell myself, but I don’t say it out loud because he is always so adamant that he doesn’t need protection.
I want to argue with him about the bodyguards, but this isn’t the place to do that. We are out in the open where we can be overheard by just about everyone. Finally, I begin to relax a little as I weigh the benefits of having these angels around when Brennus arrives. “Evie, what are you thinking?” Reed asks.
“I was thinking that whoever you pick to guard me couldn’t be as sketchy as my last bodyguards. Although, I don’t really know if you can call them bodyguards because they were mostly there to prevent me from leaving. At least the angels won’t stink like Declan, Lachlan, Faolan and Eion,” I say, remembering the sweet, sticky scent of my Gancanagh entourage. Their smell was so potent to me before I was bitten that it burned my nose. The scary part was that, after I was bitten, their scent began to smell pleasant to me. I wonder how they will smell to me when I see them again, I think.
“Do you realize that this is the first you have spoken of your captivity with the Gancanagh since we’ve been here?” Reed asks in a gentle tone. He hugs me to him, pressing his lips against my temple when he sees the color drain from my face. He was careful not to say Brennus’ name, but I know what he meant.
“Really…huh?” I murmur, trying to act nonchalant, but I’m shaking so I’m probably not fooling him.
“Really,” he says, stroking my hair, making tears well up in my eyes. “You haven’t said any more about what you went through.”
“Well, I already told you what happened, so there is not a lot left to say,” I reply in a low tone because my throat feels tight, like someone is squeezing it.
“You didn’t tell me everything. You told me most of it, but there are details that you omitted…” he says, trailing off to see if I’ll say anything more about being Brennus’ favorite slave. “You gave me a general understanding of the events. You gave me the facts. You didn’t tell me the details or how you felt when certain things were happening to you.”
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” I reply, giving him a ghost of a smile, as my mind races with images of the piles of dead women stacked upon each other, waiting to be incinerated in the ornately carved fireplaces. “I don’t want to waste any of my time with you talking about him.”
“Why?” he asks me gently, “I want to know.”
“Well, I don’t want to tell you,” I reply, feeling hollow.
“Preben and the others are going to ask you questions about the Gancanagh,” he points out and I stiffen. “They will want to go over all of the facts again and they will want you to tell them everything—every conversation you had while you were there—every conversation that you overheard—how they operate—who is the second in command—who is next in line after him…”
“I can’t,” I whisper, feeling frozen and thinking of Finn. I never mentioned Brennus’ brother and second in command to anyone. Finn helped me when no one else would and I haven’t forgotten that.
“Why not?” he probes.
“I already told them everything they need to know,” I mumble, trying to avoid his eyes.
“Evie,” Reed says, making me look at him, “why can’t you talk to me about this?”
“What about
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