“Hey, hey,” I say and lift her chin with my fingers until she’s looking at me. I have to help her. I have to do whatever it takes. I brush my lips across hers, then lean back. “There’s a way. But it’s dangerous.”
And probably both Nelos and Xanth will kill me for even thinking about it.
“What?” She stares at me with her turquoise eyes with such admiration and trust that my throat tightens.
“There’s a prisoner on the west side who is into dark magic. He might be able to help you— bring out your power.”
“That’s great.” She beams, but then her brows furrow. “Why aren’t you happy with this idea?”
I swallow and rub her arms. “He’s in a different sector, we need Xanth to get us over there. And his help comes at a great price.”
“Why do I get the feeling you’re not talking about money, besides the fact we have none.”
“Let’s just see if we can get in and if he’ll meet with us.” I clear my throat. “Then we can negotiate the cost.”
She squares her shoulders. “All right. Let’s go find Xanth.”
Shaye
Rowan and I casually hunt for Xanth among the guards at all the locations either of us knows he frequents, but he’s not there. I feel like there’s a knife twisting in my chest.
“Let’s try his room again,” I suggest and Rowan nods, but there’s a tight line to his mouth.
It takes us over an hour to get to the short section of the guard’s private rooms without being detected and sent to our cells. Rowan has his cellmate, Rob, cover us.
When we encounter two guards, my breaths freeze. But Rob tears down the hallway and tackles them as a distraction.
“Hurry,” Rowan says as he guides my hand and leads me further down the hall.
I press my back against the wall as we pass the three fighting. One of the guards kicks my shin in the tussle and I bite back a scream as the pain splinters up my leg. With the fight coming up, using this dark magic mage is the best solution. There’s no way the guys can train me enough to defend myself and not get killed. A lump jabs into the back of my throat like I’ve swallowed a spiked ball.
Rowan pounds on Xanth’s door, while I tighten my grip on his free hand and search the area for any guards.
“Open up, asshole, or I break the door down,” Rowan shouts into the metal.
I yank on his arm. “Shhh… there could be other guards in their rooms.”
“Nah, every one of them is on duty except this pile of shit.” He taps his forehead. “I’ve memorized all their faces and verified all of them are working on our way here. He’s in there or he’s at his home and then we’re screwed.”
He bangs on the door again and I flinch. But what if he’s wrong and Xanth has left the prison? I shake my head. No, he wouldn’t do that to me, he just wouldn’t. But my heart squeezes so hard in my chest that I place my hand over my breastbone.
The door swings open with a Xanth standing there, weaving on his feet. “What the fuck—”
I rush into his arms, shaking. “Oh my god, Xanth. I was so worried. What happened to you?”
He kisses the top of my head. “Mind getting me an icepack from the fridge, Rowan?”
“Xanth?” I ask and he leads me to the couch and we both sit down while Rowan rummages in the small fridge.
“Someone jumped me from behind.” He cringes, touching the back of his head. “Had to have been a god, because I didn’t even hear or sense them until they slammed something in the back of my head.”
“Here ya go.” Rowan tosses him a small ice pack.
Xanth places the bag at the back of his skull. “Shaye, my father Hades is after you. I overheard—”
I place my finger to his lips. “Yeah, I know. He came for me last night in a dream or something.”
“That fucking, son-of-a-bitch!” he roars and stands, but wobbles on his feet.
“Stop, Xanth,” I say and snatch his hand, tugging him to sit back down. “You can’t fight him, none of us can.”
“So, you’re just going to give up?” He goes to shake his head, then cringes.
“No.” I give Rowan a sideways glance. “But we may have another option. I need to be able to access my power. Increase it even for the ring. Give myself an advantage.”
Xanth lets out a heavy sigh. “Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this?”
“She needs to go to the west sector,” Rowan states.
I feel Xanth tense beside me, but he stays quiet.
“The dark mage is there, and you know I’m right. He’ll help her.”
Xanth scowls. “And you expect Shaye to pay his price? No fucking way.”
“It’s the only way and you know it.” Rowan glares. “But whatever the cost, I’ll pay it.”
“No, Rowan,” I say, shaking my head.
“Damn right you will.” Xanth throws the bag of ice on the couch and stands, pulling me up with him. “And I will too. Hades set this fucking thing up so she’d be forced into the pit if Nelos’ wolf hadn’t killed her. And I can’t wait to see my dear father’s face when he loses.”
“As much I hate the idea too, I suggest we go speak to Nelos too. Maybe he knows some way to help us. Anything really to help us.” I try to smile, but it’s forced. “Besides, who knows when we might need his time-shift power or fire wolf.”
Rowan looks at me like he’s going to growl in protest, so I send him a pleading look and he pulls back.
“All of this is fucked up, but if having Nelos join us will help, then sure.”
“Let’s go now,” Xanth orders, his tone dark, so I can only assume he’s come to the same conclusion as me.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Nelos
“Are you fucking kidding me? No, it’s not happening,” I retort. “Not in this damned world.” My muscles tighten as a taut elastic and nothing will make me take her there. It would be worse than the fighting pits. At least there, she has a chance to survive.
“Nelos,” Shaye starts, but I can’t stop myself.
“Babe, do you even understand what you’re saying? What Rowan is proposing, how dangerous this is? Shit.” I rake a hand through my hair, my heart hammering in my chest. “Dark magic always comes with severe price payments, and will bite us all in the ass, especially you.”
She stares up at me, her eyes glistening and my heart shatters into shards of glass to see the agony across her face, the desperation. I swallow the lump in my throat and cup her face, bringing it to mine. “Oh, baby girl, I’m so sorry you are in this position.”
A tear slides down her cheek and I’m breaking apart on the inside. I drag her into my arms and loop my arms around her. I’m seething that we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel for solutions. I’ve been wracking my brain for a solution, for any damn way to protect her.
My head is still spinning from hearing Hades’ involvement in this. Of course, that asshole would try to lay claim over her. I’ve seen enough shit in this world, faced so much darkness myself, that I refuse to believe there isn’t a way to protect her even from the great Olympian god.
Fuck. It feels like a death warrant on all our heads.
I look over to Xanth and Rowan, both solemn and worried as hell. Yeah, they know the danger.
“Man, you know this is the only option,” Rowan states.
“As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right,” Xanth adds. “If we had another solution you don’t think we would have already done it?”
“He’s your father,” I spit the words at Xanth. “Is there nothing you can do?”
His jawline clenches. “I’d have more luck convincing Zeus to let me take over his throne,” he hisses, and darkness passes over his eyes. Like the rest of us, his relationship with his father is fucked. Guess aside from Shayne, that’s something we all have in common then.
My little bird pulls away from me, wiping her puffy eyes. “I don’t have a choice, and I know you’re standing up for me. I adore you all for that,
but what is the use of keeping me bundled up in cotton if Hades will just come and take me, anyway? When failing means death, well then I am ready to meet the darkest of magicians to make this work.”
I am swept away by her bravery at facing such odds, and of course I know she’s right, and as much as I protest against it, won’t help her cause. I am not happy, and I am burning up at our situation. We’re cornered.
“So, what’s our plan?” she asks. “We do this now.”
We all turn out attention to Rowan, who got his back against the wall, one leg bent, and his expression stoic. I know that look all too well. When shit hits so hard, the only way to deal with it is to switch off all feelings and all that mushy stuff.
“Blaze is a man of few words.” Rowan nods. “We tell him what we want, and he’ll tell us the cost. Once paid, he does his magic.”
“You make it sound easy,” Shaye says.
But Rowan’s grim expression is anything but easy. “Everything with Blaze comes with,” he glances up to the ceiling momentarily as he tries to find the best word, “additional complications. You take nothing at face value from the man and try your best to anticipate all issues. Because once you pay him, you’ve signed a deal with him.”
And there it is… the deal with the devil.
“Well, sitting around and scaring Shaye isn’t going to help us,” Xanth interrupts the silence. “Let’s go and get this over with.”
No one moves at first.
I glance over to Xanth and Rowan. “Look I’ll be honest. I hate the idea of working with either of you, or you both being with Shaye, but what I’m scared of most is losing her. So, if keeping her means we work together to protect her, then…” I breathe heavily. “Then fuck it, I’ll do what it takes, even if it means sharing her.” The words hiss through my teeth, and they feel so foreign on my tongue, I want to choke on them.
The other two stare at me in shock, and it’s got more to do with them needing to accept to do the same. Now, I’m not sure about the future, but for now, I’ll put aside my pride for my girl.
Rowan’s lips crack into a smile because of course, he’d be the first. “As long as you have no intention of crossing swords with me, then I’m happy to go along with this.”
We both glance at Xanth, as does Shaye.
He shrugs. “Shit, feels like we’re on some soppy TV drama show and we’re all sharing feelings.”
“You in or out?” I demand.
“Of course, I’m in,” he snaps. “I’m not loving the idea of sharing anything, let alone Shaye.”
“But you three aren’t the only three making a call in this. And I’m blown away by how open you three are, which I never expected, and yes. I am open to having you three share me.” Her cheeks suddenly blush, and she’s licking her lips nervously.
Hell, she’s beautiful when she’s shy.
A thunderous boom slices through the room, followed by the floor and walls trembling.
“Shit, another God or Goddess has arrived? What the hell is going on today?” I ask, specifically looking over at Xanth who shrugs in response.
“I don’t give a fuck,” Rowan adds and pushes off the wall, then wraps an arm around Shaye’s waist. “I’m ready to do this.”
I won’t deny that my first reaction is to throw my fist into his face for touching Shaye, but what sort of team player am I if I go against my word?
Xanth nods. “You three follow me.” He reaches for his belt and pulls off a silver cuff chain. It has properties to automatically link around a wrist and bind someone, or even extend. A magic the Warden had brought into the prison.
Xanth wastes no time to bind Shaye’s wrist first, kissing her palms as he does. I glare at every touch, every look he gives her. He stretches the extendable chain, the thing making a rippling sound, and he shows no tenderness when he snaps the chain around my wrists.
“Careful,” I state, but he’s already moved on to Rowan, manhandling him just the same.
“You do as I say, keep your head down and don’t say a damn thing, understand?”
We all nod, and before I know it, we’re heading down the hallway like a chain gang attached to each other. Only bright side of this is that I am walking right behind Shaye, keeping my gaze low and on her cute tight ass.
I completely lose track of how many hallways we pass, how many inmates look our way, but I count exactly three security checkpoints Xanth has taken us through. I’ve heard enough about the Blaze to know he’s deadly, but considering we are now down into the pits of the prison, count me curious.
Dark walls and ceiling with only the smallest light, not to mention the prison cell doors are solid metal with no ability to see inside.
When we finally pause, Xanth bangs a fist to a door. “You have visitors. You better be decent.” Not even waiting, he scans his hand on the wall control and punches in his pin before using a key to open the door.
He enters first to a room brighter than I expected. We all cram inside, and my sights set on a thin man, wearing no top and only orange pants hanging low on his hips. His chest is completely covered in a strange script I don’t understand and magical runes.
Blaze appears to be in his fifties, maybe sixties. The guy is on the thinner side and sitting on a chair near the desk turning toward us.
He doesn’t say a word at first, but eyes each of us. Xanth just stands there, but what the fuck do I know about this dude? When I glance around his room, the walls are charred from fire, the ceiling licked with the black stuff, and even the smell carries an electric sting.
“Her,” he finally says, his voice deep and guttural like he’s been sucking on cigars his whole life. His finger points at Shaye, who takes a step back, bumping into me. I grab one side of her waist with my bound hands, so she knows I’ve got her back and she’s in no way alone in this.
“I know what you seek, and that’s a big ask.”
“Can you do it?” I ask, lifting my chin, meeting his dark gaze.
“You are of no consequence to me, boy,” he answers, then looks down at her. “I can give you what you want, but it comes with a cost.”
“What will that be?” she asks, her voice brave.
“A slice of your soul.”
She stiffens. “Come again?” she squeaks.
In that same moment, a small buzz rings in Xanth’s earpiece, loud enough that I look over to him tapping his ear.
“Now? Can’t it wait?” he snarls in response, then he listens to someone who talks for a long moment. “Fuck, fine.” He sighs and lowers his hand then looks at us. “Sorry, we’re going to have to resume this. We need to go now.”
“What’s going on?” Shaye asks.
“No resuming,” Blaze interrupts. “I’ve told you my price. If you agree, come back and I’ll help you.”
I want to go and punch that ass in the face. A slice of Shaye’s soul. Is he fucking kidding? But Xanth already has us ushering out of the prison cell, and I feel like I’m back at school.
“What the fuck, man?” Rowan growls once we’re in the hallway.
“Xanth?” Shaye asks.
He pauses and looks down at her. “The Warden is about to burn down the penitentiary because he couldn’t find you. He wants you in his office pronto before he goes ballistic. He’s on a rampage.”
“Shit,” Shaye murmurs. “What the heck is going on now? Is he not giving me two days anymore?” She glances back down the hall to Blaze’s prison cell.
“No way in hell are you giving him part of your soul,” I affirm. “And this is something I won’t fucking back down on.”
“Agreed,” Rowan and Xanth say in unison.
She breathes heavily. “Fine, first let me go see the Warden, then we discuss what the payment really means.”
I grind my teeth at her stubbornness, but I also know we’re in a fucking tight spot.
Shit. One problem at a time. Warden first, then we hash this out until we have a solution.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Shaye
I can’t stop trembling as I make my way to the Warden’s office, with Xanth by my side. The other two are in their cells waiting for my return, but I can’t stop panicking about what in the world the Warden wants with me.
“Are you okay?” Xanth asks.
In truth, I want to cry. The deadline is speeding toward me, and my solution is giving up part of my soul. How the hell am I meant to address that? Except what other choice do I have? I don’t have the information on Project X, only that Hades tried to get Nelos to kill me so I would be in the Underworld.
“Not doing too well,” I answer.
Xanth sidles up closer and his hand squeezes mine. “I’m by your side no matter what. You are not alone in this.”
My eyes prick and now I know I’m going to cry. “There’s too much for me to handle.”
“I know, and it’s why we need to find another solution. Blaze is not going to work.”
I nod when a guard steps in front of us. “Change of plan,” he goes on. “She’s got a visitor waiting for her and the Warden said to bring Shaye to his office afterward.”
“Visitor?” Shaye repeats. “Who?”
The guard shrugs. “How the fuck should I know?”
Xanth stiffens beside me like he’s going to knock the guy’s teeth out for talking to me that way. I adore how protective he can be.
My stomach folds in on itself cause that doesn’t give me warm fuzzies at all at how insistent the Warden is to see me.
He takes my arm by the elbow and guides me away and toward the security checks for the visitors' area.
At the end of the hallway, the last metal door to the visitor's entrance, Xanth checks us in past security and before long we’re in front of the room. The door buzzes open and I step over the threshold. There’s no reason to be scared, right? It could be my friend Deirda or even my foster mom— Grams.
But as I look over the scattered visitors, I don’t recognize any of them and my heart sinks. Maybe I don’t have a visitor at all.
Sinful Gods: Paranormal Romance (Hell's Playground Series Book 2) Page 13