The Dawn of Dae (Dae Portals Book 1) (29 page)

“They don’t believe I was involved?” I cringed at the hopeful tone of my hoarse voice.

“The surviving witnesses all claimed the same thing; you were taken completely by surprise along with everyone else. Shifters have sensitive noses and even better hearing. He was overheard when he grabbed you.” Anger deepened Rob’s voice. “Quite a few dae owe their lives to you; if your kidnapper hadn’t wanted to take you and those children alive, there would have been many more deaths.”

While I had suspected werewolves had better noses than humans, Rob’s confirmation made me wonder what else the dae knew. I chewed on my lower lip. Two weeks laid up in bed didn’t surprise me in the slightest; I remembered the burns, the injury to my wrist, and the head-to-toe rashes from my stay with Arthur.

Anyone would be sick after that. I tried to convince myself there was no reason for me to be ashamed of being human. I had planned to hole up to recover, possibly for weeks.

If I had done things my way, I’d probably be dead or close to it.

If Rob was telling the truth, I owed him far more of a debt than I could repay, and the realization stung my already wounded pride. Flushing, I averted my gaze to the marble countertop, staring at the gold and black streaks running through the white stone.

“It’s still not red,” Rob said, drawing my attention to him.

I lifted my hand to touch my brow, puzzled by the lack of irritation. “Oh.”

“You seemed quite intrigued by my arm a while ago, Miss Daegberht. I thought it was a side effect of the medication, but it seems there’s more to it than that.” Rob held out his hand, and I sucked in a breath, staring at him. “You’re curious, aren’t you?”

The memory of how soft and smooth his skin was rattled about in my head and refused to leave me alone. Had his hands been freshly cleaned and free of the oils and sweat triggering my reactions? I had touched him, all over his hand and arm, and it hadn’t hurt.

Without the rashes on my hands, everything felt different from the marble to the paint on the walls. Would Rob’s skin still be soft and smooth?

“Should you have an adverse reaction, I still have plenty of antihistamines left over. By all means, satisfy your curiosity. You’re not going to hurt me.”

“I’m not worried about you,” I snapped.

The anger I expected at my rude outburst didn’t manifest. Instead, Rob chuckled. “I’d worry, too, if I had rashes like yours. Some of them were quite severe. Did you have them before you were kidnapped?”

My secret was out, which was frightening enough, but it was
Rob
who knew. Rob, who had a fondness for viewing me as his property. What would he do with the knowledge?

Kenneth would delight in using it against me if he ever found out.

Burying my fear behind anger, I demanded, “What does it matter?”

Rob leaned towards me until his face was so close to mine I could feel his breath on my skin. “I am listing every single injury you have suffered from him. I will carve the sum of every ache, pain, rash, cut, and broken bone out of him. When I am finished with him, there won’t be enough left of him to toss in an alley. I’ll destroy him, Miss Daegberht. Did you have those rashes before he took you?”

My mouth dropped open at the dae’s vehement tone. Like many dae, Rob’s eyes changed, but instead of the swirls of fire and smoke I so often saw among the fire-breathers, his eyes hardened, retaining their bright blue but reminding me of the diamonds the wealthiest elite wore.

“Miss Daegberht?”

I sat straighter on the counter, clenching my teeth together. It took one thought of having my revenge stolen from me to ignite my anger to its full strength, and not even the lingering drugs in my system dulled my fury. “He’s mine.”

Rob’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean by that?”

I don’t know why I did it, but I snatched Rob’s tie, yanked on it, and brought him close to me, matching his glare with my own. “
I
will make him regret every scar, every rash, every blister, and every cut.”

I wanted to say I’d make Arthur feel the fear he had smothered me with, but the words stuck in my throat. I shook with rage and tightened my grip on Rob’s tie. “I don’t need you doing
my
dirty work.”

“And how do you intend to do it?”

“He’s a fire-breather. I’ll extinguish his flames and leave him as a wet, greasy pile of ash,” I hissed.

“You aren’t a dae.”

“So?”

“That puts you at a rather extreme disadvantage, Miss Daegberht.”

I would always be at a disadvantage as long as I didn’t have a dae like so many others did. “I don’t care.”

Rob scowled at me. “Did you have the rashes before he took you?”

“My hands and my elbow where Kenneth grabbed me,” I muttered, releasing the dae’s tie. “The burns were worse.”

“I saw them.”

He had seen all of me, and I flushed as the realization sank in. Of course he’d seen me naked. He had kept me from drowning in the bathtub the first time I had woken up.
Someone
had to change my clothes, and Rob was the only dae present with hands.

“Where’s Colby?”

“Hunting.”

I shivered at Rob’s emotionless tone. “Hunting what?”

Lifting his hands to his throat, the dae adjusted his tie, which matched his eyes. A faint smile spread on his lips as he loosened the knot and smoothed the slick material. “Your kidnapper. Your refusal to identify him is rather tiresome, so we’re hunting him the old-fashioned way. It’s Colby’s turn right now. Colby left a little early, probably knowing I was on my way back.”

“Colby’s alone out there?” My voice rose an octave and cracked before a coughing fit tore through me. By the time I recovered, Rob had gone to the refrigerator and was holding a glass out for me.

“Drink,” he ordered.

It was orange juice, and while I was tempted to toss it in his face, I took it. Sipping cautiously, I winced at the worsening ache in my throat. “Stupid cold.”

“You’re doing a lot better than you were last week,” Rob informed me, smiling at me. When I finished with my glass, he took it from me and set it in the sink. “There’s only so much you can put your body through, Miss Daegberht, and you discovered your limit. Still, you’re much better than I thought you would be today. I think you’re well enough to remove the painkillers from your medications.”

I tensed. The temptation to cave in and beg for more surged through me. “No more drugs.”

“Antibiotics, Miss Daegberht. Your wrist’s infected. Unless you want to lose your hand…”

I shuddered, staring at my left arm. I couldn’t see the injury beneath the bandage still covering my wrist. It didn’t hurt, but that didn’t mean anything when drugs were involved. “It’s infected?” My fear turned my voice shrill.

“You used a rusty nail. Are you surprised? Yes, it’s infected. There is a local anesthetic under the bandages, an ointment to help it heal, and you’re on quite a few antibiotics. Your other injuries have healed well.” Rob shook his head, and before I could stop him, he took hold of my arm, pressing his thumb against my wrist.

The pressure sent stabbing pain lancing up my arm, and I sucked in a breath. “That hurts.”

“It’ll hurt more once the painkillers wear off completely.”

“A risk I am willing to take,” I replied through clenched teeth.

Rob shifted his thumb away from the bandage, adjusting his hold on my arm to reveal where he had touched me. “No redness. Your forehead looks fine as well.”

I stared at the spot, my eyes widening. “It doesn’t itch.”

“How long does it normally take for the rashes to show up?”

Rob didn’t let go of my arm, and because his hand was warm and didn’t hurt, I didn’t jerk free of him. “Right away. Handshakes are the worst. Why do people want to always shake hands? People think I’m defective when I want to wear gloves in the summer.”

My mouth had a mind of its own, and I blushed from embarrassment, clenching my teeth together so I’d shut up.

“You can tell a lot about a human—or a dae, for that matter—when you shake their hand,” Rob replied, releasing my arm to clasp my right hand. My initial instinct was to pull away, but he tightened his hold on me while smirking.

Hand strength was necessary to scale buildings, but my grip was weak and shaky, which made me growl from frustration.

“You’re not a shifter, Miss Daegberht. Your species doesn’t growl.”

“Shut up. I’ll growl if I want to.”

Rob laughed, easing his hold on me. He turned my palm over so I could see it. “No redness, no rashes, or any other reactions. I think you’re safe.”

I stared at my hand. Rob rubbed his thumb over my palm, tracing the pale scars stretching across my skin. Most of them were thin lines, evidence of mishaps with glass and sharp stones on buildings, although I had more than a few pockmarks from blisters that hadn’t healed well.

For a long time, I stared at my scarred hands. If I earned my Bach, I’d be able to afford the treatments to remove most of the scars. I could have the smooth skin of the elite,
 
unmarked from my years of clawing my way from the lowest rung of society’s ladder.

I could erase the evidence of everything I had done.

“Drugs,” I muttered, pulling free of Rob’s hold on me.

“When I found you, you were having trouble breathing,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “There was a rash on your throat, and you were wheezing. Did he strangle you?”

I shook my head. “He checked my pulse.”

“I see.” When Rob reached towards my face, I flinched, caught myself doing it, and stiffened, holding my breath. “You bit me, and it didn’t hurt you.”

Rob pressed his thumb to my lips, and I shivered. Like before, his touch was gentle, and his skin was smooth and soft. I remained frozen, torn between biting him, lunging from the countertop to make my escape, and doing nothing at all. Rob slid his fingers beneath my chin, shifting his thumb to trace the line of my jaw. His hand glided over my throat to check my pulse.

“Your pulse seems fine to me,” he murmured, and when he smirked and drew closer, I held my breath. “You seem a little excited for some reason, though. Your heart’s beating quite fast, Miss Daegberht. Why might that be?”

I wasn’t suffocating as I had when Arthur had touched me. I trembled, at a complete loss of what to do. How was I supposed to react?

“You’re cold and shivering.” Rob made a displeased sound in his throat, and before I could stop him, he hooked an arm under my legs and pulled me off the countertop. I gasped as I dropped before he got a hold on my back. I ended up clutching at his shirt to stop myself from falling. “I’m not going to drop you.”

Despite his reassurance, I couldn’t force myself to let him go. “Put me down!”

“I will when I feel like it,” he replied, and the way he smiled infuriated me into kicking my feet.

It was a useless gesture, but I did it anyway. All it did was make Rob laugh. He carried me to the couch in the living room and dumped me on it. I bounced and scrambled to the arm so I had a path of escape. So focused on the dae, I didn’t notice the blanket draped over the back of the couch until he threw it at me. I caught it by reflex and gawked at him for a long moment.

He laughed again, leaning over me to tuck the plush material around me. “What did you think I was going to do to you, Miss Daegberht?”

“I can walk on my own.”

Perching on the arm of the couch, Rob grinned down at me. “Your feet haven’t completely healed yet. Why hamper your recovery? You can walk, but that doesn’t mean you should.”

He was right, and sighing, I burrowed into the blanket and rubbed the soft material against my cheek. “Fine. You told me you’d tell me what I’d missed. Start talking.”

“My, aren’t you feisty today? You really are feeling better. I count myself fortunate you didn’t bite me again.”

“Bring your hand near my mouth again and I will,” I promised.

“Is that a threat or promise?”

I huffed and turned my head. “What do you think?”

“I think you like making me bleed.”

“You have no idea,” I muttered, reminding myself I didn’t like the dae and fully intended to ruin him in some fashion or another for trying to claim me as his property. “What’s been going on?”

“I suppose I should find out what you know and fill in the blanks.”

While I would have preferred him offering his information first, it made sense. It’d take me a lot less time to tell him what I knew, which was nothing. I sighed. “He was in with the involuntary interviewees. He didn’t want the children being used as tools of war, I guess. He lit the place up, said he wasn’t finished with me, and that was that. When I woke up, I was tied up in a warehouse near the docks. I busted out and got caught again. At first, he kept me in a basement, but he moved me to the third floor of a townhouse somewhere in the fringe on the south shore side. I overheard them discussing something about keeping the kids away from the elite. That’s all I know.”

“Do you know why they wanted you?”

I scrunched my shoulders and shivered. If I told Rob, would he be able to confirm the truth? Was I just a walking food source for the dae? “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“So you do know.”

Why did even the thought of Arthur feeding on my misery shame me so much? Frustrated tears burned my eyes, and determined not to cry, I jabbed my right thumb against my left wrist until pain stabbed up my arm. “I overheard them talking.”

“He wanted you to fuel his fires, didn’t he?”

I sucked in a breath, and in the sharpness of my gasp, I realized I had betrayed the truth. “Shit.” Swallowing, I closed my eyes.

“Gave away more than you meant to, did you? So, he wanted to use you. Judging from your condition when I finally found you, he must have been using you as a convenient way to fuel his fire. Typical.”

“The other one thought he should find some willing women,” I mumbled.

“Passion and pain. It’s very typical of dae aligned with fire, Miss Daegberht. All he had to do to make you miserable was touch you.” The anger in Rob’s voice startled me into staring at him. He had his arms crossed over his chest and he was frowning. “Pain lasts longer than pleasure for an amateur. What a stupid, weak dae.”