Chapter Twenty-eight

Yasmin had walked Shaldorn’s rooms many times. She had witnessed grand entrances that turned heads, but no one dominated a room like Ravi. He was striking in his dark green attire, which highlighted his golden skin and hair.

And others noticed.

Both male and female gazes followed him, raking over him from head to toe with lustful appreciation. She had done the same herself earlier. Ravi wasn’t dressed any better than others in attendance. He simply wore the clothes better. As if he had been born to the world of wealth and privilege.

She glanced at him, noting the ease in which he walked among the splendor and depravity. How others moved out of his way without him uttering a word. He might be used to moving in criminal circles with his job, but fitting in among the rich was something else altogether.

His long fingers lifted her hand from his arm before he sidled closer and rested his palm on the bare skin of her back. Heat spread through her, his touch like a brand. He held out a hand across them to halt a female who had been about to back into Yasmin. The elf hurriedly apologized before looking at Ravi. Her lips softened, and desire flared in her eyes. Yasmin looked at Ravi to see if he’d noted her reaction, but his gaze was elsewhere. And the satisfaction that gave Yasmin should’ve caused her alarm.

Ravi deftly moved them down the corridor. Yasmin was all too aware of his hard body continually brushing against her while her skirts tangled around his legs. She knew what it was like to lay naked against him, to have him curled around her body. All of it was branded in her mind.

And on her soul.

Her dreams were filled with him. Running her palms over his firm body. Wrapping her hands around his arousal to feel his heat and hardness. Taking him into her mouth and bringing him to orgasm as he called out her name. Him thrusting into her as he claimed her mouth.

But that was all it would ever be. Fantasies. Fiction. A dream.

Their steps slowed, and Yasmin put away such thoughts to focus on those around her. Ravi moved them behind the couple they’d met downstairs. They were close enough to hear the conversation but situated so that neither Manish nor his companion could see her or Ravi. To the left of the couple was Ravi’s potential target, Kumar. Yasmin noticed the elves steps away from Kumar, eyeing everyone as a threat.

Ravi didn’t linger. He guided her away as they continued to pretend as if they were perusing the various vendors. A muscle jumped in his jaw when he saw the merchant who had human children for sale. No matter how many times Yasmin witnessed the kids’ empty expressions, it always cut her to the bone.

They didn’t stop. Not even when the merchant tried to wave them over after noticing their attention. Ravi reached the end of the hall, and they turned to wander up the other side. They had both gone quiet. She could imagine what he was thinking about Shaldorn. No matter how far she had gotten from the stronghold, no matter how often she scrubbed herself raw, the stench of Shaldorn still clung to her.

“Was it Kumar?” she whispered.

Ravi turned his head toward her and dipped his chin. “I didn’t hear a name. He had men with him.”

“I noted the bodyguards. Four, right?”

“Six. There were two others farther away. One of them near Kumar eyed me suspiciously. We couldn’t linger.”

“Let me get close. I won’t bring nearly the attention you do.”

“Every eye in here is on you.”

She snorted as they came to a halt. “They’re looking at you.”

Their gazes met, and a half smile curved one side of his lips. “I know for a fact they aren’t.”

“I don’t know who you’re looking at, but I can point to at least ten people looking at you.”

He dipped his head toward her as he briefly looked around. “I see them looking at you.”

“We were supposed to blend in. I think we missed that mark.”

His copper eyes sparked as he chuckled. “I blend in.”

“Are you saying I don’t?” she teased, needing a moment to push away the darkness that threatened to envelop her.

“I’m saying that you’re beautiful.” His voice dropped to barely a whisper as he added, “Elf or human.”

Her heart missed a beat.

He wound his finger around a strand of her hair that had fallen over her shoulder. Their gazes held as tension grew.

If she didn’t think of something to say, she would pull his head down for a kiss. How was it that he had the ability to make her forget where she was? For just a moment, it had only been the two of them. And it had been wonderful. She didn’t want it to end, but it had to. At least for now.

“I’ve watched a lot of people in my life. Those who have been raised with wealth move about that community easily. Like you,” she pointed out.

He shot her a lopsided grin as he released her hair. He briefly looked over her head in Kumar’s direction. “My father inherited a tidy sum. We moved about those circles, but both of my parents were scientists and would rather spend time in academia than with anything else.”

“You mean you.”

“Aye,” he replied with a half-hearted shrug. “I got in the way, and they liked to throw money at me to get me to occupy myself. I was doing just that when Durga found me.”

Yasmin liked how he moved a fraction closer, so their lower bodies touched. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.” He smiled, his expression genuine. “Things worked out as they were supposed to.”

She glanced down at his chest to the gold button with the mandala design.

“They’re moving,” he murmured.

“Let me get close. I can do this,” she assured him.

Ravi guided her forward so they could make their way back to Kumar, who now stood at the railing looking down at the salon below.

“You need this,” she pushed when he didn’t answer. “Don’t you trust me?”

Ravi blew out a breath and kept his voice low. “It isn’t about trust.”

“Then you don’t think I can get close.”

“It’s about putting you so close to danger, and me not being able to get to you in time.”

Her stomach fluttered in delight at his words. “I’m not without skills.”

“I need you to get us out.”

That speedily extinguished the elation. She kept her smile in place, but it felt hard, brittle. Thank the gods he wasn’t looking at her. She didn’t want him to see how his words could cut so deeply.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get you out.” They reached the group then.

Without another word to Ravi, she sidestepped out of his grip and slipped away, moving through the crowd like a shadow. She swallowed, his words reverberating in her head. It would behoove her to remember that everything he did and said was for his ~character~. He was only after one thing, and it wasn’t her. She might look like an elf tonight, but it would wear off soon enough. Then she would be human again, and it would be like none of this had ever happened.

All of it confirmed that she needed to get away from Shecrish. She needed her own people. She needed to ~belong~.

To someone.

Or somewhere.

Yasmin felt a hand touch her arm as she passed a female. She nodded at the elf but didn’t tarry. Yasmin continued to weave her way through the gathering. It wasn’t long before a male attempted to stop her. She kept walking. She heard talk about her after she passed, but she didn’t care. The elf she was pursuing was too important.

In her past life at Shaldorn, she would’ve had to stop and speak to all who sought her attention. She would’ve had to smile, laugh, and act interested. She would’ve had to flirt and permit them to touch her wherever and however they wished. This time around, her body was hers. So were her thoughts and actions. Everyone here sickened her.

She fisted her hands and wished she had her dagger. Though it was better that she didn’t lest she pull it out and start cutting throats. Would anyone even miss this wretched, immoral mob? She doubted it.

The closer the got to her target, the more clustered the crowd. It was as if everyone was drawn to him. Yasmin got as close as she could to the railing before the mass of bodies stopped her. She tried to push through, but no one would let her past. Finally, she blew out a breath and tapped a male on the shoulder. The Dark Elf turned around.

She flashed him a bright smile. “Excuse me. May I get around you?”

His yellow eyes looked her over before he nodded. As she passed, he trailed his fingers along her back where Ravi’s hand had previously been. It was all Yasmin could do to keep moving forward and not knock his hand away. Little by little, she got through the crowd until she was at the balustrade.

She glanced to the left and then the right, shocked to see that she was next to a bodyguard with Kumar on the other side of him. The Sun Elf saw her looking and smiled before bowing his head of short blond hair. She demurely lowered her eyes before returning her gaze to him. His attention was drawn to his other side with conversation, but his gaze returned to her.

Yasmin would definitely gloat when she brought Ravi information.

A lot.

Her smile froze when her gaze dropped to the main floor. A buzz of excitement ran through the crowd as guards wheeled out a tall, narrow, clear box. Her blood pounded in her ears as they sat the case upright.

Yasmin couldn’t look away, even though that’s what she wanted to do. She was trapped, caught. Stuck. She knew what was coming, and there was nothing she could do about it. No way to stop it.

The room swam. Her palms were damp, and her knees threatened to buckle. She tried to back up and leave but bodies prevented her from going anywhere. Then guards roughly hauled out a woman dressed in all white.

And she didn’t go quietly.

She fought with everything she had, kicking and biting while cursing everyone.

It became difficult for Yasmin to draw breath into her lungs as she watched everything play out as if a nightmare had come to life. A guard unlocked a door in the box. They brought the woman toward it. One of the guards backhanded her, and she went lax instantly.

Yasmin nearly touched her cheek. She knew the feel of such a blow, how it reverberated through the cheekbone and then down the jaw and across the entire head. With the woman dazed, the guards stripped her and threw her into the container. Her arms were at odd angles, and her light brown hair hung in her face. Then they closed and locked the door.

There was nowhere for the woman to move now, no way for her lungs to expand to take a full breath. No way for her to move her hair or scratch an itch. She would be stuck like that for however long the Trinity deemed it. A few hours, maybe. Or longer. There were small holes drilled at the top for air, but they had covered it before to let spectators watch someone slowly suffocate.

Yasmin knew the humiliation of being in the box, the pain.

The abject terror.

She wanted to look away. She tried, but she couldn’t. She had returned to a place of wickedness, and now she was one of the onlookers. And she was doing nothing to stop it. Didn’t that make her as bad as them?

“Breathe,” said a familiar voice in her ear.

Ravi’s arms wrapped around her as he stood at her back like a barricade.

“Breathe,” he whispered again.

But she couldn’t. Because she was the one in the box now, seeing others laughing and pointing at her. Delighting in her misfortune and discomfort.

She became aware of Ravi pulling at her fingers that gripped the balustrade. Then all she saw was his chest. One moment, they were at the guardrail, and the next, they were in a dark corner with his hands cupping her face. She reached for him, needing to have something solid to hold on to.

“Yaz. I need you to look at me,” he bade.

It took a moment to focus on him, then locked on to his copper eyes.

“Good. Breathe with me. You’re hyperventilating. Slow breath in.”

She followed his example.

“Now release it gradually.” He nodded as they breathed out together. “Good. Again.”

Yasmin did as he instructed until the panicky feeling began to loosen its hold. He kept his hands on either side of her head. She didn’t know what she enjoyed more, his fingers in her hair or their warmth.

She tried to look away as embarrassment filled her, but he refused to allow it. “You don’t have to say it.”

His thumb gently caressed near her mouth. “They put you in that box, didn’t they?”

Her eyes burned with tears. The words lodged in her throat, leaving her no choice but to nod.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“It’s in the past.”

His gaze moved softly over her face. “I brought you to the past.”

“You had to.” To her surprise, she realized she had fisted her hands in his jacket. She glanced down, wishing there were no clothes between them.

It was nice to stand with him, alone and separate from the horrors a few steps away. She studied his mouth. He dropped one of his hands to her waist. With the other, he skimmed the pads of his fingers along her jaw, leaving a trail of heat in their wake.

Ravi’s head lowered. Her lips parted eagerly. She needed to feel alive, and there was only one person she wanted to touch her. Time stood still as they drew together. Her lids fell shut as she waited for his lips to meet hers.

The moment was shattered by a loud cheer that filled Shaldorn. Ravi jerked upright, trying to figure out what was happening. But she knew.

“They covered her air holes,” she told him.

He looked down at her as anger gradually filled his gaze. “This place needs to be destroyed.”

She wanted nothing more. But at the moment, she feared she might never get free. If Ravi hadn’t found her, she…she wasn’t sure what would’ve happened, and she didn’t want to find out. “I was close to the target, but I didn’t hear his name.”

Ravi’s lips thinned. “It’s him. I heard his name when I was looking for you.”