“Let me go,” I hissed, trying to wiggle out of Coen’s grip. He still held me above the ground, my feet dangling below.
“What are you doing here, dweller? Don’t you have rooms to clean, breakfasts to serve?” Siret stepped forward, his fitted black shirt had the green of his eyes darkening. His hair looked blacker than usual, like Yael’s.
“Where were you the previous sun-cycle?” What was wrong with me? Why did I ask that? I didn’t care where they were; as long as they weren’t near me I was rejoicing. Rejoicing!
The four of them now stood in a circle around Coen and me, the intensity coming from them was enough to have my light-headedness increasing.
“You aren’t like other dwellers.” Siret ignored my question, stepping closer to me. His head was slightly tilted, his eyes locked onto mine. He stared at me like a bug he’d found in his food. Like I was strange and annoying. And yet … there was a sort of curiosity there too.
Aros also stepped forward, and I turned my glare on him. Whatever I was feeling, it had to be his fault. My sanity depended on it.
“We never know what you’re going to do next,” he said. “You think for yourself, which in itself is rare on Minatsol.” His summer glow was now seeping into me, warming up my blood. “We might be able to use someone like you, dweller. If you think you’re up for it. The rewards could be great.”
They were all close to me, towering over me despite the fact that I was being held off the ground. I’d never been surrounded like this. I’d never had so much beauty and magnetism directed toward me. It gave me both chills and nausea. I had no idea what they were going to do with me, but right now I felt like a little rabbit, completely surrounded by vicious predators, and that was not a great feeling.
Coen dipped his head forward, pulling me back into the trap of his gaze. “Will you help us, dweller? Remember, if you betray us … well, the pain-pleasure thing can just become pain. I thrive on either. I’d just prefer it if I didn’t have to go there.”
Me too! I would definitely prefer that too.
He lowered me to the ground and my legs crumpled beneath me. They didn’t seem to be capable of holding me up. I went down, my body collapsing as vertigo finally got me. Then, in a blink, I was somehow back on my feet.
“Follow us,” Yael drawled.
The five of them strode off in the opposite direction of the domed room. None of them looked back. If they had, they would have seen a shell-shocked dweller trying to figure out how she wasn’t on her ass right now. I’d been falling. Then I wasn’t. And no one had touched me.
My breathing was all panty and shallow; my body couldn’t seem to figure out whether to be excited or to fall apart. I really didn’t want to follow them. I didn’t want to find myself in another life-or-death situation, but I took Coen’s warning very seriously. If I didn’t help them, I was going to get hurt. Dammit! Why was this happening to me again? I was super-dweller this sun-cycle and then boom, back to sitting in bullsen shit.
The brothers were almost out of sight now and I couldn’t delay any longer. Cursing under my breath, I scrambled after them, my weak legs not helping as I tried to catch up. Unsuccessfully. Those long-legged bastards were faster than me even though I was running. I was running badly, but that wasn’t the point.
The hall reached an intersection, and the brothers went right, which was the general direction of the Sacred Sand arena. Why were we heading there? My shift to clean it wasn’t for two more sun-cycles, so this could only mean one thing. They were going to use me for fight practice. No, couldn’t be that. They might as well use a straw-stuffed dummy, I’d be as much use. So, there had to be another horrible activity waiting for me.
I was so busy freaking out about being dragged to the slaughter, that I didn’t notice the stairs which led down into the outdoor grassed area. I hadn’t actually been outdoors since we had arrived in Blesswood, and I’d have liked to enjoy the brush of the warm sun on my face, and the sound of a nearby trickling waterfall.
Instead, I took a one-way trip down the stairs.
I threw my hands out because a broken skull was much harder to heal than broken arms. I closed my eyes and braced for impact, preparing to roll like any good clumsy-cursed dweller knows how to do, but there was no impact. No thud as my hands followed by my head slammed into the grass below.
Two hard bands were wrapped across my torso, heat surrounding me as I was lifted against a firm body. The sunshine seemed to increase around us, and I knew without even looking up that it was Aros. My sunshine sol. I mean … not mine or anything. That was weird, but you know … a sunshine sol.
“You okay there, Willa?”
Golden eyes stole my breath. “You know my name?” I managed to ask.
He knows my name?