Page 165 of Caged

I want to disappear. Just for a while.

Can’t they give me that, at least?

“Please.” My plea comes out as a sob. I’m not even sure who I’m begging. Lenora? Daxen? The Fates?

“I—I can’t…”

Panic creeps back in, cunning and determined. The tiny sips of air I manage to force down my throat aren’t helping.

Nothing is helping.

I’m not safe.

I need my Mate. I need a nest. I need something—anything—to keep from breaking.

I fall. My palms smack the ground in a half-hearted attempt catch myself. I can’t get the look on Daxen’s face out of my head. The pure, unadulterated hatred was so real I can still feel it, seeping in and taking over like a parasite intent on ruining me.

Everything’s shaking. My body, my vision, the room around me.

The air tastes like copper and ozone. Like a storm about to break. Static electricity crawls over my skin, making my hairs stand on end.

The world spins and twists. I throw an arm out to steady myself against the wall and realize it’s not only me shaking.

The entire room is vibrating. Quaking, like a living thing trying to shake something loose.

The walls groan. The floor trembles.

“Holy shit. Get down.” Lenora’s voice sounds distant. Muted.

I watch with detached curiosity as she lunges across the space between us and throws herself on top of me. My shoulder slams into the wall, but the pain is as distant as sound.

With a resounding crack, the light fixture on the ceiling falls to the ground, exploding in a shower of broken glass. Sparks fly. Glass rockets through the air in an arc—a dangerous, glittering rainfall of chaos that makes me curl into myself. The smell of burnt plastic hits my nose and coats the back of my throat.

Then, there’s silence.

All I hear is the ringing in my ears. It grows louder and louder until it reaches a fever pitch.

The cell door flies open, and the Prince rushes in. He takes in the broken light fixture. The shards of glass scattered all over the floor. The empty hole in the ceiling. When he sees Lenora huddling across my prone form, his eyes widen further.

“What the actual fuck?”

I blink.

Lenora has my face in her hands. Her lips are moving, but the words don’t make sense. I try to focus. Try, and give up.

I have nothing left to give.

I don’t think. I just let go.

Darkness reaches out to me, familiar and consistent. Relief fills me, and I reach back, letting its comforting embrace pull me under

Chapter 23

Daxen

Ifucked up.

I know it, and Vae knows it. The whole damn house, including that godsdamned Omega, probably knows it.