Page 28 of The Guardian (Dark-Hunter 20)
Seth stayed at his post, which was three steps behind Noir, as the ancient prick did his rounds with the prisoners Noir kept chained in the lowest pits of his golden castle. For now his master's attention was focused on their abuse and not his.
But how long would that last?
As if he heard the question, Noir glanced at him over his shoulder. "How goes your quest, maggot?"
"I'm close to having it, my lord. Of course it would be easier to find it if I could leave this realm, and-"
Noir ended his words with a vicious backhand. "You know better than to ask that of me."
Seth wiped the blood away that ran down his chin as he used his tongue to see if he'd lost any teeth from the blow. Though several were loosened, all remained.
And Lydia wanted to know why he didn't eat ... It was hard to chew when his mouth and throat were forever damaged. Biting into anything, even something as soft and bland as a banana, hurt too much. Not to mention the juices and spices went straight into the cuts on his lips and into the tenderest part of his sore gums and throat-something that always set them to throbbing in the worst sort of way.
The unrelenting hunger and thirst pangs were so much easier to bear than any of that.
"Forgive me, Master."
Noir sneered at him. "There is no forgiveness for something as pathetic and stupid as you. No wonder your father refused to claim you. If I'd been your mother, I'd have left you to die, too."
Seth didn't speak as Noir continued to rail against him. It was a litany he'd heard so often that it played perpetually in his head even when Noir wasn't around.
But this time, he thought of Lydia in his bed and that image drove away the pain of Noir's words. The pain of his next blow.
Would she be reading right now? Or perhaps listening to her music while she ... surfed, that was the word, the Internet?
He was so focused on the comfort of her, that he didn't see Noir stop at the door of one of the questioning chambers.
Noir grabbed him by the throat in a grip so fierce, it instantly dropped him to his knees. Seth knelt in front of him, wheezing through his damaged windpipe. His vision dimmed.
Don't lose consciousness. If he did, Noir might pull him into one of those rooms again.
Panic set his heart racing. He couldn't take another minute pinned to one of those tables. He couldn't.
"Are you paying attention to me, dog?"
Before he could answer, an alarm blared.
Noir let go, leaving him to gasp air back into his lungs.
"Summon my legion! We have intruders."
Coughing and still wheezing, Seth pushed himself up and disobeyed his master to go to his room, and make sure Lydia was safe from harm. He had a bad feeling about who was here and what they wanted.
Surely Solin wouldn't have been able to assemble an army so quickly. But what if he had?
He'd never see Lydia again. That thought hurt even more than Noir's beatings. Indeed, it felt as if someone was tearing his heart into pieces.
Seth shimmered in the corner and looked around.
She wasn't here.
No ...
For the first time since he lay in the desert begging to die, he wanted to cry from the pain of it.
But after he'd materialized fully in the room, she ran out of the shadows with her breakfast knife held tight in her fist.
The rush of joy and relief in seeing her there overwhelmed him. Before he even realized what he was doing, he pulled her into his arms and held her close.
Lydia was absolutely stunned as she found herself crushed against those cold metal plates. The only person who'd ever held her like this was Solin.
As if she was the most precious thing in the world to him.
If she didn't know better, she would swear she felt the Guardian shaking while he held her. He had one hand cradling her head and the other arm wrapped so tight around her waist that she couldn't breathe.
She was so small next to him that her head only reached to the middle of his chest.
"You're ... crushing ... me." Her words came out in desperate gasps.
His hold tightened even more before he released her and stepped back. Panic radiated from his gaze as he bent down to inspect her for damage. "Are you all right?"
Whoa, that was actual concern.
From him.
"Uh, yeah. What's going on?"
He finally realized he was still touching her. The moment he did, he let go and moved back another step. "Someone's attacking us."
"Solin?"
"I don't know." He reached out to touch her face, then stopped his hand just before he made contact.
But before he could withdraw it, she took it into hers and held it tight. "Were you afraid he'd taken me?"
His brows lowered into one of his fiercest expressions. It was so dark and deadly that she thought he was angry at her-that he might actually damage her. "I was afraid you were hurt."
Seth had no idea why he let her know that. It was a weakness he shouldn't have. He shouldn't care whether she lived or died.
And yet ...
He would do anything to keep her safe. He knew that now.
She wasn't a tool to be used against Solin.
Lydia was the woman who could be used to destroy him. He winced at the undeniable truth. How could I have been so stupid? Never had he cared about anyone or anything other than his books, and look at how Noir had tormented him over those.
The bastard had made him watch as he burned them in front of him and dared him to try and save them. Page by page, one by one. Noir took his only pleasure from making others suffer.
He would torture and kill Lydia and in turn, that would destroy him.
How would he be able to live if he knew he'd caused her harm? How?
Before he could gather his thoughts, the door he'd banished from his room reappeared to his left. He pulled Lydia behind him, then turned to face whoever was pounding against it.
An instant later it crashed open.
Lydia gasped as she saw the demons that were spilling into the room. They definitely weren't Greek. She'd never seen anything like them in real life or in nightmares.
Suddenly, some unseen force pulled her back toward the bed and held her there as the Guardian attacked the demons.
