Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Ellery

I stood, blinking far too rapidly and feeling stupid as the knife to my heart sucked my breath away. The music, dim lighting, and overwhelming aroma of this place made me dizzy, and it took all I had not to bend over and gasp for breath, but I could feel Tucker's eyes on me as he waited to see what I'd do.

I wanted to run, scream, cry, or storm over there and shove that woman away from him. I didn't do any of those things as I closed my eyes against the tears burning them and took a deep breath.

Somehow, I managed to stay in this awful place as a wail of anguish rose from my chest, swelled up my throat, and died against my clamped lips. Tucker was right; I'd brought this on myself in many ways, but I hadn't expected to discover this .

I should have anticipated it. I was stupid not to have figured it out while walking down the hallway between the awful lighting, seductive music, and the smells… all those smells .

And now that I knew what this place was, I could separate them better. The sweet aroma of alcohol wafted from the bar and the glasses around me, the amsirah scattered throughout the large room all possessed their own odors, and I couldn't ignore the musky scent of sex hanging heavily in the air.

A few of the patrons were having sex at the tables or in the booths; their sounds mingled with the music. A man took another man's hand and led him toward a hallway on the other side of the stage; they smiled as they slipped into the shadows.

A thin haze of smoke filled the air, and its sweet aroma mingled with all the others. It came from those smoking Kalzabar, a potent drug that came from mushrooms harvested in Hallsey.

I'd never tried Kalzabar before, but it was supposed to relax someone while enhancing the vivid details of the world around them. It was also a powerful aphrodisiac, and because of that, many smoked it in the bordellos in this realm and others.

I should have known what this place was the second we entered it, but I was so nervous and excited to see Ryker, so terrified over what would happen, that my brain had chosen to ignore the obvious. I was paying for that now as I made myself look at Ryker and the woman again.

While I hadn't expected to walk into this, I'd known there was no way Ryker would sit and wallow for me, as I had for him, over these past weeks. He was going to seek out women again, and they wouldn't turn him away.

He was the Scourge of the Ghouls—the hero general who helped push the ghouls out of amsirah. He was King Leonidas's right-hand man, his friend, as well as wealthy, powerful, and too handsome for his own good.

Women loved him; I was one of them. And I got to have him for a while, but now all the women here and throughout Tempest did. I was nothing more than a memory, and I doubted he recalled me fondly.

Despite that, I hadn't pictured him moving on so fast. I should have known he would, but I'd assumed he was wallowing too.

I was a complete idiot, and now I was trapped in this place. If I ran, I'd look like a fool as well as blow my chance to save my mother.

I was so engrossed in my horror that I didn't realize Tucker had walked away and was almost to Ryker. Finally able to move again, I rushed to catch up with him.

I suddenly understood what the nasty asshole at the door was talking about when he'd said they wouldn't turn me away if I was willing to work for it. I wasn't willing to work for anything in this place and wasn't about to be left alone here.

My fingers instinctively went for my bow before I recalled leaving my weapons behind. I suddenly felt more exposed and naked than the working men and women around me as I glanced nervously around the place.

Tucker was almost to Ryker when Ryker's attention shifted from the woman to his friend. When Tucker stopped beside him, I could see his mouth moving but he was still too far away to hear what he said.

Slowly, as if he resisted the movement but couldn't stop it, Ryker's head turned, and his striking, mercury-colored eyes landed on me.

The second our gazes met, I lost all hope of him helping me.