Page 97 of Knight’s Absolution

His vibrant violet eyes locked with hers. “Home.”

“Home? What do you mean?”

Ronan blinked down at her slowly, his confusion clear. “He needs us.”

She struggled again. “No, goddammit, no. Not back to him. Not back there.”

Ronan’s hold on her tightened. “Calm yourself, Luna. What is the matter with you? Your eyes, they’re bleeding, but you’re not using your power.”

She shoved at his chest, and there was no holding back her panicked scream. And she kept on screaming. His hand touched the side of her face and something pulsed heavily through her head.

Then there was nothing.

Luna opened her eyes.

And oppressive darkness closed in.

She was back in the basement.

Panic seized her by the throat.

Wrapping her arms around herself, she squeezed her eyes closed and bit her lips together. She would not cry, she would not show Sir her pain. That fucker would not get the satisfaction.

Gunner.

The way she’d seen him before Ronan took her rushed forward, burning an imprint into her mind. His anguished roar echoed through her head, and the cry she tried to fight escaped.

A scraping sound reached her from the other side of the room.

Luna jolted and curled deeper in on herself.

If Sir touched her, if he made her feed from him and forced himself on her—

Her body convulsed as she dry heaved.

“Luna?” A light came on.

She jerked back, blinking as her eyes tried to adjust.

A small lamp was on across the room. She wasn’t in the basement. No, of course she wasn’t. That basement didn’t exist anymore. The house didn’t exist anymore.

Ronan sat in a chair across from her, watching her as if she was some newly found species.

Luna pushed up, not from a hard concrete floor but a huge bed. “Where am I?”

The bedroom she was in was filled with dark furniture and hunter green walls, curtains, and bedcovers.

Her brother’s head tilted to the side. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you cowering?” He stood and moved closer, still studying her. “What do you think is going to happen here?”

“Where is he?”

“Sir?”

“Yes! Goddammit, Ronan, is he here?” Her voice was growing higher with her panic.

Her brother shook his head. “I planned on reaching out to him once I found you. I failed him. His house was destroyed, you were taken,” he said, voice almost robotic. “We saw you with the knight and you wouldn’t come to him, to us. He was angry. He won’t return until he has us both, until we can make it safe for him to do so again.”

Azel wasn’t here, he didn’t know where they were, for now. “So when I wouldn’t go to him, when I was with the knights, what did he do?”