Nodding, Daniel went back to studying the app. “I’ll check the deeper levels for activity before I come up.”

“You don’t need to tell me what you’re doing,” she snapped. “You’re the hell gate guardian now.” She instantly regretted her response, but Daniel kept his attention on the app. Something about the stillness of his posture stopped her. “What is it?”

“I’m not sure.” Frowning, Daniel tapped his phone screen, and a new display appeared.

The hair on Dee’s nape rose. Daniel was checking below the surface, way, way below the surface energy level. She’d never bothered to update her own app, but the thing was much more sophisticated now, and Daniel had the newest version. Another should have that she couldn’t deal with right now. She moved closer and peered over his shoulder. He smelled of laundry detergent and herbal soap, but she dragged her attention back to the screen. “You’re in the core.”

“Yeah.” Daniel’s jaw tensed. “I’ve been checking on it every other day or so.” He glanced at her, a chill in his gaze. “What with the seals cracking, it made sense.”

It did make an awful, horrible, final sort of sense, and Dee licked her dry lips. “And?”

“Look.” Daniel held the screen up to her. He was pale beneath his coppery complexion. “That can’t be right, Dee.”

She almost didn’t want to look. She forced her gaze to the phone’s screen. “Is that…”

“Yeah.” Daniels expression turned grim.

One lone bar blinked back at her. “There’s activity. I’ve never heard of activity at that level before.” Her voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. “Not in all the years I’ve been a guardian. Not in all the years my grandmother’s grandmother was a guardian. Of course, we didn’t have all this sophisticated equipment, so maybe there has been activity before.”

“Not according to any of the historical records the guardians have.” Daniel swallowed loudly. “Dee, there’s fucking movement down there now.”

“But only one tiny shift.” She knew she was reaching, but she couldn’t stop herself.

Daniel took a deep breath. “Even that much is too much. We need to call a gathering.”

They absolutely fucking did. She nodded. “Do it.”

Chapter Twenty-One

They hadn’t come for her in what felt like days. Eddie had started a primitive clock by counting the knots on a thread she’d pulled out of her blanket by the beats of her heart. She was probably off by hours, but it gave her comfort to have even the loosest sense of time passing.

Her power built beneath her skin until she felt hot and swollen with it like a feeding tick. She’d never been aware of it until beings had used her like a power cow and milked it from her. But even as her power built, the rest of her body weakened.

Shivering, she pulled the blanket around her shoulders and resumed her pacing. The cold affected her more with the weight she’d lost. Despite them feeding her three reasonable meals a day, she couldn’t find any appetite. The weight dropped off her, and her wrists looked skeletal where they poked out of her sweatshirt. How long had she been here? After they milked her power, she had no way of knowing how long she was out for. Her weight loss didn’t augur well for time spent here.

Ashe had remarked on it the last time he’d left her food.

Eating had become too much of a chore when she needed what energy she had to keep breathing. The power draining left her in a haze of pain, and on those days, it became too much of a struggle to eat. Ashe had taken to sitting with her and making sure she finished her meals. It took hours some days.

On other days, she wanted to give up.

Shade wasn’t coming. As much as she tried to keep the despondency away, the unescapable truth haunted her metal cell. Eddie wasn’t even sure she had reached him in her dreams anymore. The Shade who had said such beautiful and tender things to her would have been here by now. Or perhaps her lack of trust in the sincerity of his emotions had been correct, and now that she was out of his sight, he’d moved on to someone else. Someone more willing. Someone who would give him their trust without question.

“No.” She spoke aloud to beat back the aching alone. “You have to keep believing. He will find you. The hounds will find you.”

Would Wrath look for her? Maybe he never wanted a child, whispered the constant doom voice that grew louder as time passed.

“He is looking for me,” she said. “He told you how sorry he was not to have been there when you were a child. He promised he would do better.”

Find me, find me, find me. The words kept time with the shush of her socked feet over the floor. Find me, find me, find me.

The door locks clicked. They didn’t pump the gas into her chamber anymore. She was so weakened now that they didn’t need it.

“Eddie.” Ashe entered her cell, his penetrating silvery gaze sweeping her from head to toe. “You’ve lost more weight.”

She managed a cocky grin. “Aww, Ashe, you noticed.”

“Fuck,” he whispered and shook his head. He jerked his head at the tray in his hand. “I brought your dinner. It’s one of your favorites, fried chicken and mashed potatoes.” His signature grin creased his handsome face but didn’t quite dispel the concern in his silver eyes. “With green beans, of course. Can’t have you skipping your veggies.”

She eyed the tray without enthusiasm. Had she been here so long that they knew her favorite meals? “I’m not hungry.”

“You have to eat, Eddie.” Ashe put the tray on her bed. “Either you sit and eat with me, or they will force you to eat.”

Her laugh had a rough edge to it. “Can’t have the favorite power cow dying on them, now can they?”

“Please, Eddie.” Ashe softened his tone. And if he hadn’t been the one holding her down while Calix put the amulet on her, she might have even believed he did care about her with that gentle look on his face. “Don’t make them do this the hard way.”

“Fine.” She stalked the distance to her bed and jammed her hand in the mashed potatoes. She shoved them in her mouth like a demented toddler, not bothering to swallow before she spoke. “Is this what you want?”

Ashe’s mouth quirked. “Well, I was hoping for candlelight and little light repartee, but that will do.”

A reluctant laugh escaped her. She might have hated him most of all for still being able to make her laugh.

He cut her chicken into neat bites, speared a small portion on the fork and held it out to her. “Most humans find the utensils help.”

Eddie grabbed the fork and shoved the chicken in her mouth. She chewed and swallowed mechanically. The mash and chicken hit her belly, and she tensed as it threatened to revolt. Clamping her teeth together, she breathed deep.

“Slowly.” Ashe stood and led her by the elbow back to the bed. “Take it slowly, Eddie. Cleaning up vomit is not in my contract, and it makes Calix super pissy to do it.”

“Where is horse boy?” She opened her mouth obediently when he offered her another forkful.

“Eh.” Ashe shrugged. “Probably out there trying on saddles for the perfect fit.”

“Don’t,” Eddie snapped. Her control stretched thin. “Don’t pretend you’re my friend.”

He stared at her for a long moment and then nodded. “Fair enough.” He prepared another forkful. “But I am going to stay until you eat everything.” He wagged the fork. “So the sooner you eat up, the sooner you can be rid of me.”

She snatched the fork out of his hand and applied herself to the rest of the plate. Eddie only made it halfway through before her stomach rebelled and she couldn’t take another bite. “Enough.”

Ashe eyed her and then the plate before he sighed. “Okay. That will have to do.” He frowned down at the remaining food. “Is there something you’d prefer?”

“My freedom.”

He opened his mouth and shut it again. He then proceeded to finish the plate. She didn’t know if he did it for her sake or his own, and she didn’t care.

Once he’d cleaned the plate, he placed everything neatly back on the tray and stood. “Eddie…” He paused and lowered his voice. “I…”