Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
“Then why aren’t you telling me whatever it is you want to say?”
“What I have to say involves the person you don’t want me to talk about. It’s necessary to include him in the backstory, or nothing makes any sense.”
Rory pressed the pad of her finger to the spot above her temple. It wasn’t fair to Gideon that a random name she couldn’t remember was a trigger for her. If something in his background had to do with that horrid criminal, and Gideon felt it was important enough that she should know, she knew she was strong enough to listen. After all, he had lived through it.
She nodded her head. “All right, then. Tell me what he did to you. Whatever he did, Gideon, it’s okay. We can deal.”
He dropped his palm onto her thigh. “It isn’t just me. He has many victims, both men and women. But he started with girls. Orphans. He bought them. Because he bought them, he believed he had the right to do whatever he wanted to them. Some he gave cancer to. He raised them in small, isolated groups. Aside from the psychic experiments, he raised them as soldiers—disciplined, learning hand-to-hand combat, weapons, languages, every skill possible—and then he would send them out to perform for him. He would threaten those left behind in case those in the field tried to run off.”
He was watching her very closely. She hadn’t allowed him to take her hand, so he wrapped his palm around her ankle. She was sure it was to give her comfort. She needed it, when she really thought she should be the one giving it to him. He was clearly uneasy telling this to her. She didn’t understand yet how the story related to his past, but he was bound to get there, and she wasn’t going to interrupt him again.
“If he thought any of those girls didn’t measure up, he all but tortured them to force them to do better in his eyes. For instance, if he determined they weren’t running fast enough because their lungs weren’t functioning properly, he might lock them in a hot, stuffy attic with no air in retaliation.”
She froze, staring at him as if he might be a cobra about to strike her. That was what it suddenly felt like. “Are you talking about you, Gideon? Or me? This doesn’t sound like you’re talking about your background.”
“You told me you didn’t remember your parents and you were worried because you always remember everything.” He pushed the hem of her skirt up enough to expose the artwork on her ankle. “You showed this to me. I’ve seen artwork like this before on another woman. She was taken from an orphanage and experimented on by that same man.”
Rory tried to pull her ankle away from Gideon, but he refused to let her go. A shackle made of his fingers went completely around her ankle. His hold was gentle but firm.
“No one but a GhostWalker can see the tattoos on my shoulder, Red. You saw them, and I have no doubt you understood what they mean.”
She did. She didn’t want to admit that to him. She knew the top emblem symbols represented “Shadow knights who protect against evil forces using psychic powers, courage and honor.” She didn’t know why she would be able to see a tattoo that no one else could see or know its meaning.
“I don’t need to talk about me, Gideon, or my past. I don’t want to know about it. I’m not ready yet. I barely was able to talk about it to you. I did think about whether I could harm you before I decided to stay with you and try a relationship, but then I realized in all the years of not knowing my past, even when I had nightmares and was worried, never once have I harmed anyone. I was using that as another excuse to leave. That’s what I do, find excuses to move on. I didn’t want to let myself do that with you.”
“Whitney is after any children the women who escaped have, Rory. There’s a woman living quite close who escaped. One you knew when you lived in that military compound. She has a child he wants.”
The moment Gideon said Whitney’s name, the same unexplained reaction on the spot above her temple occurred. This time, the feeling was accompanied by a strange crackling noise in her ears, as if her skin were too dry and peeling away. She looked down, half expecting to see fractures everywhere, but her skin appeared as smooth as ever.
“Gideon, please let go of my ankle. I don’t understand where all of this is leading, but it’s making me feel sick. We aren’t getting to know one another better. This isn’t about your background or what you do now. This is what you think might have happened to me in my past. I just told you I’m not ready to face it yet. When I am, I’ll let you know. Right now, I think it’s best if I go.”