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My anger was bad enough. If Jana reacted to having Reagan in the room, I might beat Abyssian to it and leave her in pieces. I didn’t want my mate to see that side of me. I meant to counter the stories she’d been told of me. Not confirm them. Win her over.
“Pol, Styx, please guard the room.” I started down the steps of the dais, and Ben caught my eye. I pointed toward him. “Maim this one if he steps out of line.”
“Caius, just go,” Reagan said in reprimand. I hid my smile.
“Don’t let anyone enter or leave until I get back. Legion, you’re with me.”
This day was never-ending, and I had a feeling it was only going to get worse.
Chapter22
Caius
Shadows crawled over my skin in anticipation.
When I appeared in the dungeon with Legion, I had no question as to where she was being kept.
Abyssian leaned against the wall, next to a door. His posture was casual, legs crossed, while he ate an apple.
“Did you kill her?” I growled.
He looked at me with mild shock. “What? Of course not.”
“Don’t act surprised. We know how many people you’ve killed down here. My men clean it up,” Legion said.
Abyssian shrugged. “They deserved it. Don’t get me wrong. Jana does too, but I know how much you need her alive. Dead people don’t talk, and we all know she wasn’t working alone.”
I thought back to the ward on Reagan’s room, blocking her from me. Anger lingered beneath the surface, ready to lash out. “No, she wasn’t.”
The overwhelming scent of spells, blood, and urine hit me when I entered her cell.
She was chained to the wall with magical cuffs, binding her at her ankles and wrists. They’d already done a number on her. Lacerations lined her exposed skin. Strange marks from magic were sprinkled all over. Muscles swelled in unusual places, indicating fractured bones. I was surprised she’d endured that much without speaking.
Her eyes were puffy from crying, and the tears leaked down her face, dripping onto her chest.
The sight of her suffering should have made me happy, but instead, my blood boiled just seeing her face again.
Reagan’s broken body flashed in my mind.
I didn’t even bother asking a question. I walked up to her, letting shadows leak from my arms, trailing down my fingers like serpents, wrapping them around her body, squeezing.
A tendril of shadow crawled into her mouth, filling her windpipe, and cutting off her air supply. Her eyes bulged watering further. She jerked, her nervous system in panic at the sudden loss of oxygen.
I waited. When she was just on the verge of losing consciousness, I pulled a shadow back. She’d gasp, sucking in precious air only for me to do it again.
And again.
And again.
Legion stood in the corner, watching stoically. Abyssian chortled. “Damn, Caius. You’re not even asking her any questions.”
Without taking my eyes off Jana, I said, “She knows what question I would ask. She knows what she needs to say. I don’t need to waste my breath.”
“Please,” she choked out, trying to suck in air. “Please stop.”
“Is that what my mate asked you when you were trying to kill her?”
“I’m so sorry,” she wept, sniveling sobs racking her body.
