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His invasive stare slides to mine. “Best part about prison? No privacy.”
Warrose and Dessin turn to us, ready to insult Niles for being a pest. But something shrill cracks through the hallway. A piercing sound echoing from another wing.
We freeze, waiting through a beat of silence.
The sound grows louder, defining in range and tone. A sound we’ve all heard at least once before. A woeful pitch to our ears that reminds me of sand, sea salt air, and blood.
Skylenna screams.
~
Skylenna
“I didn’t kick you that hard. Get up!” Kaspias looks down at me with genuine confusion. Those mahogany, black-lined eyes follow the string of bloody saliva that hangs from my mouth.
As I struggle to stand, Kaspias groans and hooks his hands under my arms, lifting me with ease to stand upright. I try to control my breathing, but it’s shallow, labored, painful to move my ribs. I make a solid effort not to wince.
Naively, I hope that this was it. This beating from his short fuse temper. Maybe I can go back to my cage now.
“It’s almost midnight. The rules are, there are no rules, other than having your hands—here, like this,” he hooks a rusty chain from the collar around my neck to shackles around my wrists behind my back “and completely without your sight.” He wraps a thick cloth around my head, cloaking my eyes in complete darkness. An object grazes my hair before I hear a click, then a sting knifed into my temples. I whimper at the piercing of a needle in my scalp.
“There. It’s stapled to your scalp. No chance of it falling off.”
I retract two steps, blinking repeatedly to adjust.
I don’t like this. This prison is completely foreign to my knowledge. It’s a maze. And now I’m blind. What will he have me do next? Will I be able to make it back to my family?
“This is the punishment?” I ask cautiously. He wants me to wander around naked? Blindfolded? It’s almost midnight, meaning I’m in no real danger because everyone is already in their cages.
“Have you met the Blood Mammoths yet?” His mouth is close to the side of my head. He’s leaning in to make me uncomfortable.
“The what?”
“The giant, beastly men with cages on their heads? The ones that wander the halls at night? Did you really sleep through it?”
I school my features. He won’t see the fear that is crawling up my gut and into my throat.
“Obviously.” I would have remembered something like that.
I can feel the mocking energy of his smile. “Pity. Well, you’re on the other side of the prison, as far from your cage as you can get. I’m going to set you free. Then, I’ll let the Blood Mammoths get a sniff of the blood you’ve left on the floor. They’ll chase you down like rabid dogs hunting for their last meal.”
Fuck.
“What are my chances?” Do I really want to know? It won’t matter. I’m making it back to my family. I’m making it back to Dessin. If only I could mute the trickle of panic tingling through my limbs.
“I’ve only seen two prisoners make it back out of one hundred.”
So, not impossible then.
“Too bad they were missing major limbs.”
That won’t be me. That won’t be me. That won’t be me.
My stomach twists, and my mouth goes dry. I’m filled with nervous energy yet throbbing everywhere. I’ve been thrown down a cold well, left to freeze, then beaten. How will I make it back? How will I outrun these bloodthirsty men?
A voice sings past my mental walls, weaving itself into my thoughts.
“The woman who once brought compassion to the Emerald Prison will one day bring fire. And with her new reckoning, the enemy is doomed to fail.”
