AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’m sprawled on a low bed with no sheets on it. The walls are plaster, and the floor is made up of wooden boards. I’ve cleaned just about every inch of this place a hundred times, so I know from the way the floorboards are well-sanded, and the whitewash is relatively fresh on the walls that we’re in the high north wing of the academy where those of importance live. Head Scholar Sharpe’s apartments and offices are in this part of the building.
Why have they brought me here?
‘So, what now?’ I ask, unable to get my voice much above a whisper. ‘Torture and death, or do you want to play games first?’
They ignore me.
Games it is.
‘How much time do we have?’ Kallum asks.
‘Not enough,’ Grey growls. ‘Get some food and water into her, or she won’t be able to stay on her feet.’
‘What about clothes?’
Dane’s lip curls. ‘Leave her as she is. She needs to look her part for now.’
I wonder what he means, but I don’t waste my energy by asking. I know they won’t answer me.
I’m left alone for a few minutes, and I close my eyes, trying to conserve what little energy I have. It’s a good thing my plan isn’t to escape them at the moment. The guards and the jailor didn’t pull their punches when they went to town on the tiny human girl.
Cowards.
It would be laughable if I weren’t in so much pain.
Revenge.
I grit my teeth at the yearning I feel to destroy every single one of them who touched me. I shiver as I force back the urge. I gave in down in that cell, but I can’t again. I’ve come too far to let myself move backward. I can’t let it take hold. Just the fact that I want to so badly is a warning that I can’t ignore. I haven’t felt the darkness this strongly in a long time.
I hear someone coming close, and I open my eyes quickly.
‘Eat,’ Kallum commands, setting a tray on a table beside the bed.
I don’t try to move.
‘Do it,’ he snaps. ‘I don’t have all morning. If I have to stuff it down your throat, I will, Harbinger. You don’t scare me.’
‘I don’t scare you?’ A chuckle bubbles out of me that I can’t stifle, and it turns into a groan as it wakes up the various pains in my ribs, chest, and stomach.
‘Please don’t make me laugh,’ I wheeze, wrapping my arms around my torso.
The scowl he gives me makes me shake with barely suppressed laughter, and I let out another soft groan.
‘Fuck,’ I mutter. ‘You don’t have any more of that pain powder, do you?’
He glances over his shoulder. I can hear Grey and Dane talking quietly with each other close by, and I get the impression that Kallum doesn’t want the others to know he helped me at all.
Of course, he wouldn’t.
‘I thought you needed me standing,’ I wheedle. ‘I doubt I’ll be able to without it.’
Still, he hesitates.
‘I won’t tell,’ I joke, and I think I get away with it, but then I feel tears I can’t stop leaking from my eyes and rolling into my hair.
His eyes flick to them dispassionately, but he digs a packet out of the breast pocket of his black tunic with a small sigh.
‘You’re pathetic,’ he mutters as he hands it to me.
