Rune’s anger ignited. She lifted her chin. “I suppose I shouldthank you. If not for your curse, I wouldn’t have irrefutable proof that he loves me.”
Cressida’s nostrils flared. Grabbing Rune’s jaw, she slammed her head hard against the window, cracking the glass and sending a stab of pain through her skull.
Despite the shock of it, despite Cressida’s ferocious grip tightening on her jaw, Rune stared the queen down. “Touch Gideon again, and I’ll make you wish you were dead.”
Cressida leaned in, whispering close to her ear. “Do you know what I do to those who threaten me?”
Oh, Rune knew.
Do your worst.
FORTY-NINERUNE
CRESSIDA DRAGGED RUNE INTOthe bedroom. Juniper—the witch who’d accompanied her into the suite—held Rune in place while Cressida drew a ring of bloody symbols on the floor encircling her.
“Step back, Juniper.”
The witch stepped away, her eyes full of pity.
The spellmarks ignited, glowing bright white and forming a complete circle around Rune, like a prison cell. Only instead of steel bars closing her in, it was magic. Rune had seen Cressida use this binding before. Once inside the ring, you couldn’t exit.
Rune looked up and saw Cressida circling her, an ensorcelled whip looped at her side. It looked like lightning in her hands, white and crackling.
Releasing the whip from its coil, Cressida narrowed her eyes.
“You think you can protect him from me?”
She lashed the whip. It struck Rune’s back, ripping her skin from shoulder to hip. The pain lit her up.
In shock, Rune dropped to her knees.
“Once I have my throne…” Cressida’s footsteps echoed as she walked around the circle. “… the first thing I intend to do is hunt Gideon down.”
Another lash struck. Tearing fabric and flesh. Splitting Rune open.
Rune cried out—a raw, animal sound she didn’t recognize. It frightened her almost as much as Cressida’s whip.
There was nowhere to run. She was completely at the mercy of a corrupted witch who wanted her dead.
“If you kill me, Soren won’t give you his army,” Rune gasped, desperate to remind Cressida of why her life was valuable.
“Soren is in Caelis. As far as he’s concerned, you’re still kidnapped in the New Republic.”
An icy dread spread through Rune.
“Once he learns your kidnappers killed you, he’ll hand me the rest of his army in a rage, to do with as I want.”
Another lash caught Rune across the shoulder. She clenched her teeth to stop the agonized sounds escaping her. As fresh blood gushed from the wounds, soaking her shirt, two more lashes sliced open her back.
Rune kept her knees tucked beneath her. She pressed her forehead against the floor, struggling to breathe, using her arms to protect her head while leaving her back exposed. An easy target, her back took the brunt of the lashes, sparing her softer, more vulnerable parts.
Cressida whipped her mercilessly. Ceaselessly. Until Rune’s blood soaked her shirt and pooled on the floor.
Her skin was ablaze. The room bled to red. She no longer held back her screams.
Too soon, the soothing numbness of unconsciousness called to her, and Rune slipped toward it.
No. Not yet.
