Malric watches with a sick, delighted smile, the glint of hunger in his eyes. He steps closer, each movement slow and deliberate, enjoying the moment like the sadistic bastard he is.
“Scream if you like, Zara,” he says, stepping casually to one side. “Kade won’t save you. He can’t. Not from me.”
His hand moves again, and the room heats up, the air thickening like boiling tar. The next wave of pain comes as though molten oil is poured over my body, searing hot, sticking to my skin, slipping inside me like fire. The agony is excruciating. It feels like every inch of my flesh is being burned off, and I can’t stop it.
I gasp, choking on the heat that curls around my insides, burning through me like acid. My body trembles, struggling to stay upright. My mind fractures under the weight of it. My heart threatens to shatter and I scream in silence, struggling as Kade watches and remains unmoved.
Pain turns my vision hazy and my consciousness cloudswith confusion. Malric steps closer and his nail scrapes down my cheek, drawing blood and I have enough awareness to see him taste it.
“Fight back,” he sighs. “I’ll push you until you break whether you fight or not. You may as well make it interesting.”
“You’re nothing but a coward,” I grit out.
Malric laughs low, and the dark, cruel sound sends a fresh wave of nausea through me.
“Coward?” he repeats, his voice a whisper now, dark and thick with amusement. “You think this is cowardice? No, Zara. This is artistry. I’m not hiding. I’m tearing you apart.”
Darkness ripples through the air. The magic twists, suddenly turning to something more intimate, more personal. I feel it crawling through my veins, digging into my bones like claws, cracking them, grinding them apart slowly, agonizingly.
I can’t breathe.
I can’t think.
All I know is the pop and crunch of my bones breaking under the weight of his magic. My body betrays me, each bone cracking like dry kindling beneath the force of his power. My ribs grind together in an agonizing symphony of fractures, each sharp shift sending a shockwave of pain through my chest. My joints scream as they twist and dislocate, the delicate ligaments tearing apart, the tendons snapping with a horrifying, wet sound.
Every movement, every slight adjustment, wrenches my skeleton from my body, rearranged, deformed. My fingers jerk at odd angles, the bones grinding against one another as they twist unnaturally. My shoulders pop out of their sockets, and the sickening slide of bone against bone grates as my body is carved into an unrecognizable form. Pain radiates outward in sharp pulses; a jagged, relentless wave stretches my body beyond its limits, pulling it apart in slow, excruciatingincrements.
“Do you feel that?” Malric hisses, leaning in, his voice just above a whisper now. “The slow burn of it? The pressure building, the weakness inside you that you keep trying to hide? You’re falling apart, Zara. And it’s so beautiful.”
The pain spikes again, a sudden burst of heat and pressure that explodes inside me, sending my body crashing to the floor. My knees hit the stone hard, the impact jarring me out of the haze of agony. Blood is trickling from my nose, my mouth. But I can’t focus on that. I can’t focus on anything but the pain that’s tearing through me, inside and out.
I want to scream again, but no sound comes. Instead, I curl into myself, trying to protect whatever’s left, to stop him from breaking me completely.
Malric’s voice is a knife at my throat, soft, mocking. “You’re so much weaker than you thought. I haven’t even started, Zara. This is just the warm-up.”
His magic shatters through me, a jagged, cruel thing splitting me open. A thousand daggers plunge into my chest all at once, twisting, pulling, forcing me to the ground. The pain is unbearable. Every nerve in my body is on fire, but it’s not enough. It’s never enough for Malric.
I sweat and writhe, refusing to buckle, clinging to any semblance of sanity I have left. It isn’t time yet, this isn’t my moment. I need to wait and hold on until he drops his guard, and that means enduring more torment.
“I’ll tear you apart slowly, piece by piece,” he breathes, his hand now resting on my back, pressing down, urging the magic deeper. “I’ll make you beg for mercy, Zara. You’ll be pleading for it to end before I’m through.”
My vision blurs.
My throat burns.
But I can’t stop it. I can’t stop him yet. I have to wait, and it’s the hardest part of my plan. I didn’t ask Kade for an explanation because I didn’t need one. He already knew what was coming and he must have trusted me to endure. If I give in now, Malric will defeat me without difficulty and I have to hold on for a few minutes more.
For me. For him. For us.
I hate that there is an us, but it’s undeniable and maybe in this moment of pain I’ve found the clarity I needed. Every pulse of agony has a purpose. Every snap, every scream of my body as it tears apart under his will is a step closer to where I need to be, a step closer to the moment when I make my choice.
And I will be ready.
The pain doesn’t stop. It keeps coming in waves, each one more excruciating than the last, but I hold on to my resolve. I can’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me break. Not now. Not when I can feel something shifting inside me, something deeper than the physical agony he’s using to control me.
Malric’s hand presses harder into my back, the magic sinking deeper like a needle stitching through my very soul. I grit my teeth, refusing to make a sound. The sweat beading on my skin is slick with the effort it takes to keep from crumbling under his assault.
“You’re stronger than I expected,” he murmurs, his voice a rasp against my ear. “But even the strongest can be broken, Zara. You know that, don’t you? Even Kade. Especially Kade.”
