The next day is the worst. It’s always the same, as if he’s chipping away at our resolve. And I realise that’s his plan. He wants us defeated, and leaving us in a bloody pile in the dirt is a sure way to prove that we are.
“Tell me we’re going to get out of this. Show me we’ll get out of this, Ever, because I’m not sure how much more I can take of hurting you. That’s not a future I want to be a part of.”
“We… will…”
But her thoughts are as weak as her defence, and I scrunch up my eyes for a moment, hoping to banish the picture of Ever, blood-soaked and struggling.
My body fills with the alien suffocation from Fenix, and my arm rises with the sword gripped in my hand. Shielding, blocking, resisting—nothing is enough against him. My limbs disobey me, and a phantom of movement overtakes. The sword thrusts forward, and the resistance Ever’s skin makes is futile.
The metal tears through her, cutting a gash in her side that brings nausea violently rolling in my stomach. The multiple wounds I’ve received are nothing—a scratch—in comparison. But I can taste my own lie on my tongue.
We both drop to the ground, soaked by the tears of our shared pain.
Fenix withdraws his influence, and I gasp for breath as Ever’s body gives out.
“Ever!” I croak as I reach for her hand, needing the contact to reassure me she’s still alive. My fingers wrap around hers as I watch her shallow breaths—her pain, seeping through into my own. And as the heat from our contact intensifies, the scattering images start, and instead of being afraid, I welcome them. I want to see something to hope for. Something to believe in. Something to replace all this misery.
“Aslendrix, please!”I silently beg because Ever’s not said a word.
No pain can ever be worse than this, and as the images move faster, I hope to see something—anything—I can put my faith in.
But the images vanish, drifting away into the darkness before anything solidifies.
“Ever, don’t. You are the only light in this nightmare.” I try again, tightening my grip on her hand as I pull myself towards her, closing the gap until I can watch her. She’s still breathing. My hand strangles hers, refusing to let her go, but I’m struggling to draw on any power to even sense her. Panic chokes me, as fear swarms the edge of my vision, and darkness draws in.
I blink, and my head falls back to the ground.
I watch through the shadows as she’s hauled away. Taken from me again.
“Ever! Ever!”
No pain. There is no pain.
When I wake, I’m back in the cell, my nightmares and the unanswered questions haunting both my waking and resting moments.
Crimson isn’t able to help. No one can. Not until that tiny pulse flickers along our connection to tell me she’s okay. It’s the longest night yet. We’ve played it too far. Too close. Fenix nearly killed his own sister.
As her voice comes to me, deep in the night, I send a prayer of thanks, again, to Aslendrix.
Ever barely speaks. A whisper of goodnight, the words seemingly cut away after the terror of the day. It isn’t just me putting up shields now. We both are.
The days continue, running together, only distinguished by the level of torment inflicted on us. My injuries keep coming. No time to heal before the next, and only helped by the quick job of the girl who can only seal my wounds.
And each wound pushes a river of pain between me and Ever. Over and over again.
Fenix finally switches up the training, seemingly bored with the physical marks and scars he has inflicted on us both. Or maybe he’s worried that he’s taking it too far, and that he might actually kill Ever.
Now it’s about her power, and he wants her to practice drawing on others. Absorbing it. So, I become the watcher. Held,frozen, and forced to spectate as Ever is commanded to drain all of Crimson’s energy through touch. Ever mouths words to Crimson while they are locked together, wrists wrapped around wrists. ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry’, repeated over and over again, before Crimson drops to the floor, exhausted and empty.
The next day, it isn’t just Crimson who Ever is made to draw power from. It’s someone in Fenix’s ranks. Ever protests. Refuses. And I’m beaten for her disobedience, my eye beginning to close up to obscure my view before she agrees.
Her motivation.
She holds both their wrists together again until neither of them can stand any longer.
Over and over again, a new person is willingly sacrificed in front of Ever. There are sparks of what their combinations can do. Glimpses of possibilities, like during training back in Kirrasia, but Fenix soon shuts that down. He isn’t interested in new possibilities or what her magic could become with the right person.
He wants her strong. For him. His weapon.
