While I’d developed a hard shell in that dungeon, it had been a while since I had to wear it, and I hadn’t expected to don it again. Still, I carefully picked up its pieces and erected them around me while the screams of those I knew and cared for echoed throughout the dungeon in the palace.
The duke worked through the others but didn’t come for me… not yet, anyway. He knew he could cut off every piece of me, and I’d still never tell him where to find Ellery.
He also knew listening to the others’ screams was far worse for me than losing my finger. He may not be able to beat me into submission anymore, but he was aware of my weaknesses, and one of them was my ability to care for others.
He shared no such weakness.
Standing on the rocky floor of my cell, I stared straight ahead as screams and pleas to stop rebounded off the stones surrounding us. I didn’t know who he was torturing; it wasn’t Callan or Tucker, I would recognize their voices, but one of the other amsirah he’d captured with us.
Thick, metal bars made up the front of the cell. The chains remained in place to keep my powers locked away.
I couldn’t see the amsirah they were torturing from my cell, but I knew the second he gave up the information Veni sought. The crack of the whip slashing open skin ceased, and blubbering words spilled forth from somewhere in the dungeon.
Rage coiled within me as the amsirah revealed everything he knew. I had no idea who had cracked, but he told them every single detail about the encampment and Ellery.
If I’d had the whip, I would have choked him with it.
But I didn’t have the whip, and this weak fool would die soon after he finished selling out all those who’d sought sanctuary in the forest. If Veni didn’t kill him, I would the second I got the opportunity.
However, I was certain Veni would finish him off before I could. The duke had wanted this information and worked to get it, but heloathedweakness. This man’s sniveling confession would repulse the duke.
“Shut up,” someone hissed from another cell, but it was already too late; this man had revealed far too much already.
He was supposed to have taken the secret of the encampment to his grave. It didn’t matter what happened to him before his death came; it was more important to protect the others… especially Ellery.
If they got their hands on her, there would be no hope for Tempest and all the commoners. This man didn’t care as he vowed to take the duke to the encampment.
What remained of my fingers dug into my palm as a snarl curved my lip. The duke wasn’t the only one who despised weakness; I’d give another finger for ten seconds alone with this pathetic piece of shit.
Finally, the man stopped spilling his guts and kept sobbing. “Is that all?” Veni inquired.
“Ye… ye… yes!” the man wept.
Fucking bastard!
Chains rattled as torchlight, footsteps, and a scraping sound approached my cell. I lifted my chin as my shoulders went further back; I kept my legs braced apart while I waited for the duke to arrive.
A few seconds later, Veni appeared before my bars. Two guards, dragging a bloody, weeping man, followed him.
The man’s toes grazed the ground, as he couldn’t walk. Drool and blood dripped from his mouth as he whimpered words I couldn’t understand.
No skin remained on his back, he was missing fingers, and burn marks marred his face, but I still recognized him… Paul. He’d taken a beating, but not enough of one.
We’d discovered him in the woods a couple of months ago and saved him from a cordou. We’d risked ourselves for him, and he’d handed the duke the key to destroying hundreds of other lives.
Paul couldn’t lift his head to look at me, but he must have felt my eyes boring into him as he whimpered and shrank further in on himself. I should have let the cordou kill him.
The duke smiled as he stepped closer to my cell. I didn’t acknowledge his presence.
Paul had given up everything about the encampment, but he didn’t know about the second location we’d been secretly supplying. Few amsirah knew of its existence.
All I could do was hope Cryton had gotten over his little hissy fit in time to tell the others about what happened. If that were the case, then Ellery, Ianto, Fletcher, Ruby, or Scarlet would move the others to the new camp.
If all went well, the duke should arrive at an empty encampment. But all going well wasnotthe theme of this day.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
Ryker
