She’s slipping silently into the lake when she hears his distant scream. The heartbroken cry of a mourning male whose world just fell apart.
Arkyn flicks Kaan’s weald open and closed, over and over again, producing bursts of fiery light while we trail his fluttering cloak down the long and winding tunnel. While I scream, thrash, and snarl every step I’m dragged, not missing a single opportunity to slash my fingernails into the arms of the two fae hauling me along.
“You’d think she’d be more thankful,” one of them drudges out, heaving me past a flaming wall torch that glints off his bronze mask, exertion heavy in his strained voice. “Given her wounds were just mended.”
Laughter bubbles out of me, hitched with mania.
Arkyn may have ordered my wounds fixed, the infection flushed from my blood, but I paid for it tenfold—mind sliced open and pried wide. Poked and pinched so much my brain feels like it’s one big, swollen lump barely contained within my skull.
Paid for it with secrets stolen.Humiliatedas my private moments were inspected—slowly.
Painfully.
Then, to add insult to injury, my pockets were emptied. Kaan’s weald scavenged, appearing to be Arkyn’s new favorite toy.
I kick harder, tossing about with such gusto blood scribbles across my face, leaking from the sleep-repressing runes dug into my temples.
My left arm slips loose.
I’m just about to put all my weight into trying to flip the fucker on my right when Arkyn spins, thrusts his hand forward, and grips my neck, his fingers gouging deep like dragon claws.
I slash and grab at him, trying to pry free, certain my tendons are about to fray beneath the might of his crushing grip. All the blood rushes to my swollen brain, making it bulge against its confines …
Dark spots blot my vision.
Arkyn sighs, holding me still even after the other male regains his grip on my arm. “He’s right, you know.” He flicks Kaan’s weald open, igniting his gnarly face. Closes it again. “The mender said you were barely holding on to life.”
I start slipping off the edge of consciousness, falling headfirst into thoseblack blots, when the runes on my temples begin to burn like metal brands pressing deep.
Melting.
My eyes bulge, mouth agape with a silent scream. The smell of fried flesh taints the air, smashing me with memories that make my guts tip.
Arkyn lets go.
I slump into the firm grips on my arms, tears slipping down my cheeks while I heave breath, Kaan’s wealdclick, click, clickingaway. The more I come back to consciousness, the less the runes sizzle.
Again, I’m dragged forward through intermittent bursts of firelight, my limbs leaden. Mind muddy.
Soulscreaming.
The tunnel walls drop away. In my peripheral, I catch glimpses of empty cells lining both sides, the reek of rot, mold, and excrement souring every breath I drag.
We come to a sparsely lit cell that looks much like the others, door hinges squealing.
Shit.
I find another surge of energy, and my surroundings blur as I thrash and scream and kick my legs, trying to boottheirsout from under them.
I’m flung forward, lashing against the wall so hard that all the breath shoves from my lungs, crumpling into a heap. Though I barely feel any pain, too high on the adrenaline pumping through my veins. I’m just about to clamber up when someone steps on my back.
Elluin’s diary digs into my gut, making a rise of vomit burn the back of my throat.
“Stay down!”
I growl into the wet stone my face is smushed against as my shackles are tethered to a hook in the ground. The moment the male lifts his boot, I shove up and charge. Smash against the barred door that slams shut in my face.
The sound of it locking clangs through me, echoing off the oppressive walls that press in like a book slamming shut.
