As soon as I stepped inside my too-crammed room, the door shut, locking me in from the outside.
My only indication of how much time had passed was the blood that pooled down my palms from pounding against the stone.
My fists were raw by the time the door finally groaned open. Two sentries stood on the other side. I tripped as the door fully swung, nearly falling onto the metal chest plate of one of them. The two moved in unison, grabbing my arms and started dragging me through the castle.
They didn’t stop until I was shoved into the throne room.
“You will not speak,”Dahes’ voice ordered inside my head so only I could hear, and anything I wanted to say evaporated on my lips.
My breath made a soundless hitch as I saw Hael chained in the middle of the room.
He was beaten, so much worse than he was after his fight on Perinth. Whatever time I’d spent trapped inside my room, Dahes spent torturing him…
Bile rose in my throat. This was all my fault.
Shackles were around his wrists, ankles, waist, and neck, all connecting to a point bolted into the floor. A sentry was holding onto a loose link—like being chained into the stone wasn’t enough—and another two were flanking his back.
They shoved him forward and he fell onto the floor. His hands had just enough slack through the chains to brace the fall before his head hit the stone.
I wanted to warn him not to agree to anything Dahes might try to get him to do, I wanted to tell him how sorry I was, to beg him to forgive me. But I couldn’t. It was too late for any of that. All I could do was watch…
“Stand.” Dahes’ voice was menacing.
Hael managed to get to his knees before he saw me. He stilled. His gaze scanning every inch of my body, lingering over the dried blood across my neck to the fresh smear running down my knuckles.
Dahes was lounged on the throne, his long fingers drumming against the spiked armrest like he had all the time in the world.
The sentries were still holding me. Across the room, another one was holding the prisoner from earlier.
Hael started cursing, trying to fight his way toward…me.Four more sentries flocked toward him, attempting to hold him down.
“Unless you want Magnolia to go through the exact same thing that was done to you, you will stop resisting my sentries.” Dahes’ voice was glacial calm, like a silent rage holding back a storm, waiting to claw its way out. I knew firsthand this was worse than whenever he lost his temper. Because now his wrath was calculated. He’d take his time, draw it out to make sure he’d inflict the most amount of pain.
Hael stilled. His fists clenched beneath the chains.
Dahes flicked his finger and the sentry holding the girl moved, dragging her toward him.
Dahes’ hood was drawn, but I could still see everything in his expression through his mask. I’d never seen him so livid before. There was so much raw fury, it consumed him. Hael killed his dragon, and worse, he now knew something happened between us. All because I let myself slip. Because I was so stupid…
I swallowed, my own heart rate skyrocketing with trepidation, having no idea what he was going to do next.
“Walk into my throne.”
“What?” the girl gasped, then realization dawned as she took in his throne. “No. No. No. Please!” A second sentry grabbed her other arm as she tried to pull back, her feet dragging behind her as she fought. I flinched, her wails piercing my ears.
A lot of people in Moriann knew about Dahes’ throne, knew exactly how the once-white thorns got their blood-red coloring before it crusted to black, and knew exactly what he meant when he made the request.
“Please, don’t,” she sobbed, and I think I might have been crying with her. “I did exactly what you asked. I projected the fight…”
“And now I no longer have use for you,” Dahes droned, cutting her off. His voice was bored as his eyes locked onto me, on my tears, but there was a tightness to his gaze.
Shit. I was supposed to be accustomed to death. I wasn’t supposed to cry, wasn’t supposed to show my empathy.
Breathe. One. Two. Three. Four. Exhale.
Stop crying. Stop feeling.
Her life was miserable as his prisoner, maybe she’ll find some peace in death…
