Weak from blood loss and the pain in her body, she could do nothing but force out shallow breaths. The pain was so familiar to her now, she almost forgot what it felt like to not be hurting.
Surely this could kill me. Surely I could die from this,Luella thought.
The Tenebrae laughed. "You won’t die."
Her thoughts skipped, and her hand came to rest on the base of the collar. It was an instinctive action, a learned habit. Months reaching for the dream amulet at her neck, now twisted into a dark deformity.
His palms hovered over her shoulder, as if he were afraid to touch. "I came here to tell you something, but I find my thoughts scattered by the exquisite pain on your face. I want to see you like this—always. You bend so well, break so well. It took time to figure out what would break you, but I’ve finally realized. It is not in the silence, but in the loudness, the watching. Your pain, put on display, for all to see. Youliketo suffer in silence. As soon as I realized that, it became easy. Let others see your suffering, and you finally shatter."
He shook his head, as if to dispel the thoughts. She didn’t look at him, instead staring at his thighs, the dark fabric of his trousers pulled taut as he knelt, the jewel-encrusted belt cinched around his waist, and the way his chest rose and fell sonormallywith each breath.
"I came to tell you we are leaving."
The words finally broke through to her, and she tore her eyes up to meet his.
"Where?" One word, and it took everything inside Luella to force it out.
"I am taking you to the Lunar Temples, so we can be wed."
Her lips were dry. Her tongue poked out to wet them, but it only irritated her throat. She fell into a coughing fit, each rattling sound forcing the spikes to dig in. She suddenly realized: she hadn’t been given whatever elixir the—she couldn’t saytheirnames—healers had mixed up, thus her bond sickness had slowly returned.
Let it consume her, then.
80
BASTARDIZATION
THE TENEBRAE
Break her.
The two words swirled through the Tenebrae’s mind, converging with terrified roars from his vessel.
Let me out!
The Tenebrae clenched his hands into fists, feeling his shadows slip through his fingers. He would not, could not, show weakness here, before his bride.
He sent his vessel deep below, imagining his hands around his throat, squeezing until blood dribbled from the burst blood vessels in his eye. It made his head pound. But it grew quiet.
It had worked.
Luella was still, quiet. Truly broken. Her right wing was halfway under her body, crushed against the floor as she lay on her side, like she couldn’t stand the thought of not having it trapped, unable to be touched and tampered with. His fingers itched to graze the pure feathers, if only to let her know he couldtakewhatever he wanted. Her white gown was soiled with blood and sweat. She’d need another before their journey.
The thin straps had slipped off her shoulder long ago, the front of the gown drooping across her small breasts. The collarwas stark against her pale skin, a mark of his power on her. His eyes traveled to her back.
He found he couldn’t look away from the stump where her left wing once was.
It was a gruesome sight. The skin around the wing’s root was inflamed, red tendrils of infection beginning to seep into the tissue. That wouldn’t do.
His fingers skimmed over the line of her shoulder, and she gasped, trembling and cold beneath his touch.
She would need a healer. She could not die. He wouldn’t let her, no matter how desperately he saw she wanted to.
The Tenebrae needed her, after all.
"After we’re wed, we will return here for a grand celebration. I will ensure I have healers here for you." He bent low, breathing her in, eyes tracing her withering shape. "They won’t speak to you. I will never let anyone talk to you again. You will speak only to me, learn to obey only me. In time, I might even let you hurt those who try to make you bend to their will. You will bend only to mine."
The Binding mark on her chest was a damning three-circled sign of his half-brother’s claim on her.
