The man approaches the curtain and pulls it open. Cold terror fingers grip my chest.
Behind the curtain are iron bars. There’s another cell with two girls. One girl has her back to us, her hands chained to the wall. The other sits in a chair facing us.
Instinctively, I grab the arms of my chair but my fingers twitch weakly. The chains have done permanent nerve damage, from what I can tell. Trying to hide it from Reizei, I fold my fisted hands in my lap.
No, no, no.
A man dressed in all black approaches the girl chained to the wall. Using a dagger strapped to his thigh, he slashes through the meager tunic she wears and rips it open. Her naked back is exposed to us.
I try to swallow the ball lodged in the middle of my throat. And fail.
The girl whines, one of her cheeks resting against the cold stone wall. Of course her handler doesn’t care. He unwraps the long leather whip coiled at his hip and steps away. Just far enough to give him space to lash her.
I jerk in my seat when the whip cracks and slashes the air between them. She cries out from pain. The hair at the back of my head rises. I can’t get a breath in. My fingers spasm uncomfortably.
When he lashes her again, I can’t help but look away.
Reizei next to me reaches for me. He gently pinches my chin with his thumb and forefinger and angles my head so I look him right in the face.
He’s calm and collected, as if he’s watching a play in a theater and not someone getting tortured.
“No, Vera D’Argent,” he says softly. “You don’t get to look away.”
I twist from his grip. “Why are you doing this?”
He settles back comfortably in his chair. “You know why. I want everything you know about Savage King.”
The whip cracks again, making me jump. The girl cries out louder, her whimpers growing more and more desperate. I don’t dare glance at her. The girl in the chair starts crying, too.
“Look, Vera,” Reizei says, surveying the girls. “Or I’ll force you.”
I swallow, and hesitantly lift my gaze. My heart tumbles out of my chest at the sight of the girl’s naked back streaked with bloody lashes.
“Who—” My voice breaks. I try again. “Who are these girls?”
“Does it matter?” Reizei glances at me with an arched brow. Another crack. “Would it be easier for you to sit here and watch them get tortured if I told you they were criminals? Would it ease the guilt you feel about not being able to help them?”
I wet my dry lips. “No.”
A ghost of a smirk appears on his lips. But it vanishes quickly. “You can help them.”
My silly heart leaps with hope.
“You can end this whenever you choose. My people will stop immediately. Just say the word.”
The girls are close enough to hear us. The one in the chair looks straight at me, with round eyes full of tears. “Please,” she whispers, her bottom lip trembling. “Please, I beg of you.”
My stomach lurches. If it wasn’t already empty, I’d be puking my guts out right about now.
I could stop this.
I could spare the girls the pain, and agony.
But if I do…I’d be damning my people to ruin. Everyone involved in Savage King would be dead the moment I open my mouth. Ri, Hojo, Bart, Hel…the children we saved. The fae who fight to protect them and keep them safe every day.
I can’t.
I can’t protect these girls without sacrificing my people.
