I can’t speak. If I try to utter a word, I know I’ll start crying, and I refuse to give these bastards that satisfaction.
As I try to stand, my knees give way. Taliesin hauls me to my feet, then circles his arm around my waist to keep me upright. “Touch her again, and I’ll stop the heat and water to this entire pitiful wing. Fuck, I’ll probably just do it anyway.”
Clay stands guard. “We need to move, Tally. Tindall will be coming back.”
“Fuck that cunt,” Taliesin grunts, but at the same time he gets us moving, whistling to the twins to follow.
The descent back into the heat of the Digger block is a blur. Taliesin half-carries, half-drags me through the dark corridors.
As soon as we reach the cell, the adrenaline evaporates, leaving nothing but pain and sadness behind. I stumble into my cage and vomit until my ribs ache.
After a minute, a hand comes and touches the back of my head. Taliesin gently gathers the tangled mess of my hair, holding it back from my face as his other arm circles my waist to keep me from face-planting into my own mess. Once the retching finally subsides, Taliesin presses a cold, wet washcloth into my hand.
“Thank you,” I whisper. He knows I’m thanking him for more than a piece of damp fabric. I look up, focusing on my cellmate. My captor and my only anchor.
He looks away, then mumbles quietly. “Did they…are you…fuck.”
“I wasn’t raped, if that’s what you’re asking.”
A shudder runs through his body. “Yeah, fuck. Good. So are you doing OK?”
Am I doing OK?The question is so absurd it almost makes me laugh, but my throat is too raw. “I’ll be doing great once I kill the warden,” I mutter.
Taliesin’s face darkens. “Yeah, OK. That seems valid. The fucker has it coming to him.”
I lean back and close my eyes again. “How did you know where to find me?”
“One of Dot’s crew. Some new guard let it slip.”
Thank Gods.
Fuck, I feel awful. “You don’t have any more of those mushrooms by any chance? I could do with escaping reality right now.”
“Sorry, Princess. You’ll have to wait until the next harvest, it will be a couple of weeks.”
“A couple of weeks, Godsdammit,” I repeat with a sigh, then look up at the ceiling. “You know, I just don’t get it, I held my own against Hector. He’s twice the size of those no-men, and I beat him. Why was I so weak today?”
Taliesin’s silence stretches out before he finally lets out a long breath. “You weren’t weak, Aurora. You were outnumbered.” He pauses, then adds, “And the fight with Hector… it wasn’t exactly what it looked like. I told him to throw it.”
I freeze. “You what?”
“I couldn’t have him actually hurt you, so I made sure he took the dive.” Taliesin is not looking at me, which is a good thing, because he’d see how pissed,andconfusingly touched, I am.
Shit.
“So I’m still a fucking weakling,” I whisper, the memory of those groping hands echoing across my skin. “Just a liability.”
I keep my eyes clamped shut, but it doesn’t help. The darkness behind my lids doesn’t hide a replay of every terrible moment.
Don’t shatter, do not break.
There is no-man blood beneath my fingernails. My skin feels like it’s crawling, a million tiny insects under the surface trying to escape the memory of those hands. I want to scrub myself raw until there’s nothing left of Aurora Drakeward but bone. All the nerves, all the feelings washed away.
Taliesin helps me up, then he sits beside me, the cot springs creaking under his weight. “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” he says eventually. “I have very little power when it comes to Voss, and that man is a predator. He plays with his toys until they break, just to see what’s inside.”
My fingers curl into the thin mattress, but Taliesin’s body next to mine is a comfort. He’s the only man in this hellhole that I can trust—and that scares the crap out of me. I know nothing about him.
Who the fuck is Taliesin Bevan anyway?
