Page 146 of The Incendiary

“It’s not true,” I whispered, air passing so thinly through my lips that I could hardly hear my own voice. “He can’t be gone.”

“He was ice-cold to the touch,” said Micah Sharpe. “His eyes were open and lifeless.”

Stop talking. Stop talking, stop talking, stop⁠—

“A demon who brought nothing but misery,” added another one. My eyes were too blurred with water and tears to see who. “Finally reduced to nothing.”

“Stop talking,” I croaked out loud. “Please⁠—”

“We buried him.” Alec stopped an arm’s length away from me, not bothering to turn off the water.

It simply couldn’t be. He was the danger, never in danger. He was the most solid, immovable force in my world. The rock that shattered my glass cage, the fire that incinerated the walls of my prison. Away from me now, but never truly gone. They couldn’t take him down.

“We dug nearly ten feet deep.”

No, no, no. Not him. Never him.

I reached for my power a third time, and it was still gone.

“Why are you doing this?” I whispered brokenly, squeezing my fists to test my strength. My fingers slipped against each other, barely able to grip themselves.

Gerard’s dark laughter rumbled in his chest. “We’ve been corresponding with Molochai for months. Once we heard our queen died, we knew our side had already lost, so we switched. When he revealed you were still alive, we’d already realized the many benefits of aiding the enemy.” His fingers curved around the swell of my bare ass, threatening to invade me. He trailed his slimy tongue up the shell of my ear before dragging me, heels scraping the floor, directly under the heavy shower stream.

I was weak again.

“I’ll scream. I’ll tell the commander,” I spat through streams of water.

“We’ll be gone before you can. We need to relay the details of this get-together back to Molochai, so we don’t plan on staying,” Gerard answered. “Besides, everyone is much too busy celebrating right now to listen for your screams. As you can imagine, your betrothed was overjoyed to hear of the Butcher’s demise. He may have been doubting us these past few weeks—rightfully so, he’ll soon learn—but hearing we killed the Butcher was enough for him to let us right back into his little fortress.”

Gerard tossed my naked body down with a wet, brutal smack on stone. I tried to stand but I felt like I was stuck in a nightmare. Everything was… heavy.

A kick in my ribs left me gasping for breath. Then another. They drove their boots and fists into my naked body from all sides. Bile rose up my throat and tears flooded my eyes.

“Please,” I wheezed, hating myself for begging them. Another attempt to stand was met with a boot on my back, pinning me back to the floor. Like trying to escape from beneath a boulder. I couldn’t see whose hands were whose, but one hand clamped each of my wrists and ankles. They were everywhere.

Breathe, I told myself, then let out a tired, broken cry. Because this time, it was my own voice I heard, not his.

One of them gripped the back of my knees, spun me to my back, and forced my legs apart. The skin of my back, thighs, arms, scraped against the stone floor, the most delicate parts of me now completely exposed.

“Please,” I begged, fighting to close my legs. “Please, you don’t have to do this.”

I heard the soft hiss of a blade unsheathing, then felt a hand on each of my knees, forcing them open. Something sharp on the inside of my thigh, then Alec informed me, “Our orders from Molochai were to break you, not kill you.” He chuckled darkly. “I think it’s time to get creative. We never planned on tolerating some back-talking whore in the first place.” Alec violently gripped my hair, sending sharp pain radiating through my scalp. I tried to block him with my arms but wasn’t quick enough in my weakened state. “Sucking Winterton’s cock might earn you special privileges with him, but not with us.”

“Fuck you!” I spat. If I denied it, they wouldn’t believe me anyway.

“Is that an offer?” chuckled Otis Stoll as the blade broke skin.

“No!” I thrashed, breaking into a gasping chain of sobs. Thrashing only deepened the cut. “No, please, stop!” The tip of the blade dragged up my thigh, nearing my center. They opened my legs wider. They were going to… He wasn’t… No, he wasn’t…

“GAVIN!” I screamed, begging him to hear me. He wasn’t dead. He wasn’t gone. “Gods, please!” I sent down any and every mental pathway I could find. “Please, please, please⁠—”

Another boot to the ribs.

“Your Highness,” Alec chuckled from between my legs, where he could see all of me. The cutting continued. What was he carving into my skin? My vision spun, the agonizing sting was blinding. and I didn’t want to be conscious anymore. “I’m not sure who Gavin is, but I don’t think he’s coming to save you.”

My body quaked with violent sobs. The knife carved through another cut like crossing a T, and my bloodcurdling scream echoed through the shower hall.

“P-p-p-please stop!”