Page 57 of The Song of the Void

Reiven gave a choked laugh. “Yeah.”

My lips quivered. “You were dragged into this because of me. Vaetrik is just going to keep brutalizing you for his own entertainment...”

Normally, I thought Reiven would have had some kind of sarcastic comment, but he just leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, like our conversation was exhausting him. “Don’t worry, I have a pretty high tolerance for pain.”

I growled under my breath, but I let him doze while I put together my plan. I twisted the ring Ash had given me around my finger, trying to anticipate every one of Vaetrik’s possible reactions so I’d have a workaround. As I told Rei, I really did know Captain Tynedall well, and I was going to have to put that knowledge to work to get us both out of here. And if my plan failed…At least Reiven would have some time to recover while Vaetrik was engaged with me.

There was no way to tell what time it was, so all I could do was count the seconds and guess. I stood at the door of my cell, glaring at the opposite wall as I waited for that damn pirate to return.

The burst of light as the door swung open stirred Rei awake, but I didn’t flinch. My eyes followed the pirate as he came down the stairs, and he halted when he saw me in a different spot than my usual place, cowering in the corner. I spoke before he could.

“You tell Captain Tynedall that his pet misses him, and that she wants to see him. Now.”

The pirate gaped, but whirled on his heel and flew back up the stairs. No doubt Vaetrik told him to immediately report any changes in my behavior.

Reiven was fully awake now. He glowered at me. “What the fuck are you doing?”

There was hardly any time to explain, and really, the only thing I needed from Rei for my plan to work was for him to shut up and stay out of it. “No matter what, know that everything I do is to get us out of here.”

I must have stunned him into silence, because he didn’t come up with anything to say before our guard returned and unlocked my cell. They didn’t bind me in any way; Vaetrik probably thought I wouldn’t have it in me to put up a fight. I followed the pirate up the stairs, out of the bowels of the ship. A slight pulse of energy from my collar urged me back towards the cells, but I lifted my chin and ignored it.

We climbed past the gun deck, where the cannons lined the wall, and barrels of gunpowder and cannonballs sat in the far corner. Next came the main deck, and I hardly had a gulp of fresh air and a moment to drink in the sight of the sparkling water before I was shoved into Vaetrik’s captain’s quarters.

His room was lavish. Vaetrik lounged on a plush bed covered with silk sheets and cotton blankets that only made me miss the cot that Rei and I shared on the Maiden. A desk pushed against the far wall was covered in maps, navigational tools, and a spyglass. My gaze caught on the very thing I had been hoping to find.

Atop the desk chair lay my knife and sheath. They had been confiscated when he first took us as his prisoners.

Vaetrik smiled, swinging his legs over the bed to stand. He had ditched his long coat for a loose linen shirt that hung slightly off his muscled arms as he held out a hand to me, beckoning me closer. I cast my gaze down and dropped to my knees rather than take his hand.

“I heard you wanted to talk to me, pet,” Captain Tynedall gloated. “You know I can’t resist when it comes to you. What can I do for you?”

Terror wrapped its tentacles around my throat and squeezed my attempt at words. There was nothing I wanted more than to do what Reiven wanted me to, to look him in the eyes and scream at him for everything he ever did to me. For every way he hurt me. Ripping me away from my home, six years of captivity, breaking my will to fight…

But I had to muster all my courage to look up at him.

Just for a little while, I told myself. Allow yourself to be his, to be reduced to nothing, just for a while. Put on the mask he likes to see, and don’t take it off until he’s blinded by his own confidence.

“I…” I managed a squeak. “I want…to be yours again.”

Everything hurt. It was so hauntingly familiar that the pain almost shrouded me like a soft blanket. My mind wouldn’t think in a straight line. Fuzzy stars and static interrupted every thought that tried to float to the surface. Aches in my jaw, across my back, around my neck. I felt empty. My body wouldn’t move, but the unforgiving wooden floor I lay on careened beneath me. I kept my eyes closed, leaving myself in a void of cigar smoke and alcohol. Darkness was preferable to Vaetrik’s gleeful smile in the lamplight.

I flinched at each of his heavy footsteps as he walked to his desk to put the knife down. Scorching lines carved into my stomach overwhelmed every other pain across my body, and I huddled tighter into a ball to try and shove it away.

I only remembered shards of the past few days. Maybe it had been weeks. Vaetrik kept me in his quarters, drunk and half-conscious. He’d used my intoxicated state to his advantage, calling Shaddan to his room to listen to me sing the Song of the Void. I had giddily complied with it, ready to give him anything he demanded to make him happy. And now I lost one of my bargaining chips. They might not even need me to retrieve the Voidtome anymore. Shaddan had frowned deeply, and I thought I remembered the echo of his voice asking Captain Tynedall what he planned to do with me.

My thoughts slipped to Reiven. Hopefully Vaetrik wasn’t still having him tortured. I missed him, and that made everything worse.

Vaetrik had said something I didn’t catch. He waited expectantly, but I couldn’t clear the alcohol-ridden fog from my mind enough to say something to please him. My eyes fluttered open for a moment. Then a strike across my face forced them closed again.

“Answer me, pet,” Vaetrik snarled.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry⁠—”

“Open your damned eyes.”

I did as I was told, but my vision blurred. His fingers curled around my neck, and he slammed my head against the floor. More fuzzy stars danced across my sight, but I kept my eyes open. If I didn’t, he’d probably only do it again.

“Good. I wonder what he’s going to say when he sees you. Surely he’ll realize no one can control you like I do. No one—not him, not that Druinn general—compares to me. Isn’t that right, pet?” His lips stretched into a smile, his icy eyes sparkling with cruel light.