Page 48 of Ravenrose

Ayer stops playing with the knife, his expression darkening.

“Get on your knees.” He points the tip of his blade down at the dirt beneath his feet.

I look at the ground and then back up at him. “Wh—what? Why?”

His lips curl up into a cruel smile. “I’ll give you death, Princess. But you’re going to have to beg for it.”

I instantly recoil, feeling sick, my stomach roiling violently at his words.

Beg for it.

Beg him.

Why can’t he just kill me and get it over with? He wants me dead. He told me so.

It’s better if I’m dead.

But… but I can’t get on my knees. I won’t. I won’t beg for death.

I won’t beg him.

No.

Hot tears of frustration fill my eyes, but I force them back, the rune at my wrist scalding hot when I glare up at the captain in disgust. “You’re a monster.”

Ayer just smiles and resumes running his fingers along the sharp edge of the blade in his hand. He called my bluff, and he fucking knew it.

And I’m weaker for it.

Without another word, he turns, striding purposefully for the exit, stopping briefly to pick up a piece of fruit on his way out of the tent, but not before calling back over his shoulder.

“Offer is good anytime, Princess.”

Chapter 23

ROWAN

Ayer won’t be back—at least not right away.

I sink down slowly onto the soft furs of his pallet, my body too sore to sit on the floor.

He said he wouldn’t touch me. I don’t believe anything he says, but my head feels like it weighs a thousand pounds, my body aches, and tears of frustration threaten the corners of my eyes. I don’t have the strength left to shove them away.

Curling up on the pallet, I hug my knees to my chest while willing my mind to clear. If I let the pain in—if I let it win—I’ll never get myself out of this. I’ll never survive it.

No one’s coming to save me. Sitara, my brothers, my father… all probably think Kovaria delivered a swift death upon my capture.

I should sleep. The herbs they’d used to put me out last night may have forced me to sleep, but I’m still exhausted—maybe even more than before, the last of my adrenaline gone.

The sound of approaching male voices has me up and scrambling to my feet before I can fully open my eyes.

Disoriented, I take in the sunshine streaming through the hole in the tent. Did I fall asleep?

Panicking, I scramble backward away from the sound, retreating to the back of the tent, as far as I can get from the entrance.

The formidable captain of the Kovarian army strolls back into the tent, not even bothering to give me a look. Why would he? With his cursed rune on my wrist, I’m no threat to him. He heads straight for his desk, rustling papers until he comes across what he was looking for... A map? He unrolls it, spreading it wide; it takes over the whole top of his desk.

I haven’t dared move since he entered several minutes ago, and he still hasn’t spared me a glance. Half of me wonders if he even remembers I exist.