Page 74 of Vasmora

Tears wavered in my eyes as I stared down at her and took her hand in mine.

“I’m c-c-c-cold, Maevyth.”

“I know. It’ll pass soon.” The words shook out of me. “You’ll be warm soon.”

“T-t-tell my brother …” Her eyes fluttered, her face a ghostly white.

“Tell him what? Who’s your brother? Tell me his name.”

She didn’t answer, and I gave a gentle pat at her cheek.

“Melantha, wake up. Tell me his name.”

“Cadavros,” a familiar voice answered from behind, the sound of it like jagged blades down my spine.

I slowly turned to see General Loyce standing in the open doorway at my back, behind her, Captain Drefan, always the good dog at her heels.

Hands crossed in front of her, Loyce stared down at us, her eyes gleaming with piteous amusement. “Her brother is Cadavros. And you, Little Dove, have suffered a most unfortunate fate.” The faint torch lights flickering behind the two of them illuminated their smug expressions.

On the floor between us, I saw the carcasses of bugs, the words etched into the floor. The cell I knew intimately, having spent more than a week there.

Turning back toward the door, where the beetles pounded against the frame, desperate to get inside, I was struck with the cruelest realization. My body shook with rage.

I shoved Melantha off my lap and let out a scream as I scrambled to my feet and charged toward her. An invisible force slammed into my throat, and the bloodbinder emerged from behind her, his palm outstretched, glyph burning with vicious magic.

Loyce chuckled. “You think you’re so clever, girl. You’re nothing but a powerless mortal.” She glanced toward Melantha and clicked her tongue. “Shame. I was truly looking forward to fucking Zevander again tonight.”

“I … don’t care … how long it takes. I will fight. I will fight … to live. And I’m … going to … hear your screams,” I gritted out past the pressure at my neck. “You will … die … the most painful … death … imaginable!”

A wicked laugh threw her head back. “Says the girl who managed to imprison herself.” She stepped closer, and my hands burned with the need to stab her right in the throat. “I can’t die. I won’t. But you will. Alongside your new friend, you’ll both rot in this prison until your pathetic, mortal life eventually flickers out like a snuffed candle.”

My lip trembled beneath my urge to break, but I ignored the agonizing defeat in her words.

Keeping her eyes on mine, she turned her head to the side. “Captain Drefan, if you would be so kind as to shackle our little mortal and leave a small token of my gratitude. Something I can look upon when she takes her last breath, to remember the day that I won.” A chuckle rumbled out of her, and the kettled rage inside me turned thick and boiling.

Drefan rounded her for the chain lying across Melantha’s pool of blood. He strode toward me wearing that insidious grin that I longed to tear from his face. The bloodblinder held me locked as he fastened the shackle around my ankle and enchanted it the way he’d done so many times before. When he stood upright, that grin widened. “I think she needs a scar on her pretty face. What do you think, General?”

“I think that is a brilliant idea, Captain,” she said from behind him.

“I promise you … I will … shatter that smile on your … face,” I gritted.

“Shhhhh.” His palm cupped my jaw, my muscles so tight and rigid it was a wonder they didn’t split open from their shaking and jerking. “Empty promises are such a bore.” A searing heat flashed beneath his index finger, across my lips, and white light burst behind my eyes. The burn of hot steel fresh off a flame sizzled against my skin, spearing up into my sinus cavity and brain, and I squeezed my eyes shut, my body helpless to do anything more.

He released me, but the excruciating burn remained, earning him a sound of approval from Loyce. “That should leave a nice little scar,” he said.

“Beautiful work, Captain.”

It wasn’t the joy in her eyes that sprang tears to mine. I’d long given up trying to understand her cruelty. No, the tears were for the girl I was before this place. The one who’d believed in the goodness of people. The one who saw flowers amid destruction.

Who loved and knew love.

She was gone. Every part of her.

Loyce’s sinister smile faded behind the blur of more tears. How I wished one part of my body would move at my command. Even at the risk of the cruelest punishment, I’d have stolen the chance to watch her bleed again.

She turned, striding toward the door, but paused mid-step. “You may want to close that door. The smell of blood … It excites them. I’m certain they’ll find a way inside after a while.” She exited the cell, and the moment the door slammed behind her, shutting out the light, the pressure to my throat dissolved.

I collapsed to the ground, choking for breath in the darkness. My fingertips prodded the raw fissure across my mouth, and I winced as it flared with fresh pain.