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Chapter 20
Sharpness sliced down my arm.I woke with a startle, my eyes snapping open, and inhaled a lungful of urine stink. Igagged.
A guard stood in front of me, leering and gripping a bloody knife in hishand.
“What’s going on?” I lurched forward, but my arms remained attached to the wall by my wrists, as did my ankles. I wasshackled.
Terror crept along my spine because I’d been caught by the one person I had toavoid.
Around us was a room with stained walls and cobwebs hanging from the corners. Light streamed in from a window above my head, and ahead lay an iron door. This had to be the dungeon under the priestess’ manor. And if the sun was now shining, had I been knocked out all night? The guys would worry, and what if in their panic, they rushed through town shoving people around, transforming? They’d get themselveskilled.
My stomach locked up. I wanted to turn back time, drag the sun down from the heavens, and never leavehome.
The snorting guard with thin threads of hair arching across his head threw a backhand, the hilt of his knife catching on my jaw. My face throbbed. I cried out as I tasted copper in the back of my throat. But the bastard grinned, so I spat on hisboots.
“I demand freedom.” With my chin raised, I continued, “I’ve done nothingwrong.”
He grimaced, as if I were a speck of mud on his clothes. “You’re an illegal trespasser in ourland.”
“What? Are you insane? I’ve been living in Terra my entire life. Ask anyone.” Trepidation sat on my stomach. Had the priestess seen me with the three men when they’d shifted in the forest? But that made no sense; the guards would have attacked us already. Meaning they’d only spotted me at the store. Unless they had followed us to Grandma’s house and each of my men were now in separate cells, being tortured—ordead?
I gasped and fought my restraints. “Releaseme!”
He pressed the tip of his blade under my chin, and I held mybreath.
“All shifters willdie.”
I couldn’t find my words, not when Grandma’s confession had revealed I carried wolf blood. But how did this donkey’s ass know? I never should have tossed the letter aside in the store. What if the guards had read it after capturingme?
“You’ve been spying on us.” His spittle sprayed my face, and I pulled away, feelingnauseous.
His weapon pierced my skin, and I held back the wince, refusing to let him see me whimper. “Nottrue.”
“Yes, it is.” His voice climbed. “So you can tell your inbred wolf friends where to attack first. What our weaknessesare.”
My response flat-lined when the door behind him creaked open. He backed away and lowered hishead.
The priestess waltzed into the prison cell, her azure gown dragging across the grimy floor, but she didn’t care. Instead, she gripped her waist, drawing my attention to the line of tiny buttons running from her throat to her belly; more of them cascaded down her arms. It would have taken her ages to get dressed, but she probably had slaves to do the job. Dark hair cascaded over her shoulders, pushed off her face with a black band. But the wrinkles scoring her neck and the corners of her mouth reaffirmed her age of sixty. She’d been leading Terra for most of her life; surely, it was time for her toretire.
“Scarlet.” She approached, studying me with narrowed eyes. “What an interesting person youare.”
“Not really,” I responded. “I’m the most boring person in town. I don’t evensocialize.”
She laughed, loud and all for show. “You have a sense of humor. Good. You’ll needit.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat, hating how her voice had darkened on those last few words. “What have I done? I deserve a fair trial to understand why I’m being heldcaptive.”
“Silly girl.” She stepped closer and snatched a handful of my hair, forcing my headsideways.
I bit back the yelp that longed torelease.
“You’ve fooled everyone longenough.”
“You’re mistaken,” I pleaded. “Please, whatever you think I did is wrong. I run a herbal store where I assist people. I even helped you once,remember?”
She nodded but wrenched my head harder, and that time a small cry spilled from mymouth.
“You fooled me, offered your tainted remedy. I should have suspected you hid a secret, but I let myself believe you were a good person. Because I have aheart.”
