AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I keep my head bowed low. I’m disgusted with how submissive I am, but what the fuck else am I supposed to do? I have no fight left. The less I interact, the better.
Willow stares at me, staying bent over longer than she needs to. I grit my teeth, snapping her a look sayingWhat?But I find nothing but kindness in her eyes. She’s always been kind to me, but I can’t trust anymore.
I’ve been down that road.
Willow opens her mouth to say something, but is silenced by Violet’s heels fast approaching. Her green eyes flicker at me and then she’s off, standing back alongside Kol and the other guards.
I let out a sigh, steeling myself for what’s coming.
“Elodie, dear,” Violet chirps. “Howareyou today?”
I keep my eyes on her black bone heels. She hates when I look at her face and I disdain her blood-red eyes with all my being, so win-win.
“Very well, Lady Violet,” I mumble, my hands pressed flat on the ground how I know she likes them.
She circles me like a predator and stops behind me. I gulp as sweat beads down my forehead, knowing that she’s probably going to start with my wings today. I shut my eyes and try to think of anything to take me away from here.
Kastian’s face surfaces in my mind and his soft ocean eyes graze me with affection. I focus on him, our promise to find one another again. My heart beats heavily with the guilt I feel. I never should have bonded with Arulius. I should have known that Kastian was fated for me, that he was always meant to bemine.
A horrible snap cracks right behind my left ear. I scream as hot blood pulses over the side of my face. My wing is nearly ripped entirely off its nub. I shudder as I try to lean as much as I can over the bucket.
She’s made fucking sure I know how to collect my blood for her.
I whimper as my twisted wing hangs by just a few tendons. Arulius cripples by the windows, feeling the same sharp pain I do. She performs the same torture and methods so I know what to expect, but I know for certain that I will never get used to the agony of it.
Violet stalks around to my front and bends down to meet my eyes. I still. This is unusual, she never wants to look at my face… so why is she trying to get me to look at her?
I turn my head to the side to look out the windows, focusing on the mountains that peek over Nesbrim’s walls. She laughs cruelly and grabs my chin between her sharp claws. Yeah, this bitch has claws.
Her red eyes are strained, tired, and dull. Still nauseating, but I see something else in them that I haven’t for… well, months. I wrinkle my nose at her silence and shift to try and pull my chin from her hand.
“Elodie.”
I freeze, my chin still gripped tightly between her fingers. “Yes, Lady Violet?”
She studies me and for a second I think I see the hate she harbors for me falter. But her shields are up again before I can dig further into it.
“Tell me where Lucius is.”
I let out a long breath.
She asked me this during my first month. Over and over. Relentless and desperate. I’ve told her time and time again that I don’t know. That I’mnotTalia. I bite my tongue. She’ll hurt me more if I give her undesirable answers, so I try to just keep my silence.
“Elodie. Where. Is. He.” Her tone is low as she keeps her red eyes locked with mine.
Gods help me—I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
Violet reaches her hand up and places her long black claw over my throat.
Fuck. Fuck. Please, not this.
Tears roll down my cheeks but I hold her gaze steady and true.
“Last time I’ll ask today,” she coos. “Talia, where is my love?”
I glare at her, knowing that this will earn me a worse punishment, but I don’t fucking care. I thought I made this clear to her five months ago. The fire within me burns with the urge to find my fight again and I foolishly listen.
“I don’t know where Lucius is, Violet, but I can tell you this. He’s not your love. Not anymore. No one could love you, not even him… not after what you’ve become.” I sit up more, watching my words as they uncoil her completely. Her red eyes twitch with fury.
