Page 102 of The Rose in the Shadows

He ripped the blade out and for a second I almost questioned if he was going to use it to kill me right there, but he only dipped itto the binds on my ankles and sliced through them. Seeing it for the opportunity it was, I didn’t waste any time in trying to lift my right leg and gain the momentum to kick out, but he gripped my calf to stop me with an unbreakable grasp.

“Here I was worried you would take this easily. Half the fun is the fight.”

As his fingers grasped tightly around my forearm, I cried out in pain, which only earned me another vicious laugh. I knew I needed to fight back, needed to stop this, but as he yanked on that arm, I fell forward heavily. Gods, I flashed back suddenly to the Dragon’s office. My hands had been bound then, too.

I fell to the ground and he was on top of me instantly, grasping at my waist and flipping me over. Magic soured through me, angrily, but remained trapped in the hands behind me. He must have sensed the frustration in my grunt because he laughed at me as his fingers trailed over the waistband of my leather breeches and reached for their ties.

No.

As his left hand began fumbling with those ties, his right reached up to knead greedily at my breast.

No.

I had yet to let a man abuse me in this way, and I would not let this disgusting creature claim that victory.

“No!” I screamed, managing to spit out the gag as he bit down on the fabric above my nipple. Magic exploded, even without my hands free to control it. I blasted Henrick off of me and sent him crashing into the cart. The splintering of the wood was sharp as it echoed around us, but I could hardly hear it over the sound of my own blood pumping.

His gaze was venomous as he rushed back to me. “You little Hyraxian bitch. You’ll pay for that.”

One thick hand wrapped around my throat, cutting off my air so fully I worried he might crush my windpipe, while his othergrappled with the ties on my pants once more. I bucked my hips, reaching for my magic again.

“Enough Henrick!” A familiar voice called out. “Knock her out. We have work to do.”

He sighed angrily but increased the pressure on my throat. I continued struggling, trying to grasp onto the sparks of power in my fingers, but even my magic seemed too frightened to function properly and it wasn’t long before the lack of oxygen left me falling away once more.

“Hold her still!”

Henrick and his accomplice were on each side of me, clutching onto my forearms with such force that I cried out. I was in pain. I wasburning.It was everywhere. Every part of my body felt scorched, like flaming razors were pushing their way through my veins. I reached for my magic, desperate to escape my captors, but froze all too suddenly.

There was no electricity. Not a single spark.

I reached for it, but no familiar tingle rose to greet me.

And it hadn’t retreated in fear, because even in that deepest part of me, in that well of magic I rarely allowed myself to touch, there was simplynothing. The rushing darkness of pure, godly power that lived deep in me was quiet for the first time.

Powerless.

It had been quite some time since I’d felt that way, but I recognized the feeling

“My magic?” I gasped, struggling again.

Camilla’s laughter rang out, cold and vicious. “I’m afraid that’s gone now.”

My skin sliced open, and Henrick ripped out a needle that had been folded into my arm. He threw the attached bag to the ground, and as it ripped open blood,myblood, splattered around us and soaked the grass until it stained the ground maroon. I stared at it numbly, unwilling to accept the truth in front of me.

I’d thought before that Camilla was more intelligent than we’d initially given her credit for.

It seemed like I was still underestimating her, because she had just sentenced me to a fate worse than death.

“What have you done?” I whispered.

She grinned, stepping forward. Silently, she touched my chest, pulling my tunic aside until I could see the faint outlines of my Mark of Hyrax as it slowly faded and disappeared from existence forever.

“I did what had to be done,” she answered simply.

Chapter Thirty-Five

When I’d first learned of power stripping, admittedly, I thought little of it. So much else had been going on at the time that I hadn’t stopped to think about the severity of it. I hadn’t realized how awful it would be to know that enough of your blood had been traded for that of a mortal that the connection to your God would be completely severed.

---