Page 37 of Savage Hunt

Venna ran her sharp nail over the youngest one. “I’ll start with the little boy first. Dylan.”

“Why would she care about them if the Infernal Sol is in control?” Mykel whispered, but I still heard him over Sorin’s blubbering.

“Because Tate is protective of the Anders even in this state.” Her broad smile nearly reached her ears. “Isn’t that right?”

I slapped my hands on the table, talons bursting from my fingertips and ripping gouges in the metal. “Touch any of them, and you’ll die. I swear it.”

Her laugh made me want to rip her jaw apart. “I’ve got you cornered, so either take the job, or I’ll make sure all four members of the Anders family are painfully slaughtered.”

Red flashed in my vision, but I had no other moves. “Fine. I’ll be your poisoned dagger.”

I spun away from her and marched toward Sorin, surprised he hadn’t pissed himself yet. He was close. As I snapped my fingers, the vargos vanished along with the high demon’s pain.

He scrambled into a sitting position, staring up at me with bloodshot eyes. “W-What happened?”

“I could have kept that going for hours.” I grabbed his chin and forced him to look at me. “Stay away from Maddie and me unless you’d like to end up with a swarm of vargos sub-demons chasing you. I can make that happen.”

Sorin climbed to his feet, using the wall for support. Sweat drenched his sallow skin, making his damp jumpsuit stick to him. “What did you do to me?” He turned to Venna. “Why would you let her do that?”

“Get over it, Sorin. Be glad no one saw you rolling on the ground, crying like a newborn.” Venna motioned toward the door. “Wait outside and tell no one what happened here.”

Sorin glared in my direction as he headed for the door, but fear still throbbed around him.

“I don’t understand why you would give her free rein to torture prisoners, Princess Venna,” Mykel hissed under his breath. “She’s supposed to be punished.”

“This is punishment.” Venna’s gaze seared into mine. “After paying attention to Tate’s Madness hallucinations, one thing is clear. She holds onto guilt and soaks it up like a sponge.”

“Careful Venna. I might change my mind and let everyone else die while I save myself.”

She ignored my threat and continued her conversation with Mykel. “Once Tate gains back her control from the Infernal Sol, her guilt for doing such terrible things to the inmates during torture sessions will haunt her for the rest of her life.

Chapter

Thirteen

I’d been torturing prisoners for weeks now. The ones on the receiving end of my cruelty avoided me at all costs in communal spaces. They didn’t speak to anyone about what they experienced in those rooms either.

Why would they? The words probably would never part from their lips.

Not like their screams. Those poured into the atmosphere with every slice of my knife or fear I dredged up.

Hot water scalded my hands as I dunked the red jumpsuit into the large bucket and ran it along the washboard. The witch guards used magic to heat the water to almost unbearable levels. Heldrok could have had washing machines, but the warden forced us to hand wash clothes, bedding, and towels.

I hadn’t seen Warden Demarcus since he pulled me from that torture room and hinted that I could visit Fane in my phantom form. How he knew so much about our bond was beyond me, but it made me nervous. He hadn’t shared that information with Venna, or she would have mentioned it by now.

That evil royal had been right about drowning in my own guilt. Once I managed to shove the Infernal Sol into the back seat while I took the wheel, crushing guilt slammed into me. It wouldn’t have been so bad if she had me torturing the worst of the worst like Sorin, but I was always sent inmates who kept to themselves and never started trouble.

Demarcus had to know what the royal was doing. Maybe he figured being nice wasn’t getting him anywhere, so he had to resort to a different tactic to break me down. Venna and Mykel tortured me every few days and questioned me about Ruin. I never gave in. That frustrated the princess to no end.

Now that the Infernal Sol had restored some of my strength, I could visit Fane more often. Against my protests, his ghostly form came to me while I tortured the inmates. Sometimes, he was the only thing pulling me back from total destruction.

One day, he might not be enough.

“They brought in another one.” The female witch CO smoothed her black button-down shirt as she spoke to a male fae prisoner. “She was out of her mind, growling and raging like a wild beast.”

The inmate stopped scrubbing the orange jumpsuit. “Did they put her in the cavern?”

“The high demon was too rowdy for that.” The guard, her silver name tag read Desiree, tucked a lock of blue hair behind her ear. “She’s in solitary confinement in the basement.”

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