Page 53 of Calico Descending

“But why? You don’t have to do this. He’s proven loyal already. We’ve binded.”

“I’m well aware.”

The amusement in his voice tells me he did, in fact, watch the video of Valdys and me, and perhaps I should feel a slight bit ashamed at such a thing, but with three men swinging at Valdys at once, all I can think about is the rapid pulse of blood shooting through my veins.

“Orders are a very crucial part of his training. With the strength that Valdys possesses, it’s important for him to remember exactly who is holding the reigns.”

“You’re afraid of them. All three of them.” The words fall past my lips before I can stop them, and in the next breath, Valdys knocks the axe out of one subject’s hands, and swings the tip across the man’s throat.

Blood pours out of his wound, spilling onto the dirt, and with his hands at his throat, as if he could possibly stop the damage that way, the weaker male falls to his knees.

“Careful, girl. One wave of my hand, and I can have your knight in armor crushed beneath my iron fist.” The visual of that is laughable, but I don’t doubt the man has an emergency plan, in the event that one of his animals gets out of control.

Another man falls at Valdys’s hands, this one with a hammer lodged square in his skull.

One of the men breaks from the group, tool in hand as he rushes toward our cage, and I push myself up from the chair, as if he might hammer right through the steel. Fingers curled into the fence, the look of terror on his face must mirror mine. “Please! I don’t want to fight! I surrender! I surrender!”

Taking quick pants of breath, I watch, as, unknown to the man, Valdys strides toward him, and before he can see what’s coming, hands grip his skull, and the crack that follows is the man’s head severing from its spine.

My body is caught in a state of paralysis, as I watch the man fall to the ground in a slump of dead meat.

“Give a man a weapon, and he may kill for you. Give him purpose, and he’ll kill without question.” Doctor Ericsson chuckles beside me, breaking my stupor.

Chest rising and falling, Valdys stands before the fence, and if I’m not mistaken, I catch the slide of his gaze toward Doctor Ericsson. As if he would tear away the steel fence to get to him.

A hard thunk of metal flinches his muscles, and Valdys steps aside, exposing the man behind him holding a shovel upright. His body is slight and trembling, and when a stream of urine darkens his uniform, pooling onto the ground in front of him, he doesn’t bother to break his gaze from Valdys.

In one quick snatch, Valdys grabs the shovel and flips it around, before jabbing the blunt handle into the man’s chest. Mouth gaping, he looks down toward where the wood sticks out from his ribcage, blood seeping out of the unseen wound there. One choke of a cough, and he falls alongside the other man. Only two men remain in the pit, and it takes minutes for Valdys to finish them off. One by disembowelment with a hammer, the other by decapitation with an axe. By the time he’s done, the pit is covered in his carnage.

Elbows hiked on the back of his chair, as though he’s bored, Cadmus shakes his head. “Another glorious fight.”

“Congratulations.” Doctor Ericsson pushes against his thighs and stands, and once again, he’s smiling. “You’ve avoided punishment. And as a reward to Valdys, you’ll spend another night in his cell.”

Another sweep of the Pit sends a wave of nausea to my stomach. All these men were sacrificed to prove a point. To teach Valdys and I the difference between taking reward and earning it. Medusa, too. All these men were brutally murdered so that I might understand my place, and recognize that, no matter what I want, or hope for, Valdys is a weapon.

Their weapon.

Lying naked beside Valdys, my stomach still churns with guilt. The same guilt that wracked my conscience even through the pleasure of feeling him inside of me, just minutes ago.

“You’re troubled by what I did today.” His fingers trace over my shoulder, sending goosebumps across my skin.

“You didn’t have a choice. I know that.”

“I told you. No matter the cost. No one will hurt you.”

After a quick glance toward where I think they’ve hidden the cameras in his cell, I turn into him, resting my chin on his chest. “We should escape,” I whisper. “Run away from this place.”

With a snort, he tucks his arm beneath his head. “We’d be shot dead within a mile.”

I climb up his body, until my lips are at his ear. “Unless they didn’t know we were gone right away.”

He turns his face toward me, eyes on my lips. “How? The band at my throat would tell them exactly where to find us.”

I know Valdys doesn’t fear the consequences themselves. It’s only his fear of what might happen to me that gives him any sense of hesitation. Resting my head against his shoulder, I draw my hand down his face, kissing his stubbled cheek, and whisper again, “The band supplies a signal. One that I imagine could be turned off, or intercepted. As for how? Supply trucks. I’ve heard one escaped that way a few years back.”

“And she was killed by Ragers.”

Smiling against his ear, I run my leg along his, my knee brushing over his groin. “That’s because she didn’t have a big, strong Alpha to protect her. Imagine it, Valdys. You and I beneath the stars.” I speak so low, so paranoid of being heard on camera, that I’m not sure Valdys even picks up on my words, until he rolls over me, keeping himself hoisted up on his elbows.

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