Page 47 of Vicious King

“Where are we going?” I asked, my voice shaky again.

“Shut your mouth, slut,” Tobias replied. “You don’t get to ask questions anymore.”

The temperature dropped as we descended beneath the mansion, sending a violent shiver down my spine. Without the guard leading us, it would be pitch black. Our vision was confined entirely to the circle of flickering yellow and orange light cast by the torch.

We kept walking, heading further down. We were in a narrow tunnel now, jagged stone teeth hanging from the shadows above. The light went out for a second, plunging us all into black, and the guard cursed. My hands shook. The darkness was like an invisible force-field, crushing my chest, squeezing the life out of me.

The guard managed to get the torch lit again, and Tobias pushed me forward. Small, loose stones littered this part of the tunnel, causing me to stumble.

“Stupid girl,” he muttered. As if it wasn’t his fault.

As we headed further into the subterranean maze, winding our way into a different passage, the light from the flickering flame showed frigid pools of inky black water on either side of us. I could also hear flowing water up ahead, turbid and splashing somewhere along the walls.

A huge arched doorway came into view, carved out of pale gray stone with intricate ornaments sculpted along the top. The air grew colder as we approached and entered, stepping into a dim chamber.

“Stop,” Tobias muttered to me.

The guards went ahead of us, lighting sconce torches along the walls, bathing the entire cavern in a yellow glow as they glittered against the stone like sparkling jewels. If I wasn’t so scared, I would’ve gasped in amazement at the sight before me.

We were in an enormous grotto with carved sculptures lining the edges. Directly ahead of us was an underground lake with small streams flowing in or out from natural entrances along the smooth stone walls. The murky water rippled in the firelight.

Around the lake was a wide stone walkway which led in a circle around the chamber, and in the middle was a tiny island, so small it probably couldn’t fit more than ten people if they were all lying down back-to-back. There was also a carved bridge leading over the lake to the island from where we were standing.

In the center of the island was a black coffin.

All the air went out of my lungs. When I was brought back to the Lodge in one piece, I thought I would just be punished. It hadn’t occurred to me that this might be an execution. Really, I should’ve known. Mellie once told me that none of the girls who attempted to escape in past years had survived.

I fell to my knees, pathetically clutching at Tobias. “Please don’t kill me,” I begged.

A savage flash shot across his eyes. “After all the shit you’ve pulled, there’s nothing I want more. Unfortunately, my son would very much like to keep you around for now.”

For now.

I screamed as the two guards returned and hauled me across the bridge. One of them held me still as the other opened the coffin lid. Behind us, I could hear Tobias crossing the bridge.

“Tie her wrists and ankles before you do it,” he commanded.

The guard who’d opened the lid pulled two black ropes from his pocket and made quick work of tying me up. Then he and his colleague picked me up and put me inside the coffin.

“Hopefully the time you spend in here will be enough to make you realize how lucky you’ve been so far,” Tobias said, eyes glittering with malice as he looked down at me. “Oh, and by the way—don’t try to move. You might just manage to make the coffin roll all the way into the water, and you’ll sink to the bottom of the lake, however far down that may be. No one’s ever checked, but we know it’s deep. Eventually, the water will leak through the cracks near the hinges, and you’ll drown before my men manage to get you out.”

He waved a hand, and then the lid came crashing down. My world turned pitch black.

I gulped down deep, panicky breaths, already feeling like I was suffocating even though the logical side of me knew I wouldn’t run out of air. There were cracks near the lid hinges, like Tobias said. Enough oxygen would make its way in here, even if I felt like I had an elephant sitting on my chest.

Trying to stay still was absolute hell. The more I tried to concentrate on keeping my arms and legs motionless, the more they inadvertently twitched and trembled, even with the ties around my wrists and ankles. I had nightmarish visions of the coffin tipping into the lake and slowly filling up with dark water, visions of myself waiting to die.

I knew Tobias was a sadistic bastard. He would probably keep me in here for hours. I couldn’t sleep to pass the time, as exhausted as I was, because if I did I might roll around without even knowing it. The idea of waking up underwater filled me with yet more dread and terror.

I concentrated on getting my breathing under control instead. Slow, steady. Calm.

Then I tried to keep track of the minutes, timing them in my mind. One-Mississippi. Two-Mississippi. Three, four, five, all the way to sixty. I repeated that four more times.

God, that was just five minutes. I was already so bored that my eyelids were drooping.

Don’t go to sleep. Don’t even close your eyes.

I tried a new tack. Instead of counting out the seconds, I thought about my next move. Clearly, the forest escape plan was a bad one, and I was lucky to be alive after being caught. It seemed obvious to me now that all the towns surrounding the Lodge would have police departments in Crown and Dagger’s pocket, just in case. I should’ve already guessed that.

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