Page 48 of Bloodguard

“Maeve, you’re mutilating him,” Jakeb warns.

“I don’t have a choice,” Maeve snaps back.

“Then give him something for the pain,” Jakeb pleads. “He’s only human.”

“I know what I’m doing,” Maeve counters. But the tremor in her voice belies her words.

“Are you sure?” Giselle asks. “You’ve never treated something like this. I don’t think—”

“Donotquestion me, Giselle—not now. Just hold him,” she commands. “And keep him still.”

“Daughter, you must sedate him,” Jakeb urges.

Maeve’s voice is quiet, the warning behind it leaving no room for argument. “I need him awake. Do you understand? If he falls asleep, the poison will claim him, and he’llneverwake again.” She pauses, then adds, “He’s survived worse. He’ll survive this.”

Have I? It sure as hell doesn’t feel like it, but I latch on to the confidence in her voice anyway.

“I can’t look,” Giselle says, coughing and gagging. “This is too much.”

“You don’t have to look. Just hold him,” Maeve counters sharply. “Everyone ready?”

There’s a small grumble of affirmation. My arms are wrenched above me, strong hands clasp my legs—and a pain beyond belief suddenly tears through my leg. I can’t keep still—Imustmake this stop—and I start to thrash against my restraints like a wild man.

Fucking hell, they aretorturingme. Maeve was wrong—I haveneverexperienced pain like this before.

If I could speak, I’d scream to let me sleep. Forever if need be. Anything to make this stop. I thrash again when a cool hand cups my cheek, a soft voice brushing against my ear as Maeve whispers for only me to hear, “You can do this, Leith.Trust me, just as I trust you.”

Trust her? I wouldn’t even know how.

Something wet drips on my cheek and slides down behind my ear as Maeve whispers again, “Please trust me, you big oaf.”

Something in the way her voice breaks on the insult calms me, and I find my body settling into the waves of pain radiating up my leg. I imagine I’m bobbing on the water—granted, eel-infested water zapping me with what feels like lightning over and over. The pain is unbearable, but this time I welcome the agony—at least it means I’m still alive.

“Thank you,” she says before going back to her torturing ways. I brace myself.

“I must cut deeper. The poison is trapped inside his muscle,” Maeve says. “If he moves, I’ll nick the artery and kill him. Donotlet him move.”

I holler in agony. I’m on fire. My “ally” is burning me alive.

“Hold him!” Maeve cries out.

This time, my ingrained need to fight swamps my mind and body. Instinct takes over, and I break free, flinging away those holding me.

I fall from a long table, disoriented and groping. I crawl a short distance before staggering upright and dragging my useless leg.

A river.

A well.

I need to find water.

My smoldering body remains my only weapon. I swing my arms, trying to feel my way as bodies surround me again.

I connect with a face, a chest, and something soft. Something burly gets in my way, but I shove through it. Glass breaks. A heavy object is thrown. I still can’t see.

She’s killing me. IknewI couldn’t trust her.

My fists connect with flesh. Objects shatter at my feet.

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