Page 94 of Forging Darkness

Thorne’s chin notches a fraction in my direction. “Neither can you.”

“We’ll see.”

Steel’s arm darts between the bars as he makes a grab for Thorne, who jerks out of range.

“Did you really think—” Something strikes Thorne in the temple, cutting him off. He slaps a hand to his face. His cool façade slips as he bares his teeth at Steel in a feral snarl.

The wound is on the side of his face pointed away from me, so I can’t see the damage. I do notice a hunk of rock lying on the ground behind Thorne. A piece of the stone wall that cracked off during Steel’s tirade perhaps? He must have chucked it at Thorne.

When Thorne pulls his hand back, blood drips from his fingertips. Wordlessly, he extends the blood-coated hand at Steel, and a blast of fire shoots from the tips.

Crying out, I charge the bars, but still can’t see into Steel’s cell. I hear his body slam against a wall with an “oomph,” and then he’s silent.

“Steel!” I yell, not concerning myself with the desperation in my tone. “Steel, are you okay?”

He doesn’t respond.

“What did you do?” I spit at Thorne.

He turns his controlled gaze back to me. “Nothing he won’t heal from . . . eventually.”

I beat my hands against the metal rods keeping me trapped. All semblance of my control has crumbled. “How can you do this, Thorne? I trusted you!”

“You never trusted me. If you had, it never would have come to this.”

With that, he turns on his heel and stalks away.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Inow know why Steel was pounding on the bars and yelling my name. Patiently waiting for him to regain consciousness is impossible. I pace in the ten-by-ten box I’m trapped in, one hand gripping my hair in frustration and the other fisted at my side. I periodically call out his name, begging him to answer.

“He’s a peach,” he finally croaks.

Lunging for the wall that separates us, I lay my palms on it and hunch my shoulders, placing my forehead against the rough material. “Are you okay?”

“Define ‘okay.’” He coughs and then groans. It sounds like he’s trying to get to his feet. After a moment I think he gives up and sinks back down.

“Steel . . . this is bad.”

He heaves a sigh loud enough for me to hear. “I know.”

One thought kept appearing in my mind the whole time he was out.

Silver.

If she could retain some of her autonomy after her possession, maybe we can, too.

“I have to tell you something. It’s about Silver.”

Something cracks, and I think Steel might have tossed a piece of stone at the wall.

“What is it?” I imagine him bracing himself against whatever it is I’m about to say. Fortifying his heart against the pain.

“I think it really is Silver—as inyourSilver. I don’t think the Fallen that possessed her took over her mind.”

“Impossible.” This time he does shove to his feet. He grunts once, and then moves to the bars, rattling them out of frustration or to search for a weakness. “Fallen possession doesn’t work that way. They consume the soul inside the body.”

“Maybe not every time though. I think Silver, and maybe a few other Forsaken, are different. Thorne said—”

---