Page 18 of A Bond in Blood

“I thought you’d appreciate it,” he laughed.

“Get her to the dungeon,” Ulrich’s voice echoed behind me.

“I’m going to kill you!” I promised, slamming my hands against Olen’s back.

“Will you calm down you wild thing?” he grunted.

I didn’t stop. I kept screaming and fighting while Olen walked us away. My wails echoed throughout the Unseelie palace as he made his trek to wherever the demon king’s dungeons resided, and I was determined to be as loud as I could.

Making sure this entire fucked up court knew I was here unwillingly.

The temperature dropped and I barely registered the sound of dripping water. My eyes strained to see through the thick fabric when creaking metal echoed in front of me, followed by Olen stepping forward.

Then he dropped me right on the ground.

Breathtaking pain shot up my back from my tailbone and I whimpered. I tried to regain my breaths, and I blinked when his hands suddenly removed the cover and light flooded back to my sight.

The stench hit me immediately. Rot, mold, and death. It filled the air. Seeping into my pores.

I glanced up, finding Olen grinning down at me.

“I’ll behave,” I finally said.

He shook his head, stepping backward toward the bars I now realized were behind him. I moved to scramble to my feet, determined to chase after him, but cried out in pain. Agonizing jolts ran down my legs, forcing my body to stay down.

I stared back at the man who shifted to a beast. “Please.” I clasped my hands together. “Please, I’m begging you.”

Olen only grinned wide, slamming the dark gray bars closed. Sealing me in yet another prison.

“You should have thought of what would happen when you tried to kill the king.”

Hot tears ran down my cheeks. “He took me! You took me!”

“A deal was made, princess. You have to accept that,” Olen replied with a wink.

My hands slammed down on the rotted, soiled surface while the brute sauntered away. Not before I let out my scream, returning to the wild noises I had been making earlier. Filling this king’s halls with my protests.

Olen’s laugh echoed over my yells before I heard his voice snapping at some unseen being to keep an eye on me.

My tears ran down my cheeks while I listened to his footsteps retreat and the scream scalded my throat. Burning the flesh with my rage.

I screamed until nothing would escape my lips. Until my body could no longer hold me up and my bones protested in pain. Until I was forced to curl around myself, cradling my knees while the pain continued to rush through my body.

As my cheek lay against the rotted surface, I prayed to the Gods for warmth. I prayed for safety, for release and rescue.

The prayers left my lips while I silently muttered them, watching water drip in the corner of my cell.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

It drove me mad with each echo they left in its wake.

It was how he was going to punish me. Ulrich’s ultimate plan to make me go crazy. For me to lose my mind and make me as insane as the fae blood that rang through my veins.

I stared at the water, wishing he would have just snapped my neck. That he would have taken the razor and plunged it into my heart, saving me from this insanity.

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