Page 66 of The Prince's Captive

The vitae ripped across her stomach, burning a hole in the fabric as well as scorching her skin.

“Try again. Sense vitae in it. Is it for yoursanguisugae?”

“Sanguisugae?” Marcella muttered.

Prince Nikias barked something at the man.

“—no word forsanguisugae—”

“—get close—”

“Dhelnir children. Abyss demon. Abominations.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Vitae suckers. Void hearts.”

Oh. Void hearts. The rare creatures who were born with a void where vitae usually generated from. She shook her head. “Nothing to do with them. Clan Nyx had one, but last I heard it vanished. Most recent one Desero had, story was we gave it to the temple to deal with. That was twenty years ago. They are a bad omen.”

Prince Nikias scoffed when her answer was relayed back to him.

To her people, void hearts were a bad omen. To the Inimicus? It was a sign of corruption that could not be tolerated. The rumor amongst her people was that during the process of exterminating the abomination, the Inimicus also prevented a woman from being able to have a human child afterwards. At least her people gave second chances. It wasn’t the woman’s fault one of Dhelnir’s abominations had taken root in her. Asentai could still redeem them by blessing them with a human child, especially a Runai child.

The woman said, “—as steady as before—still racing—but in line—true—”

The interrogation went on and it all started to blur together. When she tried to lie or hide the truth, the heretic exposed it and she got a burn. If her answer wasn’t good enough, she got a burn.

She didn’t care. She just wanted off the table.

“What happened—” the old man paused in her tongue, turned back to Prince Nikias, and said something back to him. Prince Nikias snapped, and the man returned to her, shaking his head, and said, “What happened between you and Prince Gavril in forest?”

What happened?

“He… captured me. Lied. Bound me to him,” Marcella said.

The woman said, “—true—”

Prince Nikias snapped another question.

The man sighed and translated it.

“Prince Gavril is to you?”

She didn’t fully understand the question.

But he’d promised. He’d promised she wouldn’t end up here. He’d said he would prove she could trust him.

All this had proven was that she’d been right not to.

But she had. She’d believed in him and now she was the fool.

“I hate him.”

“—truth—”

Nikias snapped, “—done here—get it off now—”

The rune in the air above her disappeared and then she could see the Inimicus men undoing the straps, and Marcella couldn’t even feel any shame as her eyes watered and she let out a little whimper in relief. The sooner she was off the table the better.

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