Page 77 of The Sacred and the Tormented

Silence.

Comforting silence.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

Sweat rolled down her face and every muscle in her body ached as if she’d been ripped apart only to be violently shoved back together. Her eyes stung, her throat burned, and gods she was so, so tired.

Without moving, Ellie glanced down at her wrists. Her eyes widened a fraction more. Blood coated her hands. Her blood? Another’s? She couldn’t tell, even with the scent. It smelled foul. Old. Her stomach twisted and Ellie vaulted up despite the pain and vomited all over the stone floor.

Footsteps sounded behind her a second later followed by the rattle of chains. She spun, ready to defend herself. It didn’t matter that she always failed. She wasn’t going down without a fight. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

A feral sound she hardly recognized escaped her lips and Ellie’s hands clamped around flesh before slamming a body against the nearest wall.

Her heart thundered in her chest. She had him. Shehadhim. She’d finally gotten her hands on this vile male.She—

The room spun from the sudden movement, causing her stomach to lurch again. Ellie tried to focus on the pulse beneath her grip.Rip out his heart, his eyes, his throatbut just before she sank her fangs into his artery—

“Ellie.”

She halted, freezing mid movement.

That voice. It was soft and tender. That wasn’t the voice of the High Lord. This was one she recognized. It was—It was—

Ellie forced her eyes to focus. Her vision blurred and tiny balls of colored light blotted her view. She scented the air instead, then a warm hand met her cheek.

She flinched from the touch, but those gentle fingers didn’t pull back. His thumb moved back and forth until—

Oh gods.

Ellie yanked her hands away from his throat.

Kirian. She’d almost—

Her vision finally focused on a pair of eyes. His brows were knitted together, mouth slightly parted as he caught his breath. Bruises lined his throat. His arms.

Ellie sank back to her knees, her stomach twisting for entirely different reasons.

Kirian knelt at her side and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders.

“It’s just me.” His hand met her shoulder and a sob tore through her chest. Ellie collapsed into his embrace, a sob tearing through her body as she let the pain and fear rise to the surface.

He was alive. Kirian was alive. She could touch him. Smell him. She didn’t know how long it’d been this time, only that it’d felt like an eternity.

It always did.

The High Lord had somehow managed to create a little space in her head that felt like a prison. It was there that he kepther isolated, tearing through her mind one painful image at a time.

Ellie buried her face in Kirian’s tunic. It was filthy and torn and stained with his blood. She didn’t care. She just needed his warmth to chase away the cold and the nightmares. His scent made her feel strong again. Alive again.

Ellie steadied her breathing and focused on the mantra she’d developed to get her through every agonizing hour she’d spent in this place. It was the one thing the High Lord couldn’t take from her.

Another breath.

She could do this. Just a little longer, a few more days and someone would come for them. They’d free her and Kirian, then she could return home and let herself sit in a hot shower for hours. The servants would serve her a warm meal and Arianna would give her a steaming cup of hot cocoa.

Ellie let the full image form in her head. She imagined herself curling up in a plush armchair before a roaring fire. She’d swap stories and give whoever was present all the information she could recall. Maybe she’d even talk to Rion about the High Lord’s horrible mind magic. The vile images he’d conjured and the things he’d made her relive over and over again until she questioned whether the images were real.

Or maybe she’d keep all those gruesome details locked in her heart for eternity.

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