Page 13 of Shadows of Ruin

Still, I looked back over my shoulder once more. The painful questions I tried to ignore thrust themselves to the fore, spilling into my mind.

What happened in Ellevail? Did Andras get captured or did the dark ones take over?

Had my mother survived?

Kalliah? Leif? Corbin?

Ian?

I stifled a whimper.

I’d get back across the void to my home. Back to the people I loved, or I’d die trying.

Kade Blackthorn had no idea the agony I’d inflict on him should I be kept from Brookmere much longer.

Chapter 4

Ian

My escape plan was currently fucked.

I’d been hanging from these chains for hours. Hands tied over my head, complete with shackles around my feet. Not vines like Andras used outside, but thick steel chains.

“Still with me, Captain?” Andras chuckled as he rolled his neck languidly in front of me.

Somehow, despite the exhaustion and pain shooting through my body from the various fists accosting me, I managed a cheeky grin. “Don’t tell me you’re tired already?”

The vile man grabbed my cheeks with one hand, shaking my head. “That mouth has always been your downfall.” He squeezed hard, then took a step back, rolling up his sleeve. He withdrew a dagger from a velvet purple pouch.

As he removed it, the edges and tip glistened with a black liquid-like substance.

I had seen a blade like this once before. Lana had been stabbed with one similar, years ago in this same room.

I refused to reveal any sort of recognition of the weapon before me.

“Do you have memories of the last time I used thisparticular blade?” Andras purred, twisting the weapon in front of his face as if admiring it.

I cocked an eyebrow. “I make it a point not to dwell on anything you do, Andras. None of it being very memorable.”

Andras stepped forward and the sharpened blade’s cold steel traced along my neck. He dragged it just enough to sting. I didn’t look away from Andras as he continued the surface-level scratch he inflicted. A warning.

“All this mock bravery when I know you’ll break, Captain,” he said. His eyes widened in glee as he looked me over. He jerked, pulling back before he slammed his ringed fist into the side of my face. It wasn’t his first hit, but this time, he split skin.

“That hasn’t worked for a few hours now, I would have thought you’d try something else.” I spit, noticing the tinge of red on the floor.

That cruel smile spread over his face. “Always pining after her. Doesn’t it bother you that your unyielding love is misplaced in a woman who would never return such affections?”

I matched his cruel grin with my own. Andras didn’t understand. If he thought acting as though I wanted Lana as a lover was the way to torture me, he must be desperate. “A bit childish of a tactic for a man wishing to be king, don’t you think?”

Andras gripped the blade and slashed it down the length of my arm, deep. I clenched my jaw, refusing to make a sound.

He clicked his tongue. “Already weakening, and I haven’t even unleashed all of the power gifted to me yet.”

“Magic can’t be gifted,” I said. Blood dripped down my shoulder from the open wound. The first sign my body had weakened after the hours I’d spent down here—my healing power was significantly lessened.

Something in my arm burned. A pain far sharper thanwhat a normal blade should produce. I tried to hide the agony as it grew.

Andras tilted his head back, laughing. “You think you know so much, Captain. You were kept in the dark by the king about what’s happening in Brookmere, and yet you somehow think you’re enlightened as to what true power is capable of doing. A war you know nothing about has been brewing for centuries.”

---