Page 138 of Owned

They wanted me to bind him.

They wanted me to make a promise.

Could I do it? Could I swallow my fear and make them believe I’d go along with their plan?

What choice did I have?

I opened my eyes to the glow of the chains and the crisscrossing keylines.

The absence of whispers.

The emptiness of my mind.

The silence was deafening, and the emptiness of it terrified me.

I clenched my fists, and the pull of the chains echoed in the stone chamber.

I’d give them the answer they wanted.

I’d make the promise.

But It was a promise I had no intention of keeping.

Sweat and blood.

That was all this miserable bastard had given us, and I was tired of both.

“Why don’t we start carving,” Bastian said, as he flipped a dagger between his fingers. “See what spills out?”

We circled him, closing in.

The smell of ashroot was thick on his skin.

He’d tell us where she was, or Bastian would paint the walls with his blood.

“You gave him too much,” Valen said. “It’s potent—”

“You should have diluted it,” Bastian shot back.

Valen’s expression was blank. “If I’d diluted it, he’d already be dead.”

Bastian rolled his eyes. “We’re wasting our time.” He kicked a rusty chair across the room. “This bastard can’t even remember his own name.”

Power coiled in my hand and the Sage’s eyes widened, but he didn’t move.

He was slumped against the stone wall, more shadow than man, all sunken eyes and yellow skin.

“Got no... nothing... to say,” he mumbled. His body twitched involuntarily, and a shudder ran through him.

Weak.

I glanced at Valen. “Your call.”

“Try not to kill him.”

My power unraveled and the tentacles of smoke streaked toward the prisoner. The pathetic Sage let out a choked gasp and his limbs jerked as the pale green tendrils wrapped around him. Ashroot did wonders for shutting down fear, but my magic dug deeper, snaking through flesh and bone to find the places where horror still lived. His expression twisted and his mouth fell open. Shuddering.

Bastian leaned in, a dangerous smirk on his lips. “Where is she?”

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