Page 55 of A World of Ruins

I wait for the question to come again, angling the blade at my thigh once more. Aurum then leans forward with sadistic satisfaction, narrowing his eye.

‘This time,’ he whispers, ‘do both legs, and don’t stop until I tell you to.’ He stands back, watching and revelling as I lift the bloodied weapon.

‘Ah.’ He stops me, and there is a moment where I almost believe he might make me not do this, but it is just my mind playing tricks. ‘Count out loud for me.’

My jaw tightens, and the air ripples with a promise that I will destroy him. Even if it takes my life along with it.

‘One,’ I say, thrusting the blade into my thigh. ‘Two . . .’ The numbers climb steadily, each pronounced with agony. The knife pierces my flesh, creating a sickening harmony with the growing pool of my own blood.

I reach seventy-two before the world dissolves and I fall unconscious to my suffering.

CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR

NARA

The study doors close with a thud, leaving me in the dimly lit room with Aurum at his desk and Ruvyn beside me. His grip tightens on my upper arm, a silent betrayal lingering since our return to Emberwell and my shackles were finally released. His gaze remains fixed straight ahead, determined to disregard my presence.

‘Nara.’ Aurum chuckles, raising his boots onto a desk piled with vellum sheets. ‘How was the journey back here? I would have asked that we meet in the throne room, but –’ He clicks his tongue – ‘repairs are still being made since your last visit.’

‘Where are you keeping my brothers?’ I demand.

He sighs, dropping his chin against his chest, feigning boredom. ‘They are unharmed, if that is what you wish to know. As are your friends, Darius and my courageous brother-in-law, if you were wondering.’

I huff, shaking my head. ‘Why don’t you just kill me already,’ I say. I see no reason why I am here if it isn’t to torture me with his plans. ‘I am sure that is what you have been dying to do.’

His upper lip twitches. ‘I like to hunt.’ He takes a deep breath and smiles as if my misery is feeding into his sick pleasure. ‘Call it the predatory dragon in me.’ The way he savours those words sends a twisted shiver up my spine, and I notice my breathing quickening as he rises from the gold-threaded chair to walktowards me. ‘But . . .’ He points. ‘I would much rather watch you struggle. See how those pretty blue eyes slowly become haunted by seeing the people you love suffering.’

My shoulders tense as he draws his hand out and traces his fingers along my face. I turn my head, physically repulsed by his touch.

‘It is only when you plead with me for death to come,’ he whispers, ‘that I might consider killing you.’

I whip my head back to him, and before I can retort an insult, I notice something on the side of his neck. Black veins slither outwards from every direction, much like the slow decay on his face.

He catches on to my gaze and responds with a restrained smile, bringing a finger-lit flame to his neck. ‘Nothing a bit of fire can’t fix,’ he remarks, wincing as the red glow of flames licks away the decay.

I glare. ‘Careful, too much fire and you might just burn.’

He laughs. ‘Not for an Ardenti.’

‘But you’re not one, are you? Those abilities belong to Darius.’

He takes a step back, smoothing a hand over his tightened jaw. ‘Not any more.’

I shake my head, disgusted by his words. ‘What made you like this? You had everything, a family, a kingdom—’

‘And yet it was never enough!’ He loses it then, his neck straining with the force of his words. He narrows his eye at me, seeing how I remain calm through his outburst and instantly corrects himself by fixing the collar of his tunic and smoothing back his hair with a chuckle. ‘I wonder what Solaris would think of you being here.’ He turns to me. ‘Knowing that the wondrous reincarnation – the vessel of the sun! – is now at my mercy.’

I watch him in silence, my rage knowing no bounds as he walks towards me again.

‘Would the deity of our world be proud?’ he whispers. ‘Or would it be disappointed, just as your old boss was when I told him you failed your mission back in Terranos?’ His smile holds a touch of arrogance and excitement as he stares at my reaction slowly unfolding.

‘Ivarron,’ I whisper, horrified. I jerk from Ruvyn’s grip, inching my face closer to Aurum. ‘Where is he? What did you do to him?’

Aurum throws his head back, a sadistic laugh echoing through the room as he strides towards his desk and sits back down. ‘Apparently, he was in love with your mother. Even tried to say he was protecting you all these years.’ He shakes his head in complete mockery. ‘And they sayI’mterrible.’ Sighing, he feigns regret and taps his fingers along the desk. ‘Shame I had to kill him. He would have made a great ally if he hadn’t been so . . . untrusting.’

Hearing his heartless remark, a storm of emotions stirs within me. My jaw clenches and anger burns in my eyes, yet beneath it all, I can’t deny how the thought of Ivarron dying upsets me. We had such a complicated bond that I did not even know he loved my mother. Deep down, I should have known, with the way he despised my father and how he always said I reminded him ofher. . .

I raise my eyes, keeping my chin hanging low. My voice quivers with a growing temper. ‘Do you really think you can keep us here? That the people of Aeris won’t come for us? That Lorcan, Hira—’

---