Page 96 of Seized to Sacrifice
A sound behind him made him turn, drawing a knife, and he was surprised to find Elle looking at him curiously.
‘They said you’d come down here,’ she murmured.
He looked back at the bare walls, built of the same white stone that all the important buildings of the city were. The paint that had adorned the rock was long gone.
‘You shouldn't be here,’ he said. ‘Thought you didn't like these dark places.’
‘I’m notafraid!’ she said defensively then looked apologetic. ‘I mean I don't,’ she replied in a softer tone, ‘but you've been down here since this morning. So I came …’
The way that she looked at him made him angry.
‘Save your pity for Rye and Nyx,’ he snapped. ‘They're the ones having nightmares about their time with the Horde, not me.’
‘Not you?’ she asked. ‘You’re not harboring demons of your own?’
‘Only the very real half of myself that could come out at any moment and pick up here where he left off.’
‘Killing in the streets?’ she asked, and he looked at her in surprise.
‘Quite a legacy the Beast of Kitore left behind. I heard some of the stories from Vie.’
‘The witch,’ she elaborated at his blank stare.
‘I didn’t want you to hear those stories,’ he said quietly, turning away.
‘Because you were made to fight?’
His laugh was loud and brittle, reverberating loudly and echoing back to them as a malevolent distortion.
‘I've never beenmadeto fight, Elle,’ he said glancing back at her. ‘I fucking love it.’
She looked at him warily and he knew he was scaring her, but he needed her to know the truth about him.
‘Killing has always been my one true enjoyment.’ His head bobbed to the side. ‘Well, except for being with you,’ he allowed. ‘I won’t tell you I was happy being one of the Horde’s best gladiators. I was made to stay as the Beast for years as I fought in their rings, but the constant combat made me feel alive.’
‘Gaila took you away from that.’
‘She did, but she also taught me about the other side of myself the Horde had no use for. The man. In truth I was and am thankful. She helped me become who I am. She saved me, just in a different way from the others.’
‘And then you were brought here,’ she muttered.
‘Aye. It wasn’t so different from being with the Horde when you get right down to it, once the humans had me and I fought in the old arena. When we were brought here, I hated Gaila. The Beast went insane and split us to spite you ...her.’
‘It was different for you than the others though, wasn’t it?’ she said. ‘Rye and Nyx were unhappy in this realm, but they never had to go back to the way things had been for them before Gaila. You did.’
Thorne ran his fingers down the wall in front of him. ‘How ironic that they decided to build this behemoth of knowledge atop bones and death. Where crowds gathered to watch Beasts fight each other for their primitive enjoyments.’
He looked back at her again. ‘Do you want to know what I did after you left us here?’
She nodded.
‘After I decided it wasn't worth being the man you’d shown me I could be, I let the Beast take over and I locked myself away in the deepest, darkest recesses of my mind. The Beast controlled us both for a very long time. He did unspeakable things. I remember it all now that we’re trying to mend the breach inside us.’
‘You are?’ she asked, the hope in her voice piercing his heart.
‘It doesn't seem to be working,’ he admitted. ‘The truth is we both want to be whole again for you, but I don’t think either of us truly believes it’s something that can be repaired. It’s just too late.’
Her hand fluttered up and she brushed the hair from his face. She didn't say anything to that, and he found he didn't need her to. He didn't want platitudes or kindness. This was a bed of his own making.
