Page 81 of Pawns of Fate
“That can’t be,” Nicholas murmured as the memory of a black snake with the strangest golden eyes flooded his mind. “A snake bit me. How am I still alive?”
“A shapeshifting druid bit you,” Rose replied. “He’s Lysander’s…companion. He gave you an antidote, then Lysander teleported all of us here.”
He looked over at his wife. Her voice was full of defeat, and while he didn’t see any bruises or injuries, she was bound tightly to the rock, and the edges of her dress were frayed. Her hair, which had been styled in a lovely braid, looked messy and unkempt. Her skin was dirty and sallow. How much had shesuffered? How long had they been here?
“Are you alright, Rose?”
She grimaced. “I’m just thankful we’re both alive.” Her voice was a whisper.
The sound of soft footsteps echoed through the chamber.This is some sort of cave,Nicholas thought. The rock walls didn’t look manufactured, though the floor was too smooth to be wholly natural. Clusters of star crystals, like bouquets of gems, dotted the walls and ceiling. It looked like a hideout for fairies or treasure-hoarding dragons, not a villainous lair.
Their captors strode into view. With their black cloaks and leather armor, both of them looked like shadow mages, though Nicholas suspected the taller and broader of the two, with his dark hair and wild, golden eyes, was the shapeshifting druid.
“What the hell do you want with us?” Nicholas yelled, struggling against the ropes.
The mage with lavender hair and madness in his gaze looked at him with undisguised disdain and said, “Good. You’re up.”
“Let us go!” Nicholas demanded.
The mage rolled his eyes and let out a huff of annoyance. “Do we really have to do this? I’ve already had this argument with your wife. Look at her.” The mage casually waved a dagger at Rose, whose downtrodden demeanor broke Nicholas’s heart. “She’s accepted her defeat. I suggest you do the same.”
“Leave my wife alone,” Nicholas replied through clenched teeth.
The mage ignored him and squatted next to Rose, grabbing her chin and turning her face toward him. “You’ve had time torecover from the journey here. It’s time for us to experiment.”
“No,” Rose sobbed.
Nicholas pulled on the ropes tying him down. It was useless; he was helpless.
“Yes,” the shadow mage hissed straight into Rose’s ear. She shuddered with disgust. “I’ll start chopping off your husband’s fingers if you don’t. Why did you think I brought him along?”
Rose started crying. Nicholas shouted; they could chop off his entire hand for all he cared. He didn’t want Rose to agree to anything this madman wanted.
But Lysander untied Rose’s ropes and led her out of sight, leaving Nicholas to yell into the darkness and feeling more alone and useless than he had in his entire life.
Chapter 25
ROSE
“Any attempts at running away or freeing your husband will cost Nicholas a limb,” Lysander whispered into her ear as he untied her ropes. Rose wouldn’t have tried anyway. She knew that there was no hope of escape. The thought had anchored her to despair since Lysander had captured them.
He led her deeper and deeper into the cave. The air became progressively cooler, and the blooms of star crystals grew larger and thicker as they walked. Finally, the cave widened into a massive, open cavern the size of a cathedral. Starcrystals and more minerals than Rose could ever hope to count lined the perimeter of the space. The floor was remarkably smooth, except for large crystal pillars arranged in a circle around the middle of the cavern. As they approached these pillars, Rose noticed that someone had carved spell runes on them, around them, and even between them. The mystical, almost sacred cavern had been defaced.
She had a good guess as to who would have done something like that.
Lysander was almost giddy, his steps light and his face smiling. Rose wanted to smack him. But the tendrils of shadow that danced around him had a sinister feel that put even more dread in her heart than his threats against Nicholas. She was a mouse caught in a trap, and Lysander was a cat intent on playing with his food.
“How much do you know about magic?” Lysander grinned as he sat Rose in a chair next to what she guessed served as his workbench or laboratory. She hadn’t seen the tables and shelves filled with books, parchment, pens, and ink until they’d passed the crystal pillars, but she supposed that even villains needed a desk to do their work.
“Not much,” she replied carefully. Rose decided that playing dumb was probably her safest bet. After all, he was bound to become enraged when she couldn’t increase his mana flow. Rose might buy more time if Lysander thought she needed more practice.
“I’d surmised as much from spying on you in Onanish.” Lysander shuffled through a few papers, looking for something.His hands flitted over a sword that had been hastily tossed on the messy table. Rose’s heart skipped a beat—it was Nicholas’s.
“Perhaps it doesn’t mean much coming from me, but your uncle is a piece of work, keeping you from your natural gifts like that,” the mage added.
If she survived this, Rose knew that she’d look back on this memory and laugh at the fact that this insane kidnapper was calling her uncle a piece of work. As it was, she was too terrified to do anything but nod her head.
Lysander continued, “I also know that despite your lack of technical knowledge, you’ve practiced with your aura quite a bit and have solid access to the aural plane. That’s how you were able to spot me that day in the garden.” He ran a hand through his silky hair. “Surprised me with that.” He chuckled. “I knew I had to have you after that day. It wasn’t just the satisfaction of making Lyla and Syzman fail at protecting another person.”
