Page 8 of Fate and Flame
I didn’t feel the blade go in, but he grabbed the handle and jerked it downward, slicing me from shoulder to elbow. Tendons, muscles, nerves, everything damaged.
“Heal yourself.”
Even if I wanted to use my magic, I wasn’t sure I had the strength to heal that wound. I let my head drop and sway as the blackness began to creep in from the sides of my vision.
“Heal yourself,” he snarled again.
“Suck my . . . limp . . . cock,” I rasped.
Somewhere in the distance, I heard him roar as once again I faded into oblivion.
I was not sure how long I had lain on that frozen floor until I woke again. My head was damp with perspiration, which meant a fever had set in. I eyed another tray sitting in the corner with half a loaf of moldy bread and something I couldn’t make out. I would have to scoot myself across the floor to get to the food, and even if I wanted to, I was in too much pain to move.
I closed my eyes as a jolt fired through me. She was near. Somewhere within the castle, the king’s lover—my mate—had returned. She sent me nothing down the bond, but still, I reached out to feel for her. Foolish high fae female. The king would use her just as thoroughly as he had used everyone else. Something deep within begged my battered body to go to her. To find her. But just as she had turned her back on me, I did the same to her. There was no way for me to save her now anyway. I realized that the dark hole I had found her in was the same one I was currently digging within myself. There was no deliverance for either of us.
Again, the obsidian took me.
The shivering of my own body pushed me to life once more. I struggled to breathe, feeling the deep pressure on my chest. I began to cough, and once it started, it took forever to stop, until I was nearly choking and failing to drag a breath in at all. I barely had the strength to lift my head.
Murmurs from the guards at the bottom of the steps filled the scattered silence. They came and went on no particular schedule. Sometimes they would stay for an hour or two while other times they would only peek in and leave again. At one point, they brought down another prisoner. He lasted one day until he died, and it was two more before they dragged his stiff body through the dungeon.
Lucky bastard.
I’d be close behind him if they would just leave me alone, but Eadas was too conniving to let me rot in the dungeons before he got what he needed out of me. An admission of anything he could serve the king on a silver platter to solidify his position before the king moved to war with the south. The keys rattled against the lock, and I prepared myself for another battle. One I probably wouldn’t win again.
He brought two guards this time. They hauled me to my feet, each holding under my armpit. “Time for games is over, Temir.” Eadas stood in front of me as one of the guards held my face up to stare at him. “Do you really think you can save them? Any of them? The king will find the rebels whether you disclose their hideout or a weaker lesser does. It’s only a matter of time before he starts lining up the staff for questioning.”
The faces of Iva and Roe flashed through my mind, but I kept my face neutral.
“Tell me where the rebel compound is, and I’ll bring you a full meal.” He cracked a fist across my face and paced as he let his anger fester. “He will kill you, Temir. Do you think you’re safe? You think because you haven’t healed yourself, he will feel sorry for you? He hates you. Hates that he tried to see past what you really are. You’re nothing, and he will never release your soul to the Ether if you don’t cooperate.”
As if an eternity of living in limbo would be worse than my lifetime of living in hell. His fears were not my own.
He reached inside his long, gray robes and pulled out a pointed rod, no thicker than the shaft of a feather. He grabbed my hand and lifted my arm, causing the stab wound in my shoulder to burn in pain.
I held my breath but did not cry out.
He took the pointed end of the small rod and shoved it into my index finger below the nail. I called enough magic forward to numb myself from the pain he so ardently sought. There was only one small mercy—he hadn’t grabbed the hand with the barrier ring. My stomach rolled as I watched the bone in my hand splinter as the device was shoved up my entire finger and out the other side of my hand. He yanked the torture device out, anticipating a scream from me that he did not get.
He destroyed my entire hand, finger by finger, living solely for the pleasure of knowing I’d likely never be able to use that hand again. He knew at this point I couldn’t heal myself entirely. I’d keep myself alive, but I’d never be able to gain the strength to heal those types of wounds unless he granted me the provisions to do so. And he never would.
Instantly, I was distracted by a feeling of desperate need, frantic searching seeping down my abandoned mating bond. I wanted to vomit. Not only would I suffer in the dungeons until someone finally killed me or the infection became severe enough, I would live out these days feeling the satisfaction the king would give my mate until I passed.
“I’ll be back soon with more toys. Perhaps I’ll bring the one your large, winged friend loved,” Eadas said, bringing my thoughts back to my cell.
His guards dropped me to the floor, and my head slammed against the stone. I watched their blurred feet fade away. They left the barred doors open, knowing I wouldn’t be able to escape if I wanted. Mental torture.
Eventually, another guard came down, dropped a tray of food onto the floor, set down a glass of water, and shut the gates behind him.
I listened as his steps filled the stairway and he closed the door above.
I was completely and utterly alone, and for the second time in my life, I felt a tear slide down my cheek. Was I well and truly ready to die?
“Temir?” a familiar feminine voice muttered from somewhere within the emptiness of my cell.
Chapter Three
Ara
