Page 170 of Insolence
My eyes press closed. Her bite between my neck and shoulder won’t stop screaming. “Maida and I—” I comb a feeble hand through my hair. “We fixed the lottery.”
“Youwhat?”
“Every year she and I set up that silly drum. Pack it away. We ensure there are the same number of spheres as new initiates. This year?” I shrug. “Well. You happened along, didn’t you? SoI used the smithy to melt down Signet Silver after hours and sand cast a new sphere. Maida Altered it herself. Over there.” I wave a hand at the small alchemy table. At what remains of the piddling supply of silver Deirdre rations to her. “She made sure the illusion was reversed.”
“Basic physics,” Tiss murmurs, realization dawning on her face. “The other spheres are gold.”Heavier than silver.
“You were last to arrive,” I nod. “It was almost guaranteed to be the last one left in the drum. So long as you touched it, it’d turn white.” I massage my pounding temples. “You’re welcome, by the way. For saving your impetuous life. Yet again.”
Aura blazing with a mix of fury, shame, and sorrow, she snatches up her cloak. Stalks to the door. Throwing it open with a growl, she doesn’t spare me another word or a backward glance.
It slams behind her with a booming crash that shatters me. The sob that wracks my body catches me off guard.
Chapter 49
Itissa
Morday, the 12th of Emberglow
Approximately 1.5 Months Ago
The prioress ushered me out of the Gallery, into the Residential Quarters, and down, deep underground.
Floor after floor, we descended until we arrived at a dim dungeon that reeked of terror and twisted magic—a nauseating perversity that saturated the stone walls.
Handed off to Sister Kerrigan, I was led to a low-ceilinged chamber filled with stale air and empty tables fitted with restraints.
Heart in my throat, I resisted the urge to fight while Kerrigan took great delight in fastening me to one of the tables. Bloodstained leather cuffs cut into my wrists and ankles. A wide belt secured my midsection. I couldn’t move and could barelybreathewhen she was finished. A malicious smile twisting her face, she bid me farewell.
Utterly alone, I desperately tried not to imagine choruses of screams from the women brought here before me: demuns and mages alike, delivered by the chassis load from wherever they’d been shackled with Altered cuffs and held until the temple closed to visitors and opened to “new initiates” for the year.
I had no idea what to expect. How that witch, the prioress, accomplishes her dark ritual is a closely guarded secret. It’s not as if the survivors can recount their experiences. Under normal circumstances, that is.
When Deirdre finally arrived, she forced a gag into my mouth and put a device to my temples. Cold metal on either side of my head sent tremors down my spine.
“Don’t forget to breathe,” she murmured from her seat at the table’s side.
Theclickof a switch sounded, followed by the low hum of electricity. Made of silver, the device heated uncomfortably against my skin. Every hair on my body stood up before lightning splintered my brain. Agony ripped through me, inflaming my every nerve ending.
An inhuman shriek tore my throat raw. The belt prevented my back from arching off the table, and my body’s reflex to do it anyway left my ribs sprained. When it was over, all I could do was pant in wide-eyed shock, every muscle and ligament screaming in distress. Somehow I also felt oddlydrained, as if a fraction of my preternatural strength had been extracted in a violating way I didn’t know was possible.
That’s when she pressed something over my face. A damp cloth smothered my nose and mouth, a stomach-turning odor filling my lungs—sickly sweet, like decaying roses. My stomach revolted, and I retched against the vile thing.
“If you’d like, I can tell you it gets easier with every pass,” sighed the prioress. Brown eyes skimming me, she seemedboredas I choked on the poison crammed in my face.Clicking her tongue, Deirdre’s calculated nonchalance transformed to scrutiny keen enough to cut glass. “It doesn’t.”
I twisted my head, desperate for fresh air, but her grip was like iron. The restraints kept me pinned. Rotten flowers strangled my senses.
Anotherclickfollowed by electrical humming, and I whimpered. Another jolt of electricity split my brain, forcing me to gasp air through the stinking cloth. It made the room swoop. Brought my gorge up. Made me feel as though I was crawling out of myself. Flickering in and out of reality.
Whatever this concoction was, it was dark.Foul.
That sadistic cunt zapped me over and over, cleaving my essence from my very soul, severing more of me until I was a weak shadow of myself.
She wasn’t even asking any fuckingquestions. She simply watched me writhe, scream, and choke while she fried me and pried me casually apart.
At one point, the world dulled around me. My demun’s eyesight, hearing, and sense of smell leached from my body in what felt like countless droplets of pure anguish boring through my flesh. My screams echoed in my own ears until my throat was shredded and no longer healing. Until every fiber of my body shrieked at me toget out and feedor die in short order.
It went on, seemingly endless. Pain scorched like fire while pieces of me drifted away with every pass, dissipating like vapor. I scrambled after them, mentally reciting things I knew aboutmyself. But as soon as I started shuffling the fragments back together, the bitch ran more electricity through my brain. I gulped more poison until my eyes and nose streamed.
