Page 6 of Savage Blood
She lifted a dagger, uncorked a tiny glass vial, and doused the blade. “Don’t worry. You’ll still feel everything. The Devil’s Nightshade will make sure of that.”
Frost crystallized over my spine. The toxin intensified pain by a hundred.
I smiled through the dread clogging my veins. “Do your worst, Roxie.”
“Gladly.”
The blade sliced into my arm, and fire flared across my limb.
A dropletof sweat glided down my jaw and settled in the hollow at the base of my throat. My body ached, and dried blood flaked off my skin as fresh rivulets of it dribbled out of shallow cuts and holes.
Roxie had been torturing me for over an hour, but I hadn’t screamed. Not even once.
And her frustration showed in her flushed face and stormy gaze.
“This is your worst?” I tsked, cracking a smile. “Your worst is comparable to me barely half-assing it.”
A snarl burst between her lips, and she dragged a blade coated in Devil’s Nightshade down my stomach.
Flames seared my abdomen, and stars popped along the edges of my vision. This time, I had to bite my tongue to keep from crying out, a coppery tang filling my mouth.
When the pain subsided, I chuckled. “Still not good enough, Roxie. That one actually tickled.”
She climbed off my legs and riffled through her leather bag of tricks, her hands shaking with pent-up rage.
Ruin shook his head, his lips thinning. “Stop goading her,” he mouthed.
Roxie returned with a long, sharp metal rod and a small blowtorch. “Let’s see how you like this.”
Acid oozed up my esophagus as she heated the rod and knelt at my side, a frenzied gleam brightening her deceptively angelic eyes.
She jabbed the sharp end of the rod into my shoulder, and a scream burst from my mouth.
Her smile stretched unnaturally wide, and I could have sworn she looked more demon than raven for a moment.
Was the Infernal Sol affecting her too?
She always hated me, but could the amulet be driving her closer to the edge of insanity?
When my scream melted into a manic laugh, Roxie’s satisfied grin dropped. “Just face it, Roxie, you’ll never be as good as me.”
With a vicious growl, she clicked the blowtorch on againand brought it to my chest. Agony washed over me as fire singed my flesh, bringing tears to my eyes. They spilled down my cheeks, and the cell spun in a dizzying vortex.
“You think all you have to do is survive long enough for your psycho mate to find you?” Roxie removed the torch and smoothed a lock of black hair back into her ponytail. “He’ll never be able to find you, not with the Infernal Sol hiding us.”
My lungs expelled a ragged breath as I tried to shake the pain off. “Is that so? He’s pretty good at finding me.”
She licked her lips and bit the bottom one. “Even if he discovers your location, he won’t be able to get to you. All he’ll see of Karn’s mansion is a pile of rubble.”
Well, that could be a problem. Would Fane really be unable to access the mansion even though we had a link, andIwas inside?
I gave a lazy shrug, ignoring the urge to flinch from the pain ricocheting through my body. “Do you actually believe I’m the type to wait for someone to save me? I’ll find a way out all on my own.”
She scoffed. “Not happening.”
“It’s happening.”
The click of the blowtorch made me tense, and another layer of sweat beaded my forehead as she brought the flame toward my eye.
