“Don't even think about it, meat. I may be an ungainly sod, but I can zap your scrawny arse back in this cell so fast your head would snap off that spindly neck of yours. I may not have as much magic as your glorious Protector, but I gots me enough to keep the likes a you in line. So, keeps that in mind before you go getting stupid.” Using the keys to dig at his crotch, he swung the door open wider and jerked his head toward the hall. “Now come on. Sloan’s in a pissy mood and I ain’t taking no clubbing over the likes of you.”
She cringed while trying to take shallow breaths through her mouth. The man’s stench rivaled his appearance.She slid by him and moved into the hallway, trying to note the surroundings. With no memory of how she had gotten here, this might be her only chance to figure a route out.
“That way.” He shoved her into a hall to the right, snickering as she slipped on the highly polished floor. “Kinda slickery, ain’t it? Yeah, Sloan likes the place kept spotless. Makes it easier to drag the bodies out that way.”
“Bodies of prisoners?” If she could keep him talking, maybe he would share something useful. She fought against a wave of churning nausea. The distinct smell of rotting flesh floated out of the hallway to her left. Her gag reflex kicked in, and she slapped her hand over her mouth. She refused to give the guard the satisfaction of making her retch.
“Yeah, bodies.” With a glint in his eye, he leaned his sweating face close and shook the keys toward the doors lining the halls. “Every day when we hose out the cells, the slick floors make it easier to drag the bodies out to storage.”
“You have prisoners die every day?” She didn’t doubt that after all she heard while listening at the door.
“Sure.” He gave her a toothless smile then splattered her face with a wet belch that smelled like putrefied fish. “They die ’cause I gut’m.”
She had held out as long as she could. She projectile vomited all over the hall. Head spinning, she stumbled to the wall and squatted before risking a black out and hitting the floor. Eyes closed, she held her head in her hands. This could not be happening. It had to be a nightmare, and she just needed to wake up. None of this could be real. She just needed to wake up and it would all be over.
“Now look what you did!” the fiend hissed. “They’ll make me clean that gob up.”
The bolted door in front of them clattered open to reveal Mia’s hooded form. “I thought I heard Corter’s lovely voice.” After a glance at the splattered mess, she shook her head. “This will not do. Corter, please clean this up. You know Sloan will not be pleased. I shall escort Hannah the rest of the way into the sitting room.”
“I’m gonna enjoy when it’s time to rip out your guts,” he said. “They promised I get to be the one to kill you.” He yanked Hannah up from the floor and shoved her into Mia’s arms.
Mia caught her, graced her with a cruel smile, then dug her nailsdeep into Hannah's upper arm. After brushing Hannah’s hair back from her face, she patted her cheek a little too hard. “There, there now. Pay no attention to Corter. He enjoys killing all our guests.”
Hannah yanked her arm free of Mia’s painful hold. “Somehow, I don’t find that very comforting.” The icy glint in the young woman’s eyes reminded her of a snake about to strike.
After a twitch of her narrow shoulder, Mia pushed back her hood and motioned for Hannah to follow the rest of the way. “Each of us has a time to die, Guardian. Corter merely enjoys sending people on their way. I did not wish you to feel singled out because you are sacred. Once you have served your purpose, Corter will not enjoy your death any more than he enjoys the death of any other piece of meat.”
“When I have served my purpose?” Hannah repeated, retreating a few steps back as they walked. Maybe a way out existed through here. “What purpose?”
Mia turned and glared at her. She cast a glance at the large golden door up ahead, then turned back to Hannah. “You will learn your purpose soon enough. Your fate is sealed, Guardian. You might as well accept it. It will make things easier for all creatures concerned. Now, please follow me.”
“I don’t think so.” She took another step back, flexing her hands in case this turned into a fight. A prisoner she might be, but that didn’t mean she had to make it easy on them. Especially since Mia had just revealed that they needed her for something and more likely than not, would not kill her until that something was accomplished. “If you think I’m going to let you lead me like a lamb to slaughter, then think again. I am not moving until you tell me everything.”
“I will not tell you because Sloan will kill me if I do. I refuse to meet my death for one such as you.” Mia floated toward her, her eyes darkening into narrow slits as she edged ever closer.
Hannah resettled her stance and readied herself for Mia to make the first move. She knew next to nothing about fighting, but by jings, with her life hanging in the balance, she would learn fast.
Mia lifted her fist, opened it, and blew into Hannah’s face.
A choking green cloud covered Hannah, fouling all her senses. Eyes watered, nostrils burned, her lungs clenched as though shutting down. She dropped to all fours, clawing at her flaming throat. As she kicked and writhed, everything got worse. Blinded, she flailed and rolled back and forth. Air.She needed precious air. Her lungs raged, burning as if on fire.
Mia raised her voice as she bent over Hannah. Her words dripped with cruelty. “Do not challenge me. If you feel you have learned your lesson, I will cleanse you of the poison. Are you ready to follow me down the hallway, pet?”
Hannah managed a weak jerk of her head, then bleated a cry of relief when Mia dusted her body with a pale yellow cloud. After a shuddering gasp, she twitched into a trembling ball at Mia’s feet. Before she got out of here, before she escaped, she would snap Mia’s neck. Never much on revenge before, she would make allowances for Mia.
“Now follow me to Sloan like a good little Guardian.” Mia waited at the door.
Hannah wiped her face on her ragged sleeve and pushed up from the floor. Fury thundered with every beat of her heart, replacing the earlier icy terror. Where the devil was Taggart and the cavalry? A war needed to be waged and won.
She staggered down the hallway, eyes, nose, and throat still burning from the poison’s residue. When she stumbled into an opulent sitting room, the garish purple, red, and gold velvets almost pushed her back out. She cringed at the gaudiness of the chamber. Sloan’s private decorator must have gotten the deal of a lifetime on velvet. The place looked like a cross between a wild west whorehouse parlor and a velvet circus tent.
“I take it you do not appreciate fine décor?” a man observed from a crushed velvet settee beside a blazing hearth framed by a pair of golden gargoyles. He tapped his bejeweled chest with a fingernail painted blood red. “I am Sloan. Supreme ruler of Cair Orlandis and soon, all the realms.”
Hannah caught her breath. Sloan of Cair Orlandis wasn’t whatshe expected. Where Taggart was dark, muscular, and the epitome of an alpha male, Sloan was so pale he could almost be called colorless. The shade of his hair shifted from white to silver depending on how it caught the light. The long, flowing tresses framed his chiseled face, accentuating the perfect angles of his predatory angelic features. He remained seated, but the breadth of his shoulders hinted at the size of a large man, but not as large as Taggart. His long, black nails, except for the one painted red, matched his unsettling black eyes. He tapped the red fingernail along the gilt trim of the crimson settee.
“Speak. Are you deaf, rude, or just inept? I thought Guardians were supposed to be intelligent beings, since their touch brings forth the sacred Draecna. You have done nothing of interest since you arrived except vomit in the hallway.” He ran the tip of his tongue across his full bottom lip, then made atskingsound as though scolding her. Flexing like a cat, he reclined into the cushions and crossed his long legs at the ankles. “I believe it is the latter. Most definitely inept.”
“That is enough.” She shot him her fiercest glare while dusting off what remained of Mia’s powders. “You kidnap me, throw me in a black hole, drag me through a hallway that smells like rotting corpses, and threaten to kill me once you’re done and then ask if I’m deaf, rude, or stupid? Let me tell you something, you pompous little jerk. I have nothing to say to you exceptpiss off!” She ignored Mia’s sharp intake of breath. She had passed the point of caring and was determined to take a stand. If they intended to take her down, then by jings, they would take her down in a fantastical blaze of her choosing.
