Brad had her.
The entire palace shuddered with an awful groan and the glow-worms dimmed to a breath of light.
I raced to the stairs, my foot on thebottom tread, when a full army of black-clad men poured down the stairwell like a dark river. Shouts and screams followed my claws as I backed into the room. Flashes of memory lit up the bath, my own nightmares popping in and out of existence and doubling the soldiers with the ones who had taken me, held me, experimented on me while I was in Brad’s tender embrace. To say the ones who imprisoned me had been cruel was polite. Uncaring of their role in this, I drowned them, scared them, tore them apart and still they kept coming. Just like they had when I tried to escape Brad’s clutches in the Temple. Those guards were always there, always watching. A metal projectile struck my side, blood coursing down my rib cage.
I froze even though the wound was minor. I could already feel my Nightmare healing it. Everything seemed too close, like the walls were collapsing in on us. Claustrophobia crawled up my throat. My heart beat a sledgehammer inside my chest. I couldn’t get enough air. Rationally, I understood Maggie needed me. Every blow I dodged, strike I countered, should have pushed me forward toward the stairs but it knocked me back. With my breath stoppered in my lungs, I wondered briefly if Maggie would be better off without me–this thing I’d become.
The tide of soldiers didn’t stop their assault. There were too many of them and my own nightmares loomed too large in the room. I did the thing I never thought I would stoop to. I fled into the shadows.
Chapter 17
Maggie
Brad on the Elven throne proved to be one of the least intimidating things I had ever witnessed. Brad in an empty throne room, a towel hastily thrown on–thank the Godds–was downright comical. I only judged a little, but there was not an ab or a bicep in sight. His bride stood beside him, draped in a bright silk mauve morning gown fit for a Queen. It dripped and frilled in all the right places, tumbling down the stairs. It made her “woke up from a midday nap” dishevelment appear purposeful, like she posed for a portrait. All that material might strangle her.
As Brad screamed at the soldiers streaming downstairs, I sent a silent manifestation into the Universe that Noth would escape the sheer numbers arrayed against him. Whether invincible or not, even a Nightmare would fall if overwhelmed.
Brad turned back to me. I put on my best annoyed face.
“You seem pretty good at getting everyone else to do your dirty work.”
I would try anything to get that dick waffle riled up.
Brad looked at me with contempt. “Why shouldn’t I? You’re all so eager to do it to each other. That Fae rushed to be the first to congratulate me for unseating the halfbreed.”
Well, that explained why the rebounding spell didn’t work. If he never lifted a finger, it wouldn’t kick back on him. I would have to think of another tactic to get out of this mess. After all the shit Noth gave me for being incautious, he blew our cover. A taste of my own impulsiveness had me swallowing hard. I wanted to make Rat Face the enemy out of habit, but I knew he would be the only one coming for me. I had to be patient if I wanted to be alive. Not always my best look.
“I could just fit you with a new headband and order you to kill the monster, but I think I would rather play with you first.” Brad spoke in low tones to his soldiers but I caught the words “torture” and “machine”.
Okay, that sounded bad. I gauged the exit swarming with Elves. Of course, it wouldn’t be as easy as just running out the front door.
“Bring her,” Brad said.
I tensed as two soldiers grabbed each of my arms and I dug my heels intothe floor. Painting them with sigils would do fuck-all if I couldn’t get out of here. More would just replace them. Reaching for any handhold to claw me back from my fear, I realized I still sensed Noth. The thread of magic I pulled on earlier still connected us. He was alive… and angry.
Dragging was my least favorite mode of transportation but instead of heading down dark halls full of impending doom, we all trudged to the receiving room that Noth and I mistakenly entered the first time.
Somehow it looked even more of a mess with clothes flung over tables and a questionable corset hung from the central chandelier along with the sock.
Brad promptly destroyed it further, holding up and discarding clothes on the floor like a fussy child.
He turned to his bride in a pair of beige trousers and an Elvin tunic that had to be padded because it suddenly added bulk to his shoulders and arms. Cinching a bejeweled silver belt around his waist, he then flung out his arms, trying to impress her.
“You look great,” she said, with more enthusiasm than he really deserved.
That didn’t seem good enough for Brad. His petulant frown was only the beginning of the storm. He rearranged the belt with hunched shoulders before he snapped back at her.
“This place is a disaster. Shouldn’t you be doing something about it?”
The poor girl flinched and I was immediately draggedback to Evie’s hateful ex who never said anything quite as obvious but definitely had the same small-dick energy. That’s why he was so hard to pin down. The asshole never crossed the line and Evie got sick of me telling her to leave him. If I couldn’t kill that butt waffle, Brad was the next best option. I wasn’t waiting around for him to start hitting her.
I strode forward.
“Get to it then.” He rounded on me and took a black stick from a guard.
When it touched my skin, a thousand fires lit all over my body. My limbs straightened and locked with a horrible will of their own. My teeth clenched to near bursting until he took the stick away and I slumped into a heaving heap. That was the thing he used on Noth before. How had Noth survived? I wanted to vomit. So I did. All over his piles of clothes.
Brad’s screeching sounded like a bad dream as he ordered the torture chamber ready and whipped back to his bride. “You can clean that up too and make her help or you’ll end up next to her.”
