I let my head drop back against the steel, the chill of it biting my scalp. My breath rattled as I closed my eyes. “Thrax was never going to let me give him my soul, you slow fucker.”
“Okay. What about you then? One day, you’ll turn around and give it to him, no?”
I opened my eyes, forcing my neck to turn, pinning him with my stare. “Even if I wanted to, I don’t know how.”
His brow furrowed. “He didn’t tell you about the cave?”
My body tensed automatically. “The cave? That is where—”
Winifred’s voice rose sharply, cutting me off. “Let’s start. It’s almost time.”
“Hey, Winifred!”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he strode to the basket where the cloths had been taken from and drew out a knife, its blade catching the moonlight, glinting.
I flicked my eyes between him and the blade, my heart battering against my chest.
I swallowed hard. “Hey...”
He came closer, raising the knife to eye level, its steel reflecting both the moonlight and the firelight of the lanterns.
“Winifred.”
But instead of aiming it at my body, he slid it under the rope across my torso, pressing the hilt against my stomach to hold it in. The movement forced a shuddered breath from my lungs as the rope bit tighter into my ribs. I glared up at him because glaring was all I could do.
Winifred turned away, walking to one of the lanterns and lifting it with care. Flames swayed within, throwing shadows like writhing hands across the grounds. I frowned, confusion warring with dread.
What did he want with the fire? He sure as fuck wasn’t going to—
The steel.
Was he...was he—
He bent down.
—going to put the fire under me?
For a heartbeat my body went still, shock rooting me in place. But then the heat licked up from beneath, slow and creeping, and I snapped.
I thrashed against the ropes, the movement forcing the knife’s edge to nick my skin, blood welling in small, hot beads where it bit into me. But I didn’t care. I fought harder, teeth bared, tears rising and blurring the edges of everything.
When Winifred straightened, he calmly walked and set the lantern back in its place.
“Hey, hey. Winifred. Untie me now! This is insanity.”
He only pulled the hood of his robe over his head, his voice disturbingly calm. “It’s only a small fire. It’ll take about thirty minutes for you to start feeling it properly.”
Oh, thank you. As if that would ease the terror gnawing at my bones.
Amidst my screaming, Winifred ignored me, stepping into his space within the circle and taking up the strips of cloth on either side of him, sealing the chain.
My chest caved as I watched them all tilt their heads back to the sky, the night filling with incoherent words, their chants rising and curling into the trees.
I kept screaming. My voice went ragged, my bones weak. Still I fought, even as the knife dug deeper, even as my skin grew warmer over the fire.
Their voices rose, ancient syllables echoing like ghosts across the clearing, into the night, preparing me.
Preparing me for my death.
