"Don't?" Malachar's tone was mock surprise. "But he's so eager to threaten me. To speak of what he'll do when he's free. Perhaps he needs a lesson in consequences."
He produced a thin blade from his coat, the metal so cold it seemed to smoke in the air. "Choose."
"What?" Briar's voice came out cracked.
"Choose which eye he loses. Left or right. You have ten seconds, or I take both."
"You sick bastard—" Thaine started.
"Five seconds."
Briar's chest constricted. The collar sensed her panic, her desperate need to fight, and began draining harder. Her vision grayed at the edges.
"Time's up."
Malachar moved faster than Briar’s eyes could track. One moment he stood beside her, the next he was at the cell bars. His hand shot through, grabbing Thaine's hair, slamming his head against the frozen metal. Thaine grunted but didn't cry out, even as Malachar brought the blade up.
"Wait!" Briar tried to surge forward, but the collar's drain dropped her to her knees. "Please—"
"Too late."
But it wasn't Malachar who moved. Karse, despite his weakness, lunged forward and grabbed Malachar's wrist through the bars. For a moment, heat flared, not his usual dragon fire, but enough to make Malachar jerk back with a hiss.
The blade fell, clattering on stone.
"Touch him," Karse said, swaying but standing, "and I'll burn through this cold if it kills me. And it will be worth it to watch you melt."
For a moment, they all stood frozen. Briar was certain they would both suffer for Karse’s intervention. Instead Malachar laughed, stepping back from the cell, flexing his burned wrist.
"Such loyalty among thieves and monsters." He picked up his blade, sliding it back into his coat. "Very well. The huntsman keeps his eyes. For now." He looked down at Briar, still on her knees, the collar having drained her attempt at intervention. "But you've learned something, haven't you? Your defiance has costs. And others will pay them."
He tugged the ribbon and it was the sight of Thaine and Karse broken and beaten that finally forced her to stand on shaking legs. "Come. Lord Malus will want a full report on his gifts. All of them."
As he led her away, she looked back once. Karse had collapsed again, whatever reserve of heat he'd summoned gone. Thaine was checking him, his own injury forgotten. They were trying to survive, to protect each other despite being natural enemies.
And she was leaving them there to freeze, too weak from her own imprisonment to even protest.
The bells chimed with each step, a musical mockery of her helplessness, echoing through the frozen dungeons long after she'd gone.
Malachar guided her back through the frozen corridors, the ribbon taut between them, her legs barely managing each step. When they reached her room, he guided her inside with mock courtesy, finally releasing the ribbon.
"You should eat," he said, gesturing to the cold trays. "If you don't, I'll have no reason to feed your companions. The Drak is already halfway to frozen. Without food, he won't last another day."
She turned to face him, trying to summon defiance, but the collar sensed it and pulled, leaving her gripping the back of a chair for support.
"There's that fight again." He moved closer, close enough that she could smell winter on his clothes, see the faint burn marks on his wrist where Karse had grabbed him. "The collar will train you out of that eventually. Though I do hope you retain some spirit for when I visit you later."
Her stomach dropped. "When—"
"Oh, I couldn't say. Tonight? Tomorrow? An hour from now?" His remaining eye studied her with satisfaction. "We have unfinished business, you and I. From that night in your Forest Lord's castle. But this time, you'll be so much more... accommodating."
He traced a finger along the collar, making the bells chime softly. "No thorns to save you. No Forest Lord bursting through doorways. Just you and I, and all the time in the world to explore what made him so possessive."
She wanted to pull away, to fight, but even the thought of it made the collar activate, a steady drain that left her trembling.
"Eat," he commanded, moving toward the door. "Keep your strength up. You'll need it."
The lock clicked behind him with finality.
