The crowd murmurs. I don't look up. Can't. My vision swims from the beating in the carriage, from the fist he drove into my stomach when I tried to fight back.
"I gave hereverything." His hand fists in my hair, yanking my head back until I'm forced to meet his eyes. Pale and cold and utterly devoid of mercy. "And she repays me with betrayal."
The rope digs deeper as I try to brace myself. The bond stays silent. Empty. And I hate it. Hate that I can't feel Lorenth, can't sense if he knows something's wrong, can't tell if he's looking for me or if the severed connection means he thinks I abandoned him?—
"She'smine."
Darian's grip tightens until tears prick my eyes. Not from emotion. Just pain.
"Clearly she's forgotten that." He shoves my head forward, releasing my hair to step back. "So I'm going to remind her. Remind all of you what happens when someone forgets their place."
The first blow catches me across the cheekbone.
My head snaps to the side, stars exploding across my vision. I taste blood—copper and salt mixing with the lingering bitterness of whatever he forced down my throat. The crowd doesn't react. Doesn't intervene.
Of course they don't. They never have.
The second blow lands in my ribs, right where he already hit me in the carriage. Something gives with a sharp crack that steals my breath. I curl forward instinctively, trying to protect myself, but the rope keeps my hands pinned.
"You think somexaphanwants you?" Darian circles again, each word punctuated with another strike. Stomach. Shoulder. The side of my head. "You think you're special? That you're worth more than what I paid for you?"
My mind splinters. Part of me is here, kneeling in the dirt while my husband beats me like an animal. The other part reaches desperately for the bond, for Lorenth, for any sign that this emptiness isn't permanent.
Nothing.
I can't feel him. Can't sense anything except the void where he should be.
A boot connects with my side and I collapse fully, my cheek hitting the ground. The packed dirt smells like dust and old blood. Probably mine, from other times Darian decided I needed to be taught a lesson.
Where's Mira? The thought drifts through the haze of pain. Please let her be out on courier business. Please don't let her see this.
She always told me to run. To get away before it got worse.
I should have listened.
Another kick. Another. The crowd watches in silence, complicit in their stillness. This is what I feared. What I always knew would happen if I tried to leave. Darian wouldn't just hurt me—he'd make an example of me. Make sure everyone knew what happens to women who forget their place.
Lorenth.
His name echoes through my mind like a prayer. Or maybe a curse. I bonded him. Tied him to me. And for what? So he couldfeel this? So he could suffer through whatever connection might remain even with this poison blocking the bond?
I hate that I did that to him. Hate that I let myself believe, even for a moment, that I could have something different. Something better.
Darian's hand fists in my hair again, dragging me upright. My ribs scream in protest, that crack from earlier definitely a break. Blood drips from my split lip, warm against my chin.
"Still nothing to say?" He backhands me, rings cutting into my cheek. "No apology? No begging?"
I don't answer. Can't form words past the pain radiating through every nerve. The bond stays silent. The void where Lorenth should be aches worse than any of the bruises blooming across my skin.
Darian raises his fist again?—
"Touch her one more time."
The voice cuts through the square like a blade. Low and lethal and so familiar that my heart stutters.
No. It can't be. I can't feel him through the bond, which means?—
My head snaps up.
