A long stretch of silence consumed the hallway. Then Benn said, “Gather the strongest of the men.”
“For what?” Jacques asked.
“We need another way to keep him secured. The chain is too long. He’s recovered his strength much too quickly. We can get him chained to the pillar underneath the table and keep his hands behind his back. That way, we can keep him weakened if we need to.”
“You want to take the cuffsoffhim?” Jacques asked in disbelief.
“Just gather the men,” Benn snapped.
Jacques went quiet.
“And as for you,” came Benn’s voice above me. I didn’t dare look up but I knew he was speaking to me. “If you say another word to him, I’ll cut that tongue from your mouth, do you understand me? Maybe I should’ve done that a long time ago. It would have been a favor to us all.”
The fury that began to burn in my chest surprised me, but it was a welcome feeling. He thought me nothing more than a slave to him. Something that wasn’t even human. Something that he could hit and take his frustrations out on, that was simply alive for his amusement.
Benn wasn’t angry that I’d told the horde king we were under the Dead Mountain. He was angry that he hadn’t known about it. His control over us was a tenuous thing, built more on fear and desperation than strength or loyalty. And he held onto that control with a tight fist. But didn’t he realize that his temper and his outbursts only made us more wary of him, more mistrustful?
I was starting to see it within the others. Their growing restlessness. And I knew that Benn sensed it too.
“Mina,” Jacques said, a long moment later. “He’s gone. Come, let’s—”
“Don’t,” I whispered, shrugging from his grip when he tried to help me up. I sat up and then stood on my own. Jacques’ gaze went to the side of my face and then to my split lip. I swore I caught a flash of pity and I couldn’t stand to see it. A part of me hated that sometimes he was kind to me. A part of me hated his cowardice when he let Benn’s abuse happen.
It was the same with Tess. I loved her like a sister, for that was what I’d always considered her. And yet, I was hurt when she turned her back on me when it came to the others, even though I understood why she did it.
For once, what would it be like to bechosen? What would it be like to be loved and protected and safe?
Walking back down the hall, with fury burning in my breast, I realized that I didn’t want to live like a slave anymore. I didn’t want others’ pity. I didn’t want to live in constant fear.
My small laugh echoed around the dark hallway, even as a sob bit its way up my throat.
I like who I am in the fog, I thought. Because I felt no fear there.Iheld the power there. No one else. It gave me strength, whereas in others, it made them weak.
And the heart of a horde king would take it away from me.
Chapter Ten
My eyes snapped open when the latch lifted and the door creaked open.
All at once, the light of multiple torches flooded the dark room as a group of bodies strode forward quickly.
Reacting on instinct, I leapt from the table but my body jerked when the chains went taut, securing me in place. There were seven males in total, I counted, and all of them either wore grim expressions…or fearful ones.
Nik, there were eight males, I realized when I saw Benn hovering in the doorway.
One male I recognized from the fog held a spear, though the blunt end was pointing towards me.
“Secure him,” Benn ordered the others, reaching inside his tunic pocket for something. They fanned around me in a circle and my gaze darted as I tracked their movements. Ordinarily, I could take down seven human males without a weapon relatively easily. But right then, I was chained, my wrists and ankles bound tight.
Even still, I’d take the odds I could succeed.
A golden-haired male closest to me rushed my left side just as another darted to my right. In a flash, I caught the golden-haired male’s arm between my palm and I bared my teeth at him when I snapped the bone.
His howl momentarily made the others freeze and he stumbled away, his back hitting the wall, his chest heaving as he cradled his broken arm.
I huffed in derision. Humans could be hurt so easily. Hadthisbeen their plan all along? I leveled my gaze at Benn, eyes narrowing when I saw the item he’d fished from his pocket was gold. Kakkari’s gold.
The key.
