That could’ve been Whisper.
Any of these poor fucking people could’ve been me and Rook.
Blood roared in my ears.
Chains clinked behind me.
I turned as a trio of young women shuffled past, holding onto each other as they wobbled, bringing water to fill up the animals’ dry bowls.
Every moment, the fire grew worse.
It sank deep, deep inside me, going dangerously quiet and ferociously hot.
In the distance, someone screamed. My gaze shot to another small cave where a group of women huddled on their knees. A man rocked a woman who lay with her head on his lap. Tears ran down his cheeks as he held her hand, supporting her as she gave birth.
Her belly was enormous, but her body was skeletal. Blood streaked her inner thighs as the women helped her deliver.
“Please,” she begged, her voice bouncing off the cave. “Please don’t let it live. Don’t let it become like us.”
One of the women cried as she did her best to ease the mother-to-be’s pain. “We can’t. You know what they’ll do—”
“Kill it!” The woman thrashed, making the man holding her sob harder. “Don’t let them take it. Don’t let it suffer like we do. Don’t let them—”
Her shriek tore her words apart and something snapped inside me.
The walls flexed as my heart staggered. The fire stopped burning me and fed off me instead. It woke. Stretched. Stone rumbled as if the mountain couldn’t contain me.
Rook.
Help.
Untangling my hand from the little girl’s, I clawed at my throat.
Without Rook’s ice, the fire kept rising. Gathering. Impatient and wild andangry.
A red film coated my vision as I drank in the horror around me.
This wasn’t just imprisonment or torture...they werebreedingpeople. The scars on their arms hinted they were harvesting their blood—just like they’d done to me.
Another like my son.
The line from my father’s note almost dropped me to my knees.
They were making more.
Creating another...like me.
Thatwas why Marcus wanted my blood. Why he took so much—
My stomach turned. Bile scalded my throat. The cavern lights flickered as the fire stole my control. The prisoners’ chains began to glow.
I tripped backward, my heart pounding,pounding.
Stop.
Don’t hurt them.
Too late.
