I’d heard of Velisara, though I’d never had the misfortune of experiencing her particular talent.
“My prince,” the female simpered. “What an honor it is to bask in your presence.”
“I doubt that,” I ground out, wincing as I tested the spiked manacles digging into my flesh.
Velisara took another step, and an off-putting clicking sound reached my ears. I glanced down at her hands, which were tipped with silver talons, the sharp points ticking together in an eerie, rhythmic fashion.
“Shall we begin?”
“Yes,” drawled Fleshtalker. “The Dark King is anxious to open the bond.”
The female cocked her head to one side, examining me as if I were a rare specimen she’d never seen before. “You have a gift for shielding, I’m told. A useful ability for one with secrets.” Her black eyes gleamed as she looked me over. “But I have a gift of my own.”
At those words, an icy terror flooded my veins.
My father and I were connected through a sire bond that allowed him to access my thoughts and speak directly into my mind. Over the centuries, I’d learned to block him out — to hide my disloyalty and my connection to Lyra.But Velisara had a unique ability that made her a prize in my father’s court. She could manipulate mental bonds.
“Hmm,” she murmured, reaching out and drawing a single silver talon along the edge of my jaw. My stomach clenched at the sensation, and I recoiled from her touch. But with my wrists bound by those spiked manacles, there was nowhere for me to go.
“Pretty little prince, you are.” Her voice was girlish and teasing in a way that made my skin crawl. And then, without warning, she lashed out with her talons and raked them down my exposed chest.
White-hot agony erupted down my front as she dug them into my skin. I cried out in surprise. Her talons felt like searing needles cauterizing my tender flesh.
But it wasn’t the sting of the wounds themselves that had black spots dancing in my vision. A dark, sludgy magic seeped into my cuts, spilling into my veins. It burned as it roved through my body, setting every nerve ending aflame.
Bright silver light flashed in my periphery, and I squeezed my eyes shut as I fought back a scream. I could feel that sinister power writhing beneath my skin. Crawling. Tasting. Feeling for that invisible bond I’d tried to suffocate with pure force of will.
“My, my,” Velisara tutted, tapping her jaw with one silvery claw, which was stained with my blood. “You’ve kept it buried deep. What are you hiding, baby prince?”
Sweat beaded along my temples as her magic burrowed deeper, gnawing through every part of me to unearth the ugly, twisted thing I’d tried to strangle.
Then Velisara gave a sharp tug, and I couldn’t quite stifle my moan of pain.
She pulled again, and that dark thread within me beganto surface like a seedling being uprooted. It slithered along the marrow of my soul, making me shudder as my essence recoiled from the darkness.
The connection was faint, but it was there. The bond I’d tried for years to sever. The part of me that washim.
Triumph flashed in Velisara’s expression, and I couldn’t stop my howl of agony as she dragged the pulsing thread to the surface. She tilted her head, closing her eyes, and I screamed as she cracked the bond open.
A wave of hatred like I’d never known unfurled inside me. Greed and hunger surged forth, suffocating me from the inside out.
Life held no meaning. There was only that unendingwant. An insatiable thirst for more.
I’d known my father was despicable, but something within me hadn’tunderstood. There was no end to his lust for power — no limit to his greed. It poured into me like a poison, infecting every crevice of my soul.
It was him, but it was also me, and a horrible thought clanged through me.
He was inside of me — had always been a part of me. And no matter how hard I fought this connection, the two of us were inextricably linked.
At first, I thought Velisara was done. That she’d blown our connection wide open. But the wicked female was still tinkering within me, still pulling and tugging on my essence.
I was so lost in him that I almost didn’t notice. Didn’t notice that, while I could feel him, he couldn’t feelme.
Then Velisara gave another hard yank, and something within me fractured with a sound like a branch snapping.
Pain like I’d never experienced seared my muscles, and I heard my shoulders pop as I thrashed against mymanacles. I fought and fought, but there was no stopping the surge of thoughts and memories flowing down our bond.
The bond that was now wide open.
