Even my wolf wasn’t as present as he had been before. He’d receded into me, like he too was starting to remember the darkness we were born into.
I brought the crystal glass to my lips, hand trembling, and downed the amber liquid in one swallow. It didn’t burn like whiskey, instead smooth like real honey, sliding down my throat with ease.
Were the other children still alive? Had they escaped with me, or were they still trapped with Dante in cages like the one I knew hehad Ivy in? And if they hadn’t escaped, then why me? Why had Cyrus gotten me out, and not the others?
The glass fell from my hands, shadows stealing it away before it could hit the ground. A shaky, uneven breath fell from my lips as warmth spread through me from the liquor. I couldn’t even taste the danger. I, like others at Phoenix, heard stories of the Elysian wine that could only be drunk by the demons of that house. Any who dared to try it were left moments from death for even attempting.
I made my way back to the sofa, body heavier than it had been when I’d woken. I fell onto the cushions with a groan, head falling back. I tried to keep my eyes on the ceiling, on the veins of silver and gold that cut through the black stone, but darkness crept at the edges of my vision.
I blinked hard to push it away, but my sight blurred, turning the silver and gold into something else.
Something from my memories.
Not for the first time, I allowed my mind to take me back to the past.
For the first time,we were alone. Just me and the other children, locked in our cages. No Watcher or Warden to be seen. No guards with their guns raised, threatening us if we didn’t shift.
I was a boy too thin, too starved, to even think about allowing my beast out. And the pain…it burned through me from the welts on my back, my thighs trembling from the marks left there from the whip. There was a tremor in my hands that made forming fists difficult, so the idea of fighting back was quickly wiped from my mind.
The last beating was brutal. Whimpers and soft cries sounded from the other children. They wept for relief we’d likely never find.
But at least we were finally alone. There was no one in the darkness but us.
I closed my eyes, resting my forehead against the bars. The desire to slip into sleep was high, but it refused to come. Despite the fact we were without guards, something within me remained alert. Could my wolf be alive within me now? Present after what happened?
I almost wished for him to take over, to finally be rid of the pain.
But I knew that once he made himself known, I would never be allowed out again.
That’s what the soldiers told one another. Once we shifted, there would be no use for them guarding us anymore.
The hairs on my arms prickled. Slowly, I forced my eyes open. At first, I was met with murky darkness. My vision swam with images of Watcher’s face as he took pleasure in snapping the whip. But when I blinked hard, my sight cleared, and everything came into focus: the bars of my own cage and the small lines carved into the metal; the quivering form of the small boy in thenext cage, curled in on himself with his blood smudged all over his body; the half-shifted child with fur rippling across their body, fur that had been torn out and was now scattered across the floor.
When I blinked again, my vision remained the same. Clearer than it ever had been, more focused than it should be. It was the vision of my wolf.
I forced my eyes closed again.Go,I thought to the beast,go before they catch you.
They would do anything to bring him out, and I didn’t want to be like the half-shifted child, slowly dying because they couldn’t maintain either form.
I would die if the same happened to me.
Shivers wracked my body, puckering my skin and making me tremble from the force of them. But the whole time, I kept my eyes closed, keeping the presence of my wolf hidden.
I couldn’t let Warden know he was here. I wouldn’t.
Not even if it meant relief from the pain.
This time when I woke,my mouth was dry and the remnants of the memory left nothing but a deep, saddening ache. It was almost like I could feel the pain of those initial whippings again. See the sadistic pleasure it gave the pain demon who dealt them. His was a face I would never forget again.
It was a face I was going to tear off if I found out he’d done anything to Ivy.
Rising to my feet, I moved through the pain. Instead of going for the deadly wine again, I left the war room, entering the darkened corridor that only had motionless Wrath demons guarding it. None of them acknowledged me as I passed, and I took a little bit of relief in that.
A small part of me realised I should reach out to Grey and find out where she was, but the chances of her alreadybeing in the cells was high. She could either be with Kingsley or making nice with Hyperion.
But I wanted—no,needed—to see Cyrus. I needed him to fill in the blanks.
His reasoning still didn’t make sense to me, especially with the memories I already had back. Nothing about his story made sense the more I thought about it.
