But it was enough to jolt me. I twisted and wriggled, elbowing and kicking the soldiers holding me captive?—
Stars exploded in my vision. A few seconds ticked by before darkness retreated, giving way to light, and a sting blossomed on my cheek, joining the taste of iron flooding my mouth.
The higher-up soldier had punched me.
Heat crawled into my ripped capillaries while I tried to make sense of what had occurred.
Gedeon stepped forward, only to be stopped by Ezra’s hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t,” I croaked out, pleading with Gedeon to stay away.
The war was far from over. Zion and I had made our peace with laying our lives, but not with Gedeon’s. He had to go on. He had to fight. He had to find a way out of this mess.
It was now or never.
And yet, he took another step toward me.
“Please, don’t,” I whispered through a sheen of mist clouding my eyes.
Right as I swallowed the thickness in my voice, a prick, and then a stream of burning liquid drew my attention to the needle buried in my upper arm.
The commander withdrew the syringe, capping it again and stuffing it in his pocket. “Watch your pathetic leader kneel.” Grabbing my jaw, he roughly turned me away from him.
His fingers dug into my flesh, destroying the sensitive tissue, while Gedeon…
Dropped to his knees beside Ezra.
“You’ll finally get what you deserve,” the man purred into my ear, his vow so edgy it razed my eardrums. “Have funserving.”
His promise floated in my mind, wild and free, like my muscles. They’d ceased cooperating with my brain, like my legs, and the ground rushed to greet me.
As I crumpled onto the asphalt, the defeat written across Gedeon’s features morphed into waves.
One by one, the shadows crawling in my peripherals stole my sight, and the world vanished.
78
ZION
Sand abraded my corneas as I peeled my eyelids open.
Immediately, a hammer struck my head, retreated, and then did it again.
And again.
And again.
Repeatedly.
Was this how Gedeon’s migraines felt? The pulsing was worse than what I did to my playthings in our basement.
I blinked and blinked, but it didn’t help. Darkness ruled wherever I was. Swallowing the dryness in my mouth, I flexed my muscles?—
A grunt lodged in my throat. That same hammer returned, rebounding off my skull ten times before granting me a reprieve. If you could call it that. My wrist smarted, my cheek was on fire, my nape stung, and my temple throbbed. And a million other spots in my body were simultaneously stiff and tender.
At least the flare-ups of pain helped me to feel my way around. Based on the sheet of metal under my ass, my bent legs, and the thin strips of something cold cutting into my wrists and ankles, I was locked in, bound to a chair. A sturdy one at that.Probably bolted to the floor. It wouldn’t wobble no matter how many times I threw my weight to the left or right.
Taking a short break, I combed my memory for any clues.
