“Fine.” The woman rested the edge of the meat cleaver on the wide metal armrest, right where Kali’s pinky used to be. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
Kali glared at her. “And I’m not going to.”
The knife moved so quickly I lost track of the blade?—
As it hit the steel, the thunk echoed, and the sound together with Kali’s scream shattered my bones, the shards mincing my insides, acid spreading all over, eroding my flesh.
Lifting Kali’s fourth finger, the sadistic bitch launched it toward a box like a crumpled piece of paper.
The chopped-off digit bounced off the wall, leaving a red streak, and fell into its final resting place.
Beats of silence accompanied Kali’s inspection of her limb. Her face glittered in wetness as scarlet streamed in the grooves of her armrest.Drip, drip, drip,her blood splashed onto thefloor, soiling the white-as-snow shoes of the weapon wielder and coloring Kali’s ankles in red.
But just as the eleventh drop struck the vinyl tiles, her endurance reached its end. Unable to look away from her deformed hand, she broke, quivering, twitching, gasping.
But it was the lack of crying that pushed me over the edge.
I lost it.
Writhing, I yanked and tugged and pulled on the chains binding me, yelling profanities, damaging my broken wrist beyond repair, ignoring the hammer smashing my skull and the blaze in my cheek as the gash stretched out.
Shouts and bellows poured out of me like arrows, all of them bouncing off the glass wall with no effect.
Nobody heard me.
Or simply ignored me. Becausesomebodyhad turned the speakers on so I could hear what was happening in Kali’s cell.
Swallowing my pride, I resorted to the last tactic a man in my position could employ. “Please let her go,” I whispered. “Torture me instead.” I faced the speaker installed in the ceiling. “Chop off my fingers, my feet, my eyes, I don’t care,” I begged until my voice cracked. “Please… Don’t touch her.”
In response to my prayer, the lights in my room flickered on. The glass wall…rippled, and suddenly, Kali’s eyes widened.
Zion, she mouthed, her acknowledgement muffled by the speakers cutting off.
She couldseeme.
79
ZION
The chains sliced the inside of my elbows as I leaned forward as much as the restraints allowed. Whoever worked in Ardaton’s prison had experience in tying people up.
“Kali,” I rasped.
In response, her features tensed, determination raising her chin as she set her shoulders back.
Nobody could put out the fire in her.
“I’m going to get you,” I promised her, not knowing whether the speakers on her side were working. “Hold on for me. Just hold?—”
The glass wall became matte, then went completely dark. Blackness clouded the space they had her contained in, concealing her shape.
In what now appeared to be a mirror wall, all I could see was the reflection of a shirtless man staring back at me. Belts of silver wrapped around his limbs stood out in the sea of reds and purples and blues marring his skin.
I didn’t have time to scrutinize my appearance further as a soft click to my left warned me of incoming visitors. The plastic door opened without a creak or a squeak of hinges, and thepeople who’d been assigned to extract information from Kali entered.
I ran my tongue over my gums. Iron exploded on my taste buds—a hint of the piquant life essence flowing inside my enemies.
The taller of the two wheeled in a cart, the metal structure covered in sheets of white tissue. I could understand the need for them—easier to clean up. They got the points from me there.
