“So.” I popped my lips. “Are we going to introduce ourselves? I would tap my chest but, as you can see, I’m a bit immobilized. I’m Zion.” I flashed them a grin, ignoring how the gesture contorted my cheek and the laceration dividing it in two. “I’m sure you’ve heard of me.”
“We have.” The man plucked a set of white gloves off the cart. As he pulled them on, the latex slapped his wrists. “The stories about you and your basement are quite prevalent, even in Ardaton.”
So I was right. We’d been transported to another city.
Ilasall was officially destroyed. Gone.
“That’s enough.” The woman lifted a flat frame off the cart, unfolded it into a stool and plopped down in the corner, leaning against the wall and straightening her short legs. “Don’t give him the satisfaction,” she said, contempt soaking each syllable. “He doesn’t deserve it.”
Too late. I’d invested loads of time into upholding my reputation, and meeting an admirer of mine was like a pat on my back.
“Would you like me to show you how it’s done?” I purred. “I don’t mind sharing.”
“You…” The woman rubbed the only visible part of her face—the forehead, her eyebrows so light they bordered being invisible. “I need a nap.” Gesturing at me, she asked her colleague, “Can you just do your thing and make him talk?”
I pouted. “Did you know that taking long naps is actually not beneficial for you?”
“Then we’ll make sure yours are short ones.” The man adjusted the rubber bands around his ears. Clearly, his mask was uncomfortable.
“You know, you don’t have to wear it.” I reclined in my chair. Or more like, moved an increment as the chain running across my chest limited my range of motion. “I wouldn’t mind knowing who I’ll be working with.”
After some deliberation, he shrugged. “As you’re not walking out of here, I guess it’s fine. The mask will stay on, but my name is Lenus.”
“That’s an interesting name. Never heard of it before.” Like no one was going to hear of him after I was done turning him into a meal.
No, an entire course. To start, fried toes with a sauce of whisked balls. Then a plate of his thigh meat wrapped in his lungs and roasted over an open fire. And to top it off, a croissant with his mashed kidneys as the filling.
His friends working in Ardaton’s prison were going to be served a feat. Hopefully, no one would choke on their vomit and take all the fun out of my game.
Disregarding my remark, the slender-as-a-reed man studied the instruments laid out atop the cart.
“Ooh, what do you have there?” I strained to take a better look. Rows upon rows of steel sparkled in the dim light. “I need a copy of your arsenal for my basement,” I said, though none of the tools were unique. Merely the essentials.
Boring.
Why couldn’t they send someone with experience? At least then, they’d get my instincts on alert. It’d been a while since I'd felt an adrenaline rush as intoxicating as when my life was on the line.
Lenus picked out a set of pliers. “Ezra is quite mad for his lack of teeth.”
Gedeon’s brother could certainly hold a grudge. But what he lacked was creativity. For example, I hadn’t yanked a few of his teeth out for no reason.
I’d planned to shatter them and then force him to swallow the bits in an experiment to see if the fragments would tear his esophagus and intestines or not.
Lenus grasped my jaw, craning my neck so the gaping wound in my cheek came into the light. Cold warred with heat as he poked and prodded the gash.
Warmth dribbled onto my abdomen like syrup over pancakes, but I willed myself to stay still.
Frowning, he paused, and I spat out a blob of red saliva near his boots. “Can you try the pliers on my toes first? I’m rather fond of my face.” Anything to keep him here. I didn’t give one fuck what he and his colleague were planning to do to me.
As long as the target was me and not Kali.
Spreading the slash apart, Lenus shoved the instrument inside my mouth and positioned the jaws around my molar—the tooth with the strongest roots. The most difficult to remove.
Exhaling, I relaxed. He was going to rip it out one way or another, but if I didn’t resist, it would go quicker. I knew it from experience. Granted, I usually was in Lenus’s position, but still, I was intimately familiar with such matters.
They usually kindled my hatred of zippers in jeans?—
Stinging pain shot down my nerves, tightening my muscles. Cursing, Lenus tugged and twisted and wrenched my molar. Sparks flew behind my eyes as creaks and cracks accompanied his grunts.
