“There.” The blond gestured to the other side of their room. “We can use the table.”
On command, five of the six Heads converged on Kali.
But not a scream fled her at their advance. She writhed as they picked her up. Kicked them as they dragged her to the teal-and-gold marble table. Spat out threats as they pushed the porcelain bowls and plates and pitchers brimming with food and drinks off the surface.
My insides boiling, I scanned the observation room for anything sharp. The only piece of furniture—the table—was bolted to the floor, but the chair…
I picked up the metal structure, and with one wide swing, smashed into the barrier separating us. The chair bounced off, almost crashing into my nose, but the one-directional glass stood. A mere scratch marked the collision point.
Roaring, I did it again.
And again.
And for the seventh time too.
Hit by hit, my dizziness increased. My muscles burned, my jaw ground, and my breathing grew shallow and irregular. Chills skated down my sweaty back, tingles exploding in my limbs.
But no matter how hard I swung the chair, I couldn’t get to Kali.
The understanding that the barrier was impenetrable caused me to rip the ends of my hair. Only the pinpricks shooting across my scalp were too feeble to stifle my scream as my rage tumbled out of me, going on and on until my voice disappeared, as if snatched away by the chaos unfurling behind the transparent wall.
The half a dozen men bent Kali over the table. Her hips dug into the marble edge, undoubtedly forging bruises set to rise tomorrow.
The oldest of the six grasped her wrists, securing her arms above her head. “Do what all green-banded women are supposed to and staystill.”
Naked and exposed, she thrashed, disobeying her orders. She fought them the best she could, but exhaustion, coupled with whatever they had done to her back in the cell, drained her of energy too quickly. Her squirming ebbed as she heaved, twitching when the blond stroked down her bare back and ass.
“You will take us until you get pregnant, and then again, and again, until you lose your value. Because you’re worth nothing if not for your ability to conceive.” Unzipping his slacks, he pulled out his dick. “You should thank us for allowing you to live.”
That did it. Fury seized control of my limbs, and low, guttural rumbles lashed out of me as I wielded the chair as a weapon. Pounding the glass as a man possessed, I doubled my efforts when the first crack appeared in the barrier.
One blow, two, and the spiderweb spread. Three, four, and the fractures branched?—
Darkness descended on me like the bars of a cage.
I froze with the furniture positioned for another hit.
The glass wall had disappeared. Regardless of how much I blinked or squinted, pure blackness clouded my vision.
The lights had gone out.
As Ardaton’s prison functioned fully underground, not a streak of daylight crept into either of the two rooms—mine or theirs. Nor the faintest sound.
The hush grew heavier by the minute, its cloak weighing on my shoulders. The sensory deprivation drove me insane.
“Fuck this.” I raised the chair once more and drove it into the barrier, blindly aiming for a spot where the glass had fissured. A thump, and then a hiss caressed my ears, and I repeated my blows, trusting my instincts to target the same area.
The repetitive bangs melted into a song of drumbeats, the clunks a melody of their own?—
I lurched forward as the wall crumbled. A rain of shards doused me, like a torrent of freezing winter hail.
Yet not a single scream or grunt trickled through what must have become a gap in the glass wall.
Fueled by the lack of sound, I tugged off my shirt and tore it into two, wrapping the synthetic material around my hands. Feeling my way through the wall, I paid no attention to the jagged edges prodding my palms.
On the other side, I paused, listening for a groan or a cry.
The responding silence was deafening.
