Chapter Thirty-One
Frigid metal shackles bit into my wrists like fleas, and with every passing hour, they grew less tolerable. The blindfold tied around my eyes robbed me of sight. Locked me in darkness. Cold stone against my skin made me wish for the clothes and armor I’d been stripped of. The guards had dressed me in some kind of thin, lacy gown that exposed my sides to the icy air and rough-hewn rock of the dungeon.
It was hard to know how long they’d left me here. Long enough for a chill to seep into my bones and a gnawing hunger to seize my stomach.
At first, I’d thought my wounds were healing. My leg could bear my weight, if only barely, and felt less tender than it had before. The claw marks in my shoulders had scabbed—but my injuries hadn’t healed further. That was all my body could manage in this dark, cold place. My shivering kept me awake. Vapula hadn’t bothered to feed me. Without the luxuries of food and sleep, my condition was going to worsen.
I’d sat alone on the bare stone for hours—or days—on end. Waiting for news of Sitri’s demise. Waiting for Vapula to claim me as his prize.
Just…waiting.
I hadn’t expected this kind of torture. Unending agony, isolated from Hell, sealed in this tomb. Even my emotions had abandoned me. I’d cried until I had no tears left to shed, screamed for help until my voice went hoarse, until all the feelings that tormented me receded. A wall of ice formed around my heart, keeping them inside, making me an observer in my own skin, as if I were watching myself from somewhere far away.
I wasn’t sure what was worse: the idea that the wall might never thaw, or the threat of emotions flooding me if it did.
Distant footsteps roused me from my thoughts, at first so quiet I thought I’d imagined them, drawing ever closer. When they reached me, they paused. Metal scraped stone, a warning that the door to my cell had opened.
“On your feet,” a familiar voice snapped. It belonged to Zephyr, the legate who had bested Sitri. “Orders of the Duke. Get moving. Try anything, and I’ll make you wish I’d ended your miserable existence on the spot.”
I straightened and rose from where I’d slumped against the wall. Aching twinges shot up my leg. A groan slipped from my lips. Being blind and bound hurt my odds in combat, but that lingering injury would kill them, even if I found myself freed.
A firm hand met my shoulder and delivered a sharp, painful jerk. I stumbled forward, and Zephyr laughed. I grimaced. It took all my willpower to bite my tongue, to keep from uttering a string of insults that would see me annihilated. Or worse.
I inched along at my warden’s insistence. The cold, rough ground stung my feet as I walked. The empty halls were easy enough to navigate, but when my toes met the first stairs, it became difficult to match Zephyr’s pace. My heels caught on uneven stone. Every step jolted my leg wound, and I clenched my teeth, pushing myself to keep moving despite it.
When the ground evened out, fresh air stirred over my skin. Onestep, two steps, three… I marched another forty paces before a hand grabbed my shoulder, forcing me to still.
“Kneel,” Zephyr commanded.
I took a deep breath, pushed away my resentment, and obeyed. The thin, lacy garb I wore didn’t spare my knees from the rough stone. His footsteps trailed to my left, then returned, followed by clanging metal. Calloused hands seized my shackles, lifting my wrists from my lap. There came a terrible clang, and the click of a lock. When Zephyr released me, my arms slammed to the ground beneath an unexpected weight. I winced at the impact, pulled against that weight. A heavy chain rattled in response.
More footsteps. These were heavier. Slower. More deliberate, followed by the shifting of fabric and light metal moving. A tender hand met my head. The stench of perfume washed over me, pregnant with tones of absinthe, toxic flowers, and bitter secrets. There came an unwanted caress against my cheek, then that hand slipped beneath my blindfold and pulled it free.
With my sight restored, I took in my surroundings. I knew this barren excuse for a courtyard, seated atop a cliff, looming high above an otherworldly city. Two towers stood on either side of me, and behind me loomed a pristine white palace, a luxurious prison full of subservience and agony. I’d been chained before it as a statement, an offering.
Zephyr must have lurked somewhere nearby, but a far more pressing threat eclipsed him—a demon who’d placed his knee on the ground and brought his face mere inches from mine; the monster who had haunted my nightmares for seven long years.
The Duke Vapula himself.
Glittering golden eyes. Angular jaw. A mane of luxurious blond hair. Broad, rippling muscles veiled beneath a white-and-gold prince suit, adorned with a shining gold belt, and distorted by a faint scale pattern. He wore the same fortified chainmail as his legates, concealed underextravagant clothes.
“It’s been quite a long time, hasn’t it, Lillia?” That soft, melodic tone raised the hair on the back of my neck.
I forced myself to meet his hungry gaze. “It has—two years. Nowhere near long enough for my liking.” I hoped he didn’t notice how my voice wavered and my hands shook. My quickening pulse called for air, but his presence suffocated me.
“And far too long for mine.”
Vapula studied me, and he smiled, baring his teeth like a lion prepared to tear into its prey.
“Never before has a human shut me out in such a way. Did the drinks and pills do a good job of rending your dreams, hmm?” He laughed. “What a clever trick.”
“I—”
“Hush, Lillia. I see that in our time apart, you have forgotten what I taught you. Don’t worry—you are home now, and I will help you remember.”
Vapula reached out to me. My heart beat wildly behind my ribs, like a caged animal thrashing in its prison. He took hold of my jaw, tilting my face upward, nails digging into my skin. I tried to pull back, but Vapula’s boot stomped down on my chain, yanking my wrists to the ground. Pain shot through my shoulders. I froze.
“Relax,” he cooed, his fingers stroking my chin. “My, just how many years of work has that Prince undone? I thought I broke you of this habit.”
