His eyes raked up and down my body and then he scowled at me. “Don’tuse your power over me.”
I frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Color crept up his cheeks and he cleared his throat. “Nothing. Get up, we need to speak.”
I stood, brushing off my dress, and eyed the bedpan. “I have to pee. Unless you want to help me pull down my pants, I suggest you get out.”
His eyes sharpened. “Little witch, the last thing I ever wish to do is help you out of your garments.”
I growled when he didn’t move. “Fancy a show then?”
I started to unlace my pants to call his bluff and he turned, stepping out of the cell and shutting the iron doors as he and his guards gave me their backs. “Tell me when you’re done.”
“This is foul,” I grumbled as I hovered over the pan.
I felt my cheeks heat in mortification and anger. I couldn’t believe I was actually doing this. A princess of Faerie, relieving herself in front of three men. My parents would be horrified.
“If I pee on my feet I’ll make you kiss a horse,” I threatened.
“Then you can kiss your dagger goodbye,” he shot back.
When I was done I stepped away from the bedpan and fought the urge to gag.“Just kill me if you’re going to kill me. This is beneath my station.”
He opened the door again and shot me with a glare. “The next ten minutes will determine how long you live. I’m glad we are on the same page about that.”
Fear spiked through me and I swallowed hard. The two guards rushed in and hooked a hand under each of my armpits, and pressed a blade to my throat.
“Walk,” Lord Stryker growled.
I did, all the while my mind spun. How could I convince him to let me live and not in his dungeon, but in the castle?
Maybe I could get him to trust me and then double-cross him later. Master Duncan had given me about a ten-minute rundown of what to do in case I was captured and seduction was one of the options I’d laughed off. With how inexperienced I was, it wasn’t something I thought I could pull off. But now, without access to a weapon and knowing that Lord Stryker was strong enough to withstand my power, it was a reality. Could I … without using my power … seduce him into giving me my dagger back?
It felt cruel, especially knowing his past lover had all but done the same, but I seemed to be out of options.
I followed the giant lord to a room at the end of a hallway that was lined with prison cells. I was scared to look into the open door for fear of what I might find but was forced to when we reached the threshold. In the center of the room was a chair and beside it was a tray full of different tools.
Torture tools.
I reared backward but the men held me in place and forced me into the chair and then strapped me to it.
“You would torture a lady?” I scowled at the lord, who picked up a pair of scissors caked with dried blood and began to sharpen the blades on a stone.
He looked around the room. “I see no ladies here. Just a murderous witch who hails from a long line of murderous witches.”
I wanted to argue, but he was right. I was here to kill him.
“You stole our magic! Cursed our lands! Our people are dying because of you and the vile curse your ancestors put over us,” I spat.
He rolled his eyes. “Is that what they tell you? Because if so, you’ve been grossly misinformed.”
Shock ripped through me. Whatever could that mean?
No.
No, he was lying. That’s why Master Duncan said not to let them get a word out. The Ethereum lords were liars.
“I think you can still function without your pinkies. What do you think?” He held up the scissors and I felt the blood rush from my face.
