The guard fell to the ground in a heap, his features obscured by the lord’s dark shadows.
I didn’t know what Lord Stryker was doing to him, but the guard’s screams echoed throughout the small room. If my hands had been free I would have covered my ears to block out his tortured wails.
Suddenly, the screams stopped and the shadows cleared. The fae lay face down on the ground, unmoving. I couldn’t tell whether he was alive or dead.
“Take him,” Lord Stryker ordered, and the other guards snapped from their shock and hefted the fae between them, dragging him from the room.
“Is he … dead?” I asked, my voice shaking from horror. What had I done?
Lord Stryker’s head turned toward me. His stormy eyes speared me, somehow looking colder than they ever had before.
“Well done,” he said, his deep voice monotone, emotionless. “You earned yourself another day among the living.”
Chapter 8
That night was no less horrifying. The darkness, the screams, the slithering. And to make matters worse they’d moved Eli because he was no longer next to me. Then come morning, I was given my first meal since I’d gotten here. A stale piece of bread in cold broth. It was disgusting but I lapped it up like a starving dog.
Lord Stryker came by a little after my “meal” and brought me into his torture room again. As we passed the hallway I became nervous to see a long line of guards queued up and leading into the room. There must have been a hundred of them.
“Umm, what’s going on?” I asked Lord Stryker.
He led me into the room and closed the door so that we were alone. He loomed over me, watching me with an inexplicable gaze.
“If you want to live another day you will use your truth magic on all of my guards and ferret out the disloyal.”
I sputtered, nearly choking on my own spit. “You want me to use my magic onallof them out there?”
Lord Stryker nodded and then pulled a dagger from the sheath at his thigh. “Or we can arrange for you to take a nice dirt nap.”
Dirt nap? I got the joke after a few seconds of thinking about it.
I growled. “Ha ha, funny. First of all, using my power that much will weaken me. I’m no good to you unconscious. Keep ten of them and send the rest away to come back tomorrow.” I flicked my wrist with the command and he raised an eyebrow. “Second of all, I needrealfood.” I grabbed my tiny waist. “I don’t have much in the way of reserves and using my magic takes strength.”
His gaze slowly raked over me and my body heated at the gesture.
“And thirdly. If this is going to be a long-term arrangement I would appreciate a bed and bath.” I placed one hand on my hip and tipped my chin high.
He burst into laughter, a deep and rumbling sound, and I knew I’d asked for too much too soon. My stomach growled knowing it would not be eating honey-glazed pork or chocolate cake anytime soon. Oh, how I missed my palace chef.
“That was cute. Sit down,” he ordered, all evidence of his mirth gone.
He thinks I’m cute. Maybe I could work with that.
“One more thing.” I dared to push my luck.
He just glared in response.
“Is my dagger still safe with your blacksmith?” I tipped my chin. If he did anything to that blade I was as good as dead, and so were my people.
Stryker rolled his eyes. “The weapon you intended to carve out my heart with is perfectly well, I assure you.”
I sighed in relief and got to work.
In the end I questioned sixteen of his male and female guards before I fainted.One of whom was harboring a minor secret that he’d smuggled truffles out of the kitchen for his daughter’s twelfth birthday because they were her favorite.
As the dizziness washed over me and the blackness danced at the edge of my vision, I almost welcomed the void.
* * *
