I tossed the dismembered tip of the prisoner’s finger in the air, catching it and tossing itover and overcasually as I turned back to where he lay, clutching his bleeding finger at the base.
“Maybe next time you’ll remember this, and you’ll have some real answers for me.” I spoke quietly,my voicelow.
He did little more than painfully grunt in response.
Doing my bestto notlet my facial features give away any sort of emotion, I refrained from rolling my eyes at the pathetic creature before me.
He looked worse for wear nowadays—he was thin and pale, but as he slowly tilted his head up to meet my gaze, that spark in his eyesremained.
“Youwon’tmake it out of this war alive if you carry on like this, Dimitri.We’llmake sure of it,” he croaked.
I couldn’t stop the laugh that slipped past my lips.
“You and who,Ezra?In case you haven’t noticed, nobody is coming for you,” I hissed, his name sour in my mouth.
He flinched slightly at my words, his form deflating quickly as he paledfurther—likelyfrom the blood loss. The remains of his shirt had completely charred off after this session, and the bruises and burns were even worse than last time. Honestly, I was surprised he had stayed conscious this long.
Too soon, I thought as I watched his eyes shut and his form slump back to the ground, his body giving out and succumbing to unconsciousness.
I sighed, waiting for Hugo to burst in at any moment to fuss over the male before me.
Yet as time went on, the older trokav never showed up.
This isn’t like him,I thought.
Hugo was very detail oriented, always on time and prepped with extra supplies, just in case. If something was holding him up, ithadto be something important.
Well, it had better be, anyway.
Exiting the cell and locking it securely behind me, I walked down the long corridor, still tossing the prisoner’s fingertip into the air and catching it repeatedly.
Itwasn’tuntil I was halfway down the corridor that I heard a soft grunt from far away, in the direction that I had been heading.
Suddenly on edge, I crept down the corridor, placing my feet deliberately so each step was perfectly silent.
I knew I had connections with moreziriliumthan just fire, but Ihadn’tquite figured out how to bend them to my will just yet.Right then, I wished I had taken more time to learn how to do so; otherziriliumlikely wouldhave been helpful in that situation.
Fortunately, despite my lack of control, I was stillawareof the earth surrounding me and the shadows whispering when I walked by.
Andthat, I had learned, I could use to my advantage.
When I made it to the end of the long corridor, I paused and did my best to focus on what I felt not just physically, but also with theziriliumrunning through my bloodstream.
Feedback from myziriliumcame in waves, the pictures unclear in my mind’s eye, but I could at least decipher through the stone below me that there was nobody waiting to ambush me in the dungeon entryway I was about to step into.
With renewed confidence, I headed into the large room before me andmovedforthe stairs, knowing I needed to figure out what I had heard a few moments earlier.
I had only made it halfway through the rectangular room when I felt it.
Like a prickle on the back of my neck, I slowly turned on my heels to look to my left. My eyes snagged on the shadows in the corner of the room, but it took a wingbeat for me to realize why.
These shadows didn’t whisper to me like the rest of them.
Without a second of hesitation, I drew a dagger and threw it flawlessly towards the small group of shadows.
Just before the tip of the dagger made contact, the shadowsscattered.
They raced toward me, and only once they were positioned in a half circle around me, blocking off the exit, did they materialize from their shadow forms.
