“Now, to the dungeons with her. I’ve a mess in my city to clean up.” Ravin strides from Glavstone’s office.
“Understood.” Glavstone stares at Ravin’s back with purpose. Neither of us moves as the door shuts and the echoes of the prince’s footsteps and the clanking of the Stellis’s armor fade down the hall.
“You’ve always been Ravin’s little pet, haven’t you?” I get the first words in. Those two clearly have a well-established rapport. I can’t believe I didn’t guess earlier that Ravin had a mole inside Halazar—a double agent. He had one inside Arcana Academy; why stop there?
I’ve barely finished my sentence when the warden’s fist sinks into my gut and knocks the air out of me. I double over. Still bruised from Ravin’s beating, agonizing pain hits instantly.
Before I can straighten, Glavstone catches me on the chin with his knee. My hands bound, my legs little more than gelatin, I fall hard.
He looms over me. There’s the same glint in his eyes as all the other times he’s tortured me—brighter than ever. He’s going to relish this.
“No.” Glavstone yanks me up by my corset. “You can’t pass out. I’m not done with you yet.”
His grip and the card that appears over his shoulder remind me of what’s still in my corset: a slim golden card. It’s as strong as steel. And it can be used to summon the World—or, by virtue of me having it, prevent someone else from summoning it.
Glavstone is none the wiser as he releases me.
I brace myself for the damage his card will inflict, and I’m shocked to find my skin mending. I know better than to think this is kindness.
There’s no compassion in the way he looks at me. No empathy. No humanity. Nothing but cold, cruel hate that yearns for my complete and total destruction. Whatever is to come, there will be no negotiating with him. All hope of mercy died with Eza. Even if I wasn’t the one who put the blade to his neck, Glavstone blames me all the same, and nothing I say or do now will change that. I know it in my marrow because…because I’ve felt the same my whole life.
About Oricalis. About him. About Ravin.
True hatred is a stain on my soul that will never be expunged.
“Beg for my mercy,” he demands.
I say nothing.
Glavstone grabs my face and shouts, “Beg!”
Still, I say nothing.
“Beg!”
“Go fuck yourself.” I’ll die before I ever give him the satisfaction.
Glavstone snarls and stands. He spits on me and then slams his boot into my face.
Chapter 3
What was once my inking room has become my cell. Glavstone doesn’t take me to the dungeons like he promised Ravin. He keeps me accessible at all hours of the day for his most violent, torturous whims.
Each time the bookshelf swings open, every muscle in my body tenses, reminding me of just how much pain I’m in. And how much more I’m about to endure.
I’ve been fastened to a ring bolted to the wall. I don’t remember it from the last time I was here inking cards for him and wonder if he installed it while plotting my return. He’s given me just enough chain that he can throw me around.
But not enough to escape.
The beatings are relentless. Blood and gore and filth overwhelm my senses. My body is a canvas of bruises and broken bones. But no matter what he does to me, I never ask him to stop. I never beg for mercy. I refuse to let him break me.
Eventually, he will have to move me to the dungeons, whether helikes it or not. He’s still at Ravin’s command. The firstborn prince will return and demand to see me exactly where he wants me.
When he finally does put me down there…I’ll be closer to my sister. I keep breathing because I know that somewhere deep in the rock beneath me, she does as well. I am the only one who knows she’s alive. The only one who could save her.
I will not die. I will not beg. I will not scream.
I will wait.
