Page 72 of Ruling the Green

No.

No one did that.

Did they?

I cried out when I heard him laugh.

“Yeah, this is much better,” he said, tightening his hold of the limb. “I can’t wait to hear you scream, bitch.”

I felt the scrape of the bark across my back end, knowing he was torturing me, was dragging this out until I was full of dread.

I braced myself, even though I was pretty sure there would be no way to prepare for this, to try to focus past it.

One second.

Two.

Three.

“I can’t wait to hear you scream, bitch,” a voice snarled. It was so dark, so animalistic that I didn’t recognize it at first as the weight was lifted off of me.

But it was Jet.

That was Jet.

A cry escaped me as I whipped over just in time to see Jet lifting the redheaded fae off the ground by his throat, leaving him hanging like a doll, legs kicking, as his hands grabbed at Jet’s, trying to dislodge them.

But just as the man’s face went red, Jet dropped him to the ground.

“Now scream.”

I didn’t know what I was watching, but suddenly the fae’s body went rigid, his back arching so far I wasn’t sure how he didn’t snap. His eyes were round, nearly popping out of his skull as tears poured like rivers down his cheeks. His skin bleached white. His hair lost its shine. His mouth was open, frozen in a scream, but no sound escaped.

Then, and I felt like I was hallucinating because it didn’t seem possible, a small, glowing ball of light moved out of his chest and danced above Jet’s palm.

“Jet!” Vishen yelled, appearing in the clearing, his clothes drenched.

Jet exhaled hard, like he was disappointed, then he closed his hand around the globe, collapsing it, extinguishing it.

It was gone.

And the fae on the ground was still alive, but blank-eyed.

“Serin?” Vishen called, rushing toward me.

Jet turned, then ran toward me too, getting there first, dropping to his knees, and reaching for the chain.

“No!” Vishen yelled. “It’s iron.”

“I don’t give a fuck.”

“Let me,” Vishen said, shouldering Jet away as he went to grab the iron again.

Vishen sucked in a breath, then grabbed the chains. I saw the sizzle in the air, smelled the burnt flesh, but Vishen made no noise as he worked the iron free from my wrists.

I expected immediate relief when the chain fell away, but there was still the ripped-open aftermath.

“Fuck. Oh, fuck,” Jet hissed as he held my arm. He dragged my attention down to my wrists.