Page 120 of Ravenrose

I bristle at the mention of my brother. My fingers twitch once again toward my dagger. Beside me, Ayer’s eyes darken, a warning flashing in the shadows that form in the corners of his eyes.

“Your greatest weakness has always been your lack of patience, Riggs,” Ayer muses. “It’s what cost you the rank of captain.” Riggs’ eyes go cold. “Don’t mistake restraint for mercy. Pain is a useful tool. And so is fear. Useful, yes. But nothing compares to hope.” My eyes snap up, finding Ayer’s already on mine. “You break a body with pain, but you break a mind with hope.”

I swallow, gripping hold of my skirts to hide my trembling fingers.

“She thinks something changed on the road. That perhaps something between us shifted. It was over for her the moment she stopped looking for escape and started looking to me.” My breath catches, and he sees it—he sees everything; his eyes never leave mine. “Fear breeds defiance, but hope,” he pauses, the ghost of a smile on his face, “hope breeds obedience.” He looks at me again, smile gone, his eyes cold—harder than before, if that were possible. “No ropes or chains, and yet she followed me through the woods for days. She hasn’t touched that dagger at her thigh because I told her not to.”

My heart pounds in my chest.

“That’s what makes hope the most dangerous weapon of all,” he continues quietly. I can’t move. I can’t breathe. I can’t tear my gaze from his if I tried. I’m frozen beneath the weight of his words. “I didn’t even have to drag her inside,” Ayer says, gesturing at the surrounding fort. “She walked into this cage willingly. And by the time I’m finished with her, she’ll be begging me for more than just death.”

Panic claws at my chest, and my heart pounds so hard it threatens to burst right out of it. I don’t know what’s happening. But I know one thing: this isn’t the same Ayer I’ve spent the last week with on the road. The man who acted as if my mere touch was a disease he didn’t wish to contract. Was he playing then? Or is he playing now?

Either way, I stop struggling, choosing to conserve energy, knowing I won’t escape him.

There’s a new look of satisfaction on Ayer’s face when he looks back up at Riggs, who’s looking down on the two of us in disgust.

Without warning, Ayer shoves me away, and I fall backward into Wyatt. His third is quick to catch me, holding me tight in his arms. I’m fairly certain I catch a flash of sympathy in those deep blue eyes of his.

I’m shaking. The gates have already closed behind us. There’s nowhere to run.

The fort walls loom higher, appearing as though they’re closing in.

Ignoring me, Ayer turns his attention back on Riggs. “We have matters to discuss; best get to it. Do you have somewhere secure where the princess can wait?”

Riggs’ expression brightens. “Of course.”

I draw further back into Wyatt’s chest as Riggs motions for two of his guards to come forward to take me.

Neither Ayer nor Wyatt stop them from wrenching me away, and genuine terror fills me as they drag me inside.

“And have someone clean her up.” The casual tone of Ayer’s voice as I fight the guards’ grip grates on my nerves. “I want her presentable when she’s brought to my chambers tonight.”

Everything in me turns to ice.

I struggle as they drag me away, looking back over my shoulder—looking for Ayer.

But he won’t look at me.

Not once.

Chapter 51

ROWAN

Isit with my back against the stone wall, staring into the darkness, my knees drawn to my chest.

They dumped me into this cell. It’s one of three that sit adjacent to the armoury deep within the bowels of the Daekhari fort.

It’s cold. And wet. And dark.

Quiet too. I thought there might be screaming, especially given how Riggs likes to run things, but alas, I am Kovaria’s only prisoner on this night.

Oh, that’s right, Kovaria doesn’t take fae prisoners.

Other than me.

“When she’s brought to my chambers tonight.”