Page 71 of Merciless Prince
Killian took the bait and knelt in front of me again. “Start talking.”
I lunged forward and leapt at him, going straight for his neck with my teeth as my hands clawed at his chest and arms. He ducked out of the way at the last second and chuckled darkly, moving back so I could no longer reach him.
“I knew you’d try something like that,” he said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a black stun gun and held it out in front of me, clicking the button on the side. Little blue sparks appeared at the end. “Try it again and you’ll get some of this. No second chances.”
“It was worth a shot,” I muttered, scooting back to the pillar. “Asshole.”
“Don’t bother trying to scream, either,” Killian went on, ignoring my insult. “No one will hear you. Have you figured out where we are yet?”
I glowered at him. “Yes. We’re near the grotto.”
“That’s right. We’re directly under the castle,” he said in an airy tone, as if I were simply a tourist he was showing around. “The guy who built the place designed it to look exactly like a real dungeon he saw in a European castle he visited once. It’s carved right out of the rock the castle is built on, and it’s so thick that no sound can travel in or out.”
“Don’t people ever come down here?” I asked. I knew the Knight family had turned Beaumont Castle into a hotel after they bought it, so there were probably hundreds of staff and guests above me right now. If one of them happened to come down to this hellhole, I might have a chance at escape.
Killian smiled again, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. “It used to be open to tourists, but we decided to close it off a few years ago. It’s too dangerous with the underground river,” he said, motioning to the stream behind me. “Now it’s locked all the time, and the only people who have access to the keys are the owners. Like me.”
“Well, isn’t that convenient? Now you and your creepy friends have your very own torture dungeon,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “Speaking of torture, how many other people do you freaks have chained up in here right now?”
He smiled thinly. “That’s not your concern, Shay.”
“I know there’s at least one,” I said, ignoring his brushoff. “I heard her screaming earlier. Who is she?”
Malicious amusement flickered in Killian’s eyes. He crouched in front of me again and pressed the stun gun right up to my chest. “Like I said, that’s not your concern. Your only concern is giving me those names.”
I gulped, silently praying he wouldn’t click the button on the stun gun. It was close enough to my heart to send me into cardiac arrest, depending on the voltage. “Please get that thing away from me,” I said, voice barely above a whisper.
“You’re not in a position to ask for anything, Shay,” he said, moving the device even closer to my heart. He pressed down, hard enough to make me wince, and his thumb hovered over the button. “Give me the names.”
“I told you, there are no names!”
Killian narrowed his eyes. “I thought you saw what we did in the grotto that night.”
“I did.”
“So then you know we killed that man. I’m sure you’ve also deduced that he wasn’t the first,” he said, tilting his chin slightly to one side. “So you must understand that I won’t have any issue hurting you for a piece of information.”
“I know that,” I said, clenching my jaw. “But I also know you’re never going to let me go now that you’ve dragged me down here, chained me up, and threatened me with torture. So even if I had anything to tell you, I wouldn’t. I’m not stupid.”
He let out a short bark of scornful laughter. “Are you sure about that?”
“Yes, I am,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “I mean, would you really let me go if I told you anything? Would you just unchain me and let me go back to my regular life like nothing ever happened?” I shook my head and scoffed. “Come on. Of course you wouldn’t.”
Killian’s lips curved into another wicked smile. “What do you think will happen to you if I’m not going to let you go once I get what I want?”
“Oh, please. You’re obviously going to kill me.”
“You don’t know that.”
I gritted my teeth. “Yes, I do, so you might as well just get it over with and do it now,” I said in a low voice. “If you could make it quick, I’d really appreciate it.”
Killian lifted a brow. “You want to die?”
“No. I’m just saying, I know that’s your plan, and I’m not going to tell you anything, so you might as well just get it over with.”
He let out an irritated sigh, like I was a petulant child refusing to go to school rather than an adult woman refusing to give him information while chained up in his torture dungeon. “This could be so much easier for both of us,” he said, shaking his head. “You know what you have to do. It’s really not that hard, and I’m running out of patience.”
“For fuck’s sake, Killian. I don’t know how many fucking times I have to tell you,” I replied, nostrils flaring. “I have nothing to say to you. I was alone that night!”
