Page 152 of Her Blood Revenge

‘Absolutely. We’re coming to get you. I swear it.’

She gives me a sad little smile and nods.

‘Can you say it?’ she asks.

‘I loveyou, Pixie.’

‘Thank you.’

She’s pulled from the dream and is yanked from my arms. The world I built for her fades, and I’m back in the bedroom where Dorian’s body lies on the bed behind me.

There’s an ache in the back of my throat and I feel dizzy with dread.

I know, deep down, she was lying to me about what’s happening to her.

Times up.

I’m going to find her, even if I have to tear this whole shitty world down bit by bit.

Chapter twenty-seven

The Necromancer

Freezing cold water hits me, stealing my breath and making me yell.

Cole laughsas he tosses the bucket aside and stands over me, leering over my face with his sadistic grin.

‘Did you tell him?’ he asks with excited eyes. ‘Did you tell the General what I’ve done? What did he say? Was he angry? Upset?’ He struggles to stay still, and he’s so eager to hear.

I didn’t tell Shaw a thing. I need him focused. Not filled with rage.

‘He’s going to kill you slowly. And I’m going to fuck him on your corpse.’ I spit in his face, and he staggers back, disgusted.

‘Guess I’ll have to take it up a notch,’ he hisses.

I try to move. My wrists and feet are still bound to this stone table, stretching me out in all four directions.

The dampener on my wrist has sealed away my magic, and I’m so cold I can’t stop shaking. My breath hangs heavy in the air, and the water on my body has already started to turn into thin sheets of ice.

He takes my thumb tightly in his hand.

‘Next time I send you to the Dream Walker, you will tell him what I have done to you. That his sleep deprivationbullshit has driven me mad enough to do all of this! Or I will make this so much worse. I want him to know this is his fault. HIS!’

Snap.

I scream as he breaks my thumb, just as he has broken all my other fingers.

I struggle against my bonds but know it’s pointless.

His free hand wraps around my throat and squeezes, triggering the flashbacks of my hanging. And even as I’m swinging at the end of a rope, I hear him laugh.

He lets me go before looking down the length of my body.

I’m naked.

My body is covered in bruises, burns and cuts from his hours of torture.

He takes a dagger and cuts across my breast, adding to the dozens of other slices he’s put on me.

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