Page 77 of The Nightmare Queen

“She smells so sweet prince, I can see why you like her. I wonder if she tastes as sweet as she smells.” I can hear the smile in his voice as he paints a grotesque image in my mind. He nicks her spine with the tip of his knife, slicing at the thin layer of skin.

“Nah, Gribly. She’s as nasty as they come this one.” Damn these fucking restraints. I’ll kill them. “One things for sure though," the first man growls, stalking over to me, "you won’t be awake to see if we test that theory out.”

Before I can ask what he means, he rears the hilt of his sword back and rams it into my skull. Stars spin in front of my eyes before the darkness takes over again. I reach for her mind to mind desperately. The feeling of completely helplessness surrounding me.

“I’m so sorry…”I whisper down the seal before going unconscious again.

A cool sensation wraps around my weakened limbs as I come to for the second time.

What little light has leaked through casts a faint glow on Eveera’s hanging body, now in ever worse shape than it was before. I look down at my feet, surprised to find her tendrils of magic are loose and leaking out from her. They wrap around my legs and torso, tentatively exploring me, almost seeming sentient.

I’ve heard the stories of shadow magic and its…benefits. But her magic is something else entirely, more corporeal than shadows. These when being used so gently, have a similar feel to silk. A smug part of me relishes in the fact that an extension of her has sought me out, and iscautiouslyfeeling me up.

“We are in a fucking torture cell. Please stop thinking of me groping you.”The interruption of her voice in my thoughts is like a slap across the face, startling away any rogue fantasies my delirious state may have conjured up.

“With all due respect, Your Highness, your magic soughtmeout. My mind simply went along with your Wield’s friendliness.”My voice feigns innocence. “Besides I would have thought this environment would be a turn on for you.”I tease attempting to lighten the mood.

A humorless laugh is all I get out of her,“the irony is not lost on me.”Her shadowed body twitches causing the chains she hangs from to rattle and rustle.

“Eveer—”Thud.I freeze as I watch her body hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of herself.She rises to her feet slowly then hobbles her way over to me, as she gets closer I’m better able to see some of the damage inflicted on her. The coppery scent of her blood filling my nostrils as she raises a clawed fingertip up to undo my chains.

“I guess whatever they used to drug us wore off.” She says flippantly.

I guess.I rub my wrists where the chains left an unfortunate mark over top of the blood seal. Eveera’s eyes follow to my wrist, “think they saw these?”

“The glowing insignia on our arms? Yeah. I am going to say they noticed.” I grunt.

She nods grimly, and sighs. “Let’s just hope they’re too unimportant to know what the runes mean.”

“It won’t matter.” I say. “They’ll be dead before they can figure it out.” My eyes roam from the top of her head on down to— “you have no pants.” I say dryly.

Eveera tugs down at the frayed hem of my shirt that she borrowed, “evidently not. Can we go now?” Without giving me time to respond she turns to where the doorway is and limps towards it. The fools keeping us here, did us a favor by not only leaving the door unlocked, but by leaving it ajar too.

SQUEAAAAKKK!!

I cringe at how loud the rusted hinges are, hoping we don’t end up getting caught before we’re ready to make our move. Eveera doesn’t seem to notice the noise however, and wastes no time leading us out of the dark and into a sconce-lit hallway.

The deeper we walk into the belly of the building, the more we come to notice it must have been a manor at one point. But whoever lived here in this estate, no longer does, the adornments and pictures on the walls are all covered under a thick layer of dust and the plush velvet walls are torn and stained in different places. Abandoned would certainly explain how our abductors have access to it.

Men’s drunken laughter filters towards us as we come up to two large oak doors at the end of the hallway.

The doors are cracked open and through that opening I can see four men sitting around a dining table. They’re tossing back and forth what appears to be a woman’s undergarments while slurred and lewd comments leave their gnarled mouths. I look hard at the undergarments that are clearly bloodstained and then I look back to Eveera. I scan over her bare legs, the slits in her clothes, and to the bare hip bone peeking through one of the holes.

Fucking gods.I mutter in my mind my stomach feeling sick. Red clouds my vision. Her face gives away nothing, only her hands as they grip the handles and whip open the doors. All four men’s heads snap to the two of us. They look dumb struck as a cruel smile dances across her lips before she switches it to a mocking pout. “Oh.Tut tut. Don’t tell me we’re late.”

The four of them stumble to their drunken feet, “how the hell did the bitch get out?” The man furthest to my right shouts while pointing at Eveera.

Her steps forward are slow, both hands twitching while she summons her Wield. “We would’ve been here sooner but we were a little…tied up.” The man who spoke only moments ago struggles as she slides closer to him. “I must say—”

Her hand flicks and the tendrils wind around his torso, he claws at himself but it’s no use, the tendrils squeeze until his eyes pop out of their sockets the two rubbery orbs dangling down his cheeks. She places both hands on his shoulders allowing her Wield to slink back into her skin. She cracks a smile again and looks over her handiwork, “you really aren’t very good hosts.” The three that remain look around nervously as she walks around them all. “I mean—” she plucks her tattered corset from the lap of the largest man. It takes me a moment in the light, but I recognize him as Gribly. Rage boils inside of me at the memory of him digging his dagger into her side. The obscene things he said -bleeding gods if he truly touched her…

Gribly glares up at her, his nerves replaced with newfound confidence.Damn fool.“You won’t beat him, you know.”

She looks to me exasperated. “Why is it that that’s not the first time I’ve heard those words? Does everyone have so little faith inme?”

My eyes wander to his hand where a glint of something flashes.A ring.“How’s the wife, Gribly?” The others whimper while anger etches onto the man’s face. Eveera looks up at me - confused. “Do you think she’ll miss you?” I press.

He pushes off his chair, “why you—”

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