Page 109 of Her Cruel Redemption

I was trembling. ‘I think I have enough rage for both of us,’ I snarled, ‘so you’ll keep your fucking hands off him.’

He chuckled, a sound without humour, mocking. ‘You think your ragematters? Sweet girl, this world doesn’t care about how angry or hurt you are. Just how much damage you’ve caused. And you’ve caused quite a lot. You can throw another magical tantrum here, it’s true, but if you do, you’ll be done. You can hop right up onto the pyre beside him.’

And in that single word,pyre, I lost the thread of what I was here to do. That hissing whisper in my head grew louder, a demand tostrike, to burst through the tenuous control of my magic. All that kept me from obeying was the knowledge that I’d wind up unconscious again, or worse. And then it would be too late. I barely thought of what I was doing as my hand closed on the hilt of one of my knives, only trying to appease that incessant urge.

In a few short strides I’d crossed the room and slammed him against the wall. My blade was at his throat before he could react. ‘Where,druthi.Where are they keeping him?’

He held himself with his chin lifted high, away from the blade. He was a tall man, but he had the build of a scholar, not a fighter. He didn’t even try to struggle. ‘In the dungeons below the castle. Familiar surroundings for him. Well, for now, anyway.’ Then, he smirked. ‘I’m notafraidof you. You can’t touch me without condemning yourself,’ he taunted. ‘You’re already being watched and treated with suspicion.’ One of his hands went to my wrist, long fingers circling it, and his touch turned my stomach. ‘So come now, release me like we know you’re going to, and I won’t suggest to King Esario that his best option in the debate of what to do with you is to give you to me as a subject of my research.’

He thought a threat like that would scareme?

He was wrong.

The first strike wasn’t clean. Maybe I meant to slit his throat in one swift motion, but he jerked at the last moment, and the blade caught the side of his neck instead. Blood sprayed, and he let out a garbled sound, clawing at me.Strike, strike, strike.I drove the blade in again, this time under his ribs, twisting. Blood poured out of him, covering my hands, splattering my face, and his nails were scratching at my shoulders, my arms, my neck, but I just kept twisting, teeth gritted tight.

Until he stopped moving.

I stepped back, panting, staring at the mess I’d made. My hands were shaking. Not from regret, but from rage that still hadn’t burned out.

Well… that hadn’t gone to plan.

But fuck, it had beensatisfying.

I stared at the blood on my hands, breathing slowly as my magic settled and as a little of my rational mind began to shout above that rushing, hissing whisper. How was I supposed to explain this?The debate of what to do with you, Lidello had said. Was that what was being discussed behind the closed doors of Esario and Gwienllyn’s council meetings? Had I just proved that I was as unstable and untrustworthy as I was sure they already believed?

Did I care?

I strode past the Arch Magister’s limp body and into the bedroom, wondering at how detached I felt from this kill. So unlike the stupor I’d been in for hours after I killed those men in Sentinel’s Tower. First thing was first—I needed to clean myself up. I could hardly walk out of this room covered in blood with that mistrustful soldier standing by the door. I’d figure out what I’d do next after that.

At least I’d achieved one thing. I knew where Draven was.

Though what I would do with that information… nothing, I told myself. I would do nothing with that information. With Lidello’s blood staining the water of the basin I plunged my hands into, I had already done too much. But as I scrubbed the blood from my hands and arms, I pulsed with the need to stand before him again. To check. Toknow. His magic, the thing that had bound us, was really gone. I needed to know what was left. WhatI’dleft. If I could look at him now as he was, vulnerable and broken and powerless, could I finally sever the connection between us?

My heart throbbed as I dipped a cloth into the water and wiped at my face. My dress was a hopeless case. I’d have to hope Lidello had a cloak I could drape around myself to hide it. The idea of wearing anything he’d owned might have made me shudder before, but it didn’t now that he was dead. I could retreat to my room the way I’d promised the guard I would, change my clothes, and then… well, it wouldn't be impossible to give him the slip. Perhaps I’d climb out the window.

Not that I was going to find Draven. I hadn’t made that decision.

Not yet, anyway. I had to hide a body first.

Chapter Fifty-One

All the doors in the dungeons were heavy. I clicked the latch and pulled hard to get this one open, revealing the dank, dark room beyond. It was cold, windowless, with flagstone floors and air that smelt of damp, and it was split in two by the thick iron bars of a cell. A cell with nothing in it but a single prisoner.

DRaven sat on the floor, arms strung over his knees, and he looked up as I approached. A shadow of a smile flickered across his face.

‘I was wondering when you’d come,’ he said.

I swallowed the tightness in my throat. I had nothing cutting to say, no clever remark, no mockery. It all felt so hollow as I looked down at him.

With some difficulty he rose to his feet, his movements stiff, wincing as he limped towards me. His face was bruised, one eye swollen and purple, his lip split. A mixture of blood and mud smeared anywhere skin was visible.

I couldn’t breathe.

‘So, was it curiosity that drew you here?’ he asked.

I blinked In surprise, his words drawing me out of my shock at seeing him like this. ‘What?

‘Did you hear I’ve lost the ability to use magic and wanted to see if it was true? Are you hoping to finally prove to yourself that everything you’ve felt for me has been a lie?’

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