Page 25 of Lady of Ashes

“It has to be related, though, right?” Cassius pressed, pushing open a door into a small room that had a tall, wooden table, ice box, hearth, and wash basin.

“It would certainly seem so,” Sorin answered, running a hand down his face. “So much has happened, Cassius. Let’s get these potions going, and we will tell you everything. Hopefully, when it is all said and done, we can come up with a plan to ?gure out where the hell she is and get her back.”

CHAPTER 9

SCARLETT

Scarlett was jolted awake from her soft cocoon of warmth when the blankets were ripped from her body. She whimpered as her arms were dragged above her head and her stiff shoulders screamed in protest. The chain of her shackles was clipped to a hook in the headboard that had not been there the night before. She looked around blearily, trying to get her bearings as her ankle shackles were hooked onto something at her feet, rendering her immobile.

Mikale stood at the end of the bed, a maniacal grin on his face. He was dressed in pants and a thick tunic. The small ?re in the hearth had been extinguished, and the window was open, letting in gusts of winter wind. Her skin had broken out into goose?esh the moment the blankets had been stripped from her, and in the thin gown she was wearing, her body was already beginning to shiver from the chill.

Mikale began walking towards her, and she plunged into the darkness within her soul as deeply and as quickly as she possibly could. She knew what was coming. Some type of punishment and she wasn’t mentally prepared to handle it yet. She wasn’t in the right headspace as she plummeted deeper and deeper, racing towards that place where it didn’t matter what happened to her.

This was how the Assassin Lord worked. He tortured you, then he cared for you. He made you ache, then he made it better. Over and over again until he got what he wanted.

One of her punishments had once involved withholding food from her for days. She had been chained in the same spot in his dungeon study, and it had been day ?ve of no food and minimalwater. Alaric had come in with a small feast of meats, breads, and vegetables. She’d known it was a trap. She’d known she’d regret it, but survival came ?rst, and she’d needed food. She’d needed sustenance. So she’d devoured what he laid before her, only to learn within an hour or so that everything had been laced with minute doses of columbine that left her with abdominal pain and violent vomiting for nearly two days. It was during the second day that Alaric had gently unchained her and carried her up to her room himself. He’d sat by her bed, pressing a cold cloth to her forehead and holding her hair back when she vomited, until she’d ?nally fallen asleep and the fever broke.

Mikale straddled Scarlett at the waist and looked down at her, pure desire ?aring in his dark eyes. His hands roamed over her hips and up her sides until one gripped her jaw, forcing her to meet his eyes. She said nothing as they stared at each other, but a look of confusion passed over his features before he was able to school them back into neutrality. He broke the stare ?rst and his eyes ?ashed to her arms above her head. He leaned over her, running his thumb along the silver Mark on her forearm, then dragging his hand down the length of her arm and over her shoulder.

“That Mark would not stop me,” he murmured to himself, his eyes following his hand.

“Stop you from doing what?” she rasped, trying to move her arms into a position to put less strain on her shoulders, but it was useless.

Mikale suddenly stilled over her, his eyes going wide. Scarlett stilled too at the rage that ?lled his face. He yanked the tie of the strap over her right shoulder and pulled the fabric aside, exposing half of her chest to the freezing room.

“What are you doing?” she cried, but the sound was cut short when his hand wrapped around her throat, squeezing tight enough to cut off her air.

“When did you get this?” Mikale snarled, his ?ngers brushing along the length of the right side of her collarbone.

“Get what?” she gasped, writhing beneath him to try to loosen his grip.

He only squeezed tighter, bringing his face close to hers. “This Mark?” he spat. “When did you get it? How did he do this?”

He loosened his ?ngers enough for her to speak, and Scarlettgulped down the little air that she could. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she rasped out, and his ?ngers tightened once more.

“Liar,” he spat. His ?ngers ran over the Mark again. It was the Mark the beautiful man had given her when she and Talwyn had been taken to that rip in the plane. Mikale’s ?ngers dragged down farther and cupped her right breast, squeezing. He groaned, tilting his head back and closing his eyes brie?y.

When he opened them once more and looked back at her, lust mixed with the ire in his gaze. “Alaric will not be pleased with this development, my pet. Maybe he will let me have you after all.” A cruel smile tilted on his lips as he ?nally released her throat and reached to retie the strap of her gown.

Scarlett panted out a string of curse words at him, gulping down breath after breath. Mikale only chuckled as he refastened the tie and climbed off of her, unhooking ?rst her ankle shackles and then her wrists. He yanked her from the bed, and she fell to her knees before him.

Mikale reached out and gripped her hair, yanking her head back. “See, my pet, this is how you should always be. On your knees, that fucking mouth quiet for once, and waiting to serve me.”

Scarlett wanted to spit at him, but her mouth was so dry there wasn’t anything to spit. So instead, she spat words laced with venom. “Fuck you, Mikale.”

Mikale only smiled at her, like he knew a secret that she didn’t. “You will learn soon enough, my pet.” He reached down and grabbed her elbow, pulling her to her feet. He tugged her to the door and began leading her down the hallway. She stumbled along down the stairs, trying to keep her head from spinning. She was dehydrated. Combined with the lack of food and hunger pains, she was ?ghting dizziness and nausea.

More than once Mikale had to steady her and keep her on her feet, but he didn’t slow his pace.

He didn’t bother to knock before he burst into the Assassin Lord’s dungeon study, and Scarlett dropped to her knees as the nausea ?nally overtook her. With nothing in her stomach to vomit up, she dry heaved as Mikale held the chain in his hands.

“We have a problem,” he snarled.

Scarlett couldn’t focus on the two men in the room. Her vision was blurring, and there was a sharp burning along her left hand.

“Sorin,” she gasped out, heaving up nothing again.

Alaric had surged to his feet when they’d burst into the of?ce, but now he was storming around his desk. “I’ll say we have a problem!” he roared. “What part of do not let her get too weak did you not understand?”

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