Page 136 of Cage of Starlight
“What I’m asking is,can we use him?” Jeffra clarifies. “Is there anything we’ll need him to do for us? Because if so, I have my ways to keep him docile until we need him.”
The group pauses. “Oh,” Helner says. “Well, itwouldbe convenient to point him at Michal Vantaras and have him nicely suggest walking off the nearest cliff.”
Jeffra rubs her hands together. “It’s decided, then. Give me just a moment, and I can—”
“Stop.”
Tory’s halfway to turning back when the word halts him in his tracks.
Halts everyone in their tracks.
It’s only then that he realizes they all took their eyes off Riese. Out of the corner of his eye, he watches Riese lift his head and offer them a placid smile.
A smile.
The significance of it hits Tory a moment too late, because Riese opens his mouth again, every word a cage. “Be still, all of you,” he says, slow and warm and terrible.
Impossible. That should be impossible. Tory tied him uptight.But Riese stands, free of his ties and gag hanging around his neck. The cloth of it is frayed like he ground it between his teeth and dark with a combination of blood and saliva.
“Bastard!” Iri grits out.
“Shh. No one here is going to hurt me.”
Now that he knows to feel for it, he can sense the energy of Riese’s Seed. It’s hot but not painfully so, like the warmth from a winter stove. Even if Tory had the ability to counter it, he’s not sure he’d want to. Still, he tries to make it happen, tries to reach for the energy that’s fallen over him and tear it off. No luck.
Riese lopes over to Tory, canines bared in lazy satisfaction.
“Tory.” Something warm and wet taps beneath his chin. “You may speak.”
“Fuck you.” Suddenly, Tory regrets destroying those nullifying vests. One of them would come in quite handy now.
There’s something wrong with Riese’s hands, the skin bloody-raw. He must have dislocated or broken multiple bones to tear free from the belt. His left hand is barely recognizable as anything other than a stringy collection of exposed flesh. The belt is still buckled around his right wrist, and that hand and wrist are far more intact. He musthave chosen to sacrifice his left hand to get free. Tory wouldn’t have imagined anyone capable of that sort of self-mutilation, but heshouldhave. A trapped animal will chew its own leg off.
“Sufficient desperation,” Riese says with a nod, hairline specked with sweat. His blood paints the yellowing grass of the yard. “I knew you’d understand. Look at you, thoseeyes. I told you we’d sharpen you up. I wasn’t sure I’d see you again, but I’m glad you made it out.”
“I’llkillyou.”
“I don’t think you will.” Riese walks over to Jeffra and lifts his hands. “Heal these, would you? You may move, but you won’t hurt me, and as soon as you’re finished, I’ll need you to be still again.”
Her expression is murder, but the hands that rise to heal his wounds are clinical and gentle. Jeffra’s teeth close on her own bottom lip so hard that a bead of blood drips down, and she manages to croak out, “You—”
She’s using pain to break free.
“None of that.” He shakes his head. “Sufficient desperation, indeed. None of you will harm yourselves.”
He returns to Tory, flexing healed hands. “Much better. You, too. Oh, look at you.Thisis the boy I met in the back of that caravan, blood-hungry. I knew he was still in there.”
“Yeah, but the throat I’m gonna tear out is yours.”
“Don’t say that. I made you stronger, Tory. I made you a leader. A leader can’t be chained to anyone. It hurts now, but I swear it was a kindness.”
“What you’re doing isn’t leading.” Tory raises his voice in case any of Riese’s people are conscious and listening. “If any of you can hear me, think about this: did any of you know what Riese’s power was before this?”
“Don’tspeak to anyone else.”
Tory’s mouth snaps shut.
“It’s rude. We were having a conversation.” Riese’s hand rings Tory’s upper arm, just over the tattoo, and the body Riese has told to be still won’t even shudder for him. Nausea makes his knees weak, but Riese just sighs and keeps talking. “I thought you would understand. We could never have made it this far without bloodshed. We’re here, having wrested so many weapons from Vantaras’ hands and made it nearlyimpossiblefor him to continue the war against Arlune, againstSeeds,at the same level, because I wasn’t afraid to trample a few flowers on the way. This progress—”
