Page 85 of A Dance With Fire
The dungeons of the castle were dark, dank, and cold. Not cold enough to kill the human from hypothermia, but cold enough to have his teeth chattering incessantly.
Bare-chested and in nothing but his pants, the human’s arms were bound in chains the hung him from the ceiling. Every time his body shivered, the chains holding him up rattled.
They dismissed the guards watching him, leaving Clay to open the door. He let it swing wide open, and one by one they filed in. Valerio strode through first, followed by Julius, Weylyn, Ryker, and the Fire Dancer.
Ryker knew having so many in a single cell was overkill, but it drove fear into enemies’ hearts. That’s what mattered. Nothing else, and he couldn’t let dark thoughts consume him. Not now, and not in here where anyone could see.
“Wakey, wakey, little soldier,” Julius chirped, his voice echoing through the cavernous, cold space. His big hand slapped against the human’s cheek. There was a hint of cruel amusement in his every move. Ryker knew that Julius enjoyed this. He enjoyed making people like this soldier suffer, and it never mattered what Julius did to the enemies of the Fae, because what the humans did to the Fae was always worse.
Ryker just had to picture Orna’s body and what was left of Des’.
It was those images that would get him through what they had to do next.
The human jolted awake at the contact, though Ryker doubted he’d really been sleeping. Not with this cold.
Julius smiled at him. “Aww, did I wake you from your beauty sleep? Sorry about that. Prince wants to talk to you.”
The human shivered, because the way Julius saidtalkimplied something much more sinister than a mere conversation. And it was.
Once the human’s gaze was riveted on Valerio, Julius stepped back, though not before making a show of pulling his dagger from his holster and picking at his nails with it.
“I assume you know why we are here?” Valerio began unbuttoning his jacket, his movements controlled and careful. The human watched his fingers go down the line. One by one. Valerio shrugged out of the garment and tossed it to Clay, who folded it over his arm.
This was like a dance, done so many times that they all knew their roles, their steps. It was all in perfect memorization, although the Fire Dancer had no idea what to expect. She stayed behind them, her breath clouding in little pants in front of her as she took it all in.
“If you do not know, then I will tell you.” Valerio folded the sleeve of his shirt up to his elbow on one arm, then the other. The prince had to be cold, but he showed nothing except a hard, deadly exterior. “We are here because we have questions. Questions you are going to answer.”
“N-n-n-no…” The human’s teeth chattered loudly.
Valerio’s eyes narrowed into thin slits. “Let us get this one thing straight. I ask a question, you answer, otherwise that mouth of yours stays shut. If you cannot remember that, then… well…”
On cue, Julius stepped forward and swiped his dagger across the human’s flesh. He gasped as a slow stream of blood pooled down his stomach.
Ryker swore he could hear the Fire Dancer whimper.
As if she didn’t know cruelty. Perhaps she didn’t. Perhaps she was new to this type of treatment, but she better get used to it because this was how their world worked. They had to be cruel or die. There was no other way.
Julius stepped back, cleaning the blood across the hem of his jacket.
“Am I understood?” Valerio asked calmly.
The human nodded. “Y-y-yes.”
“Good. Now, start by telling us your name.”
“P-P-Philip O’Hare.”
Valerio smiled. “Good. Were you following us in the woods or was that purely coincidental? And do not presume to lie to me. Weylyn here will know.”
The human whimpered once. “W-w-we were under orders to scope out the w-w-woods.”
“Why?”
“Our c-c-captain s-said he b-believed there were Fae s-safe houses. We caught wind of you instead.”
“We covered our tracks.”
It wasn’t a question, but the human answered anyway. “W-w-we c-caught the Fae woman and the human man together. They traveled far from your c-camp. That’s how we knew…”
