Page 87 of A Dance With Fire
He didn’t pushher away. Not like she’d expected him to do.Why wasn’t he pushing her away?Her mind warred with the notion, and she repeated that question to herself over and over again as he healed the human slowly.
More importantly, why had she reached out to him? He was a magnetic force, and she knew she would regret this, but for now, she held him up as his body weakened. She knew it couldn’t have been easy to use his magic when only the night before he’d been suffering from what was likely an iron inflicted injury.
It felt like hours, though in reality she knew it had only been a few minutes. When Ryker finished, she felt his entire body slacken, and she gritted her teeth to hold his heavy weight up.
The human had stopped his chattering as if, along with healing his wounds, Ryker had given him energy. In exchange, Ryker’s whole body felt cold. Beneath the heavy weight of his clothes, she felt his tense muscles trembling in the most discreet manner. Like he didn’t want others to see his weakness.
His head lolled slightly, and the sharpness of his beard scraped her cheek. She turned a fraction, and their eyes met. Something shone in the bicolored depths, something she hadn’t witnessed before.
It was gone in a flash, and he grunted as he pushed himself up, pulling away from her grasp to stand on his own two feet.
Shula’s face heated, and she forced her attention away from him only to catch Weylyn’s golden gaze from across the small prison cell. An intense stare in place, his mouth pursed like a cat staring at a mouse he meant to toy with.
It was unnerving.
“Let’s talk about the Elemental.” Valerio’s voice cut her out of her thoughts and had her focusing back on the interrogation.
The human trembled and his gaze went to where Shula stood.
Ryker growled, but it was Valerio’s hand that struck out against the human’s cheek. The slap resonated loudly. “Do not fucking look at her. Look at me. Why did you want to take her?”
He didn’t answer right away, and that unwillingness seemed to anger Valerio. He leaned back and at a subtle gesture towards Julius, the massive man unleashed his fists against the human. Bones cracked under the Fae’s ministrations that left the human whimpering.
“Let’s try that again,” Valerio said once Julius stepped back. “Why did you want to take the Elemental?”
“We were under orders!”
“Whose orders?”
“Emperor Laurel’s, the Kings of Illyk’s major cities, fuckingeveryone…”
Silence ensued after those words. They made Shula still. Her hands tingled with nerves, so she tightened them into fists and forced herself to focus.
“Why does he care so much about Elementals?” Valerio demanded.
The human was silent. As if he didn’t know by now what his silence brought on. Only this time, Valerio didn’t look to Julius. This time, he snatched the dagger straight from Julius’ hand and brought it to Philip’s face. He traced the tip of the dagger against his skin, over the ridge of his cheekbone slowly enough to be deadly.
Philip whimpered. “I—I don’t know!”
Valerio acted like he hadn’t heard. He gripped the human’s ear and pressed the edge of the knife against it.
“W—what are you doing! I answered you! I told you I don’t know!”
Valerio’s dark eyes darkened further. Shula shivered, a sick feeling twisting at her gut. Was this the true nature that lived beneath the prince’s skin? This cruel demon that could press a knife to a human with little remorse?
“You humans love to take our ears,” he murmured softly.
Another whimper escaped the human.
“I do not really understand your obsession.” The knife dug in and blood bloomed. The human began struggling in earnest, but Valerio’s other hand shot out, gripping his head tightly to keep him in place. “I wonder what would happen if I…” He trailed off, and with a violent flick of his wrist, Valerio sliced the ear clean off.
A guttural cry of pain echoed through the prison. The human jerked against his bonds as blood spurted from the place where his ear had been. Valerio held the small piece of his body part up for examination and discarded it, tossing it against Philip’s chest.
“Yeah, I still do not understand the obsession.”
“Fuck you, Esses!” the human spat. “I gave you what you wanted!” Tears began streaming down his face. “I fucking told you I don’t know shit!”
“That’s a shame,” Valerio purred. “Tell me what youdoknow.”
