Page 39 of Eldritch
“I will break every fragile bone in your body, if you rip one more scale off his.” Zevander finished the threat on his friend’s behalf.
The warden reared back, his eyes wide. “Did you just threaten me, boy?”
“Fuck,” Kazhimyr muttered beside him.
He might’ve just sealed his father’s fate, but Zevander never once broke his stare.
“It troubles you to see your friends suffer, does it? Well, how’s this, then? Tomorrow night,” the warden said, pointing at Kazhimyr. “He’ll fight at the pit. He wins? I won’t lay another hand on your little Mician cunt.”
“I’ll fight my own fight.” Nostrils flared, Zevander clenched his teeth to calm the fury rising into his throat.
The warden chuckled. “Well, aren’t you full of piss and flames tonight.” He wore a malicious grin as he slid the gauntlet off his hand. “Okay. Then, you will fight. I have the perfect opponent in mind for you.”
An orgoth, no doubt. Without blood magic, damned near everyone in the prison, aside from the vicious beasts, were weak by comparison.
Something about it felt off, though, and when the warden strode toward Zevander and knelt alongside him, the hair on Zevander’s neck prickled at the realization that things were amiss.
The warden leaned in, smelling of rotted teeth and stale mead. “You win, and your father dies,” he whispered. “Painfully.”
Not an idle threat, given the many horrific ways Zevander had watched men die in the prison.
“You boys have a good night’s sleep,” he said, pushing to his feet. “You’re going to need it, what with fewer rations.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
MAEVYTH
Idabbed a cloth over Aleysia’s forehead, sighing when she didn’t so much as twitch from the sensation. Just as she hadn’t the day before, and the day before that.
Nearly five days had passed since we’d pulled her out of that pantry, and she lay as motionless as ever, leaving me to ponder at what point I should accept that she might never wake. At what point would it be considered too long to remain hopeful?
We only had another two days worth of food, if we rationed appropriately. After that, we’d be forced to search for more.
A simmering frustration warmed my blood as I ran the cloth down her temples, twinges of resentment making themselves known in the involuntary snarl of my lip. “Wake up, Aleysia. Quit being so damn stubborn.” Slumping back on the chair I’d drawn to her bedside, I ground my jaw watching her sleep so soundly. “The world has gone to absolute hell, and we’re stuck here because you refuse to wake!”
I snapped my jaw shut and turned away from her, the anger boiling, rippling through me. I clenched my fist around the cloth and closed my eyes, imagining myself smacking her across the face in a desperate attempt to wake her.
In the thick of those vicious thoughts, a heavy guilt pressed down on me.
“I’m sorry. This cottage is suffocating.” At least if she was awake, we could leave the place. Perhaps take in the state of things in town, maybe even beyond Foxglove, and decide where to go from there. Everything felt so stagnant. “I just…really want to get out of this place.” I soaked the cloth in the basin of warmed water and lifted her arm to wash her armpit.
A strange marking caught my eye. Through her worn chemise, a black splotch marred her ribcage beside her breast. Frowning, I tugged at the sleeve just enough to reveal a large bulbous mass, the size of an apple and black as pitch. From it, protruded black veins, like those on Zevander’s face, but thicker and covered in a strange, rough texture.
Could it have been caused by sablefyre?
Staring at it brought to mind the story Zevander had told me, of when he was a baby thrown into a fire.
Frantic, I tugged harder at the fabric, noticing the way the veins stretched toward her back. When I traced my finger over one of them, the disturbing sensation of a thousand bees humming beneath her skin had me yanking back my hand.
“Kill her now.” Morsana’s voice slid through my head like liquid velvet.“It will be easier. You can return through the Umbravale without her.”
No. Eyes clenched, I shook my head.Get out of my thoughts. Get out!I opened them to find my hand was at Aleysia’s throat, my blackened fingertips tingling against her skin.
A quick, jagged breath flew out of me, and I recoiled my hand just as a flash of light glowed across my palm. Every muscle in my body shook at the near-miss.
What are you doing!
Staring down at my trembling hands, I remembered the words Zevander had said only days ago.Will of the wielder.
