Page 108 of Golden Queen
I scrambled up on feet grown numb from the cold and looked around the room. It was bare, save for a set of thick iron manacles hanging from the ceiling by a rusty chain.
I shuddered at the thought that if I did not get out, they might hang me from that chain by my wrists.
I went to the only source of light—a door with a barred window.
I realized I must be in the old, disused dungeon under the castle.
I looked out the window to see an empty, shadowed corridor, but when I tried the latch, it was locked. The sound of my attempt echoed harshly through the silence.
A man appeared on the other side of the door. "Shadows save us," he muttered and disappeared.
I tried the door again, wrenching against the wood as hard as I could. When that got me nowhere, I tried the bars, jerking the door back and forth with all my strength. It stayed firmly shut.
Even if I hadn't been weak and sore, I would not have been strong enough to open the thick iron-banded door.
I turned and limped around the chamber, searching for anything I could do—anything I could use as a weapon—anything at all to help me out of that mess.
The room was empty. My feet found only the dank, filthy floor. My eyes found only bare stone and shadows.
Aegis appeared at the doorway several minutes later, and I heard the sound of a key being turned in the lock. I tensed.
When the door began to swing outward, I lunged, shoving past the startled necromancer. He stumbled back, trying to catch himself.
I slid to the left and ran.
"Stop!" Aegis shouted.
My body halted as though I met an invisible barrier, my bare feet cemented to the stones. My muscles did not so much as twitch. They simply stopped, frozen.
"Walk back into the chamber, and do not attempt to harm me or anyone!" Aegis' voice was cold and strange again. Somehow, the words were more than just words. I could sense the magic that laced them, and I was helpless against it.
Aegis circled me as I stood in the middle of the chamber again. He eyed me speculatively. "You are more powerful than I gave you credit for." Again, he almost sounded proud. "But you must come to terms with your fate, dear child. You are going nowhere. If you stop fighting, I can make this much more comfortable for you—nearly painless."
He limped around, studying me.
When he stood behind me out of sight, he sighed melodramatically. "You really are quite lovely. It is a shame how much abuse you have allowed to happen to your body."
I didn't understand. Did he mean the injuries they had given me?
Aegis came around to stand in front of me again, and he leaned forward, inhaling deeply as though he was smelling me.
Revulsion coursed through me as I realized that was precisely what he was doing.
"I can smell him on you!" he hissed, face contorting with disgust.
My revulsion turned to anger—raw but calculating anger. I understood the meaning of his use of the wordabuse.
Aegis straightened and took my chin in his hand. He had to look up at me. He was several inches shorter. "Did you let him spill his seed in you?" he asked, disgust heavy in his words. "Did you?" he demanded, squeezing my chin.
His hands shook as he waited for me to answer, as though I had any ability to speak.
He released my chin and breathed a resigned sigh. His change in mood was startling. He was almost cheerful as he added, "It matters not. If he left anything behind, we will scrape it out of you." He said it so matter-of-factlythat it made me gag, the automatic reflex tempered by whatever spell held me so tightly bound that all I did was jerk my eyes.
I had never once considered the possibility of a child resulting from being with Io. But the knowledge of how utterly naive I had been to not even consider it paled in comparison to the ache in my chest at the thought that this man might harm that unimagined child.
"Do you have any idea what the King of Penjan would do to you—to us all—if he arrived to find his son's bride had been ruined by another man?"
He knew I couldn't answer, but he still waited as though I might. "He would rip you apart, starting at that broken little slit between your legs."
