Page 109 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
Around him, our most trusted people desperately attempt to find a way to rescue me. My mother’s face is incredibly pale and she shakes violently, spouting ideas that Cyprien immediately counters. My father paces restlessly, running his hand through his hair, then slamming his fist on the table as he breaks down.
The sight of them shatters my heart and amplifies my fear.
Focus on me, Keira. Only on me,Aldrin demands, wrapping his essence around me like a warm embrace.Put yourself into a meditative state, then focus on each particle of toxin floating in your blood. Find it, isolate it and attack it. Block Torin out.
Under Aldrin’s command, I concentrate on my breathing, the ragged drag of each shallow breath in and out, deepening them. Holding each one before letting it go. I take notice of my hammering heart thudding against my ribs, but it only accelerates under my attention, returning my breath to pants.
Keep trying. You have meditated so many times before—you just need to dip a little deeper into the layers of your body. Have your breaths follow my instruction: in…and out. Slow…and calm. Feel your heart soothe. Pay attention to every muscle in your body and leach the tension from them one by one. Your neck, your shoulders, back and limbs. Stay with me and forget the room you are in.
I follow Aldrin’s every instruction. It is like a drug taking over me as he pours serenity into my body across the bond. He fallsinto meditation alongside me. I cannot close my eyes without drawing Torin’s attention, but I stare unseeing instead.
Travel down the layers of your consciousness,Aldrin instructs, his mind a physical presence within me, guiding me to where I need to be. I can sense it: a highway of sprawling, interconnected roads, with foul black particles among the red of my blood. They attack the shimmering white light of my magic that glitters through me.
You’re almost there,Aldrin says urgently.Have your magic smother and destroy every bit of that toxin.
My power curls at my command, fire to incinerate the invading particles. Right as the micro-wields curl around the spheres of toxins, ready to set them alight, pain resonates through my head in a hot flash, shattering my concentration.
Torin slaps me hard a second time, snapping my head to the side. I blink at him, taking in those eyes bright with thrill only inches from mine.
“Don’t you dare disappear from here,” he snarls. “Is he in there with you? Yourmate?” Torin taps one of my temples hard enough to hurt. “I made you a promise, Keira, and I do like to keep my promises. Tell me everything I need to know, or I will torture it out of you. I will make you scream and beg like you have never done before, and then I will send in healers, so we can do it all again. I am a patient man and I have cleared my schedule for days. I know Aldrin tells you all of his plans.”
“Fuck you,” I spit. He slaps me again and blood sprays from my lips.
Zedrick’s wolfish expression only grows as he leans against the bars, eyes fixed on us. “Torin, I do love a good show. It was so fucking hard to get decent entertainment in the capital before you and your mother took over. We had to go to all the effort of sourcing humans from their realm.”
My stomach turns at those words. The injustice of it has my blood boiling. No wonder there is so much hate among humans for the fae, when men like this have gone undetected and unpunished. Every generation of humans has been affected by fae cruelty in one way or another. Every generation has produced women who have reciprocated the abuse toward fae on their pilgrimages.
Torin tosses the iron manacles at Zedrick, who catches them out of the air. “I know you like to play an active part. Bind her for me.”
The other fae stalks toward me with an elated swagger to his step. “Hold out your arms, little girl. We both know you are nothing without your magic, so don’t try to fight me.” The chains clink in his hands with every step. Still, he underestimates me. The moment he nears, I pull my legs up to my chest and kick him as hard as I can in the gut. I throw all my weight into the blow so his form flies through the air and crashes into the barred wall of the cell.
Good girl. You fucking fight them tooth and nail,Aldrin growls.
Torin is on me in a heartbeat, a scalpel in his hand, the blade pressing into my cheek. Only the tip of it pierces my skin. “Should I take your eyes first?” His hand shakes violently against my face and I have no idea why.
“I will not tell you a damned thing! I will kill you with my teeth and bare hands before I betray my people,” I snarl.
“What do you think is going to happen here? That you are somehow going to break free, then win the throne from my mother?”
“Something like that.”
Torin throws back his head and laughs. “Even if you win the throne, you will be defeated shortly after. I began to set up my contingency plan the moment Aldrin returned to the City ofVertical Gardens the first time, and made his pitiful attempt to win over the Senate before we had the Assassins of Belladonna chase him out. I have webs set up across the realm, connections in every court, and all I have to do is snap my fingers to get the wheels in motion.”
I lean forward and spit the blood pooling in my mouth in his face. “You talk a lot of bullshit, Torin. If you had such power, you would use it now.”
He calmly pulls a handkerchief from his pocket and cleans himself. “One does not use a bludgeon when a scalpel is needed.” He glances at Zedrick and curls his lips as he finds his friend unconscious on the ground, then catches the eye of the watching orcs. “I think I will slice up her pretty face first.”
He is suddenly on top of me, pinning me down by the throat and pressing me into the bed with a knee on my chest, the full weight of his body behind it. I stop flailing as the tip of the blade meets my cheek, so damned close to my eye.
“I will reveal no plans or secrets to you.” I grit my teeth. “You’re wasting your time.”
“This kind of sport is never a waste of time.” A sick smile grows on his face. “I can cut up your cheeks again and again, suppressing your magic so they scar horrendously. Take your eyes, your nose, your ears and eventually your tongue, permanently.” His breath curls against my skin as he moves the blade in strangely jerky motions to hover over each part of my face as he speaks of it. “I wonder if your dear mate will still want you when you are hideous. Youwilltell me what I want to know, as I cut you piece by piece.”
Distantly, I register Aldrin throw something across the room to shatter against a wall, swearing profusely.
“No you fucking won’t,” one of the orcs calls out almost casually, and we both glance over at him. “I can see the goldenlight from here. The bargain won’t allow it. You can barely keep a knife against her face.”
I think back to all the times Torin has harmed me. He tried to toss me down a flight of stairs, but I already had wields in place to ensure it wouldn’t happen. He has pulled my hair and slapped my face, but it has mostly been threats of worse. Torture, it seems, is too far for this fickle bargain that ensures Titania’s protection of me in her court.
