Page 53 of Inheritance
“Because we are,” I spat. “We still outnumber you and have shifted the tide of power here. We won’t give up until you are on your knees, begging for forgiveness. And even then, you will find no mercy from us.”
“Unfortunately for you, that is not the case,” Ava explained. “See, I thought for sure that taking you would cause my son and the others to pause and stop fighting in case I hurt you.They didn’t.They slaughtered more of my forces, and that means there are two options...either they don’t care about you, which I don’t think is the case, since you seem to spread your legs for everyone...or they don’t believe I will hurt you. And we can’t have them thinking I’m soft, now can we?”
“Or, the third option: they know I am capable of taking care of myself.”
I knew that was the case, but she really loved to make everything about her.
“Are you, though?” Ava tilted her head, “Have you ever actually handled anything or solved any problem without the help of someone else? No. You may be strong and someone who can endure things, but you don’t solve things. You don’t get out of situations.Which is why blasting your screams of pain is the perfect way to get them to stop fighting. Because they know you can’t get out of it.”
Her words hit me hard, but I refused to give her the reaction she wanted. Instead, I kept my face void of emotion as she leaned forward and whispered, “Do you know what I am most excited about?”
“What?” I asked, humoring her, but I felt panic growing in my chest because she wasn’t wrong. I knew that would cause them to stop fighting. They would become unfocused and try to find me, leading them right to where Ava no doubt wanted them or leaving them open to attacks.
Her whispered words had chills spreading along my skin, “Seeing just how long you can last until screaming.”
Probably not long.
When they spoke of torture in books, they showed the brave hero or heroine keeping their lips sealed and taking the pain like it was nothing...I wanted desperately to be that person, but I wasn’t that brave or strong. I was just me. Ama. A hybrid princess trying to save this kingdom. I wasn’t immune to pain.
Queen Ava took a hammer that was handed to her by the guards and walked back towards me. I was shaking slightly as the invisible cuffs had my hands moving towards the right arm of the chair. I tried to keep my fingers in a fist but they flattened under the pull of the rune that seemed to have partial control over me. A whimper came from my lips as she raised the hammer above her head.
Then, she brought the hammer down right on my fingers—three times. Unfortunately, I could have never prepared myself for the pain that slammed into me. I couldn’t even try to hold the pain. The scream that ripped from my throat and brought tears to my eyes had stars exploding behind my eyelids as I closed them and, for the first time, wondered if I should be praying to God.
Holy fuck, the pain was unreal and this was just the beginning. There was no way this was a one and done type torture session.
“Oh, that was a good scream, and you didn’t even try to hold back,” Ava purred and crouched down next to me and tilted her head. A manic smile appeared like a lightbulb went off in her head, “You know what? I have a better idea. Since my son loves this face of yours so much, let’s ruin it a bit.”
I tried to keep expressionless, but it was hard to do while my fingers were pulsing in pain and there were tears streaming down my face. I watched as she procured a thin knife after she whispered an incantation for a rune and offered me a small smile. Then, she brought it down on my thigh hard.
I screamed out again, the small dagger hitting far deeper than I’d thought possible. I swore I felt it scraping against the bone. My breathing was sparse and sporadic, my heart beating so fast I thought my heart would give out or I would pass out.
Searing, electric pain went up my leg and into my spine, and I realized there was something very wrong with the dagger. It wasn’t a normal one. I could feel something entering my system. It had everything turned hazy within mere moments as she flashed a smile, “You didn’t think it was a normal dagger did you? No, only the best for you, Ama. A dagger imbued with poison.”
When she retracted the dagger, it hurt even more, but I kept my eyes on hers, refusing to look away as. She might have gotten a scream out of me, but I would not give her the satisfaction of begging her to stop. I was really hoping I would just pass out from the pain soon, taking away this fun little playtime from her.
“You know, this is the same knife that I sometimes used on Finias,” Ava mused. “Not my favorite way of getting the boy to behave, but very effective…without the poison, of course. I couldn’t have him dying. Especially since he’s proved to be such a useful tool. But many of the little scars you see on him were doled out from this very blade.”
The pain receded as white-hot anger suddenly ran over my skin, the space around us crackling as Ava stood up, stepping back slightly and regarding me with caution. I was nearly seeing red at the idea of her hurting Finias, and any other pain was completely unimportant in comparison.
“When I get out of these,” I kept my voice low and deadly, “I am going to take that dagger and slice off every part of your body that was ever used to hurt Finias in any way. Stay the fuck away from him.”
Ava offered me a sneer, “Clearly, you are not suffering enough right now. That’s fine—guards, move her!”
The cuffs yanked me up and then had me lying flat on the ground, my eyes on the capitol grounds as Ava crouched down behind me. I felt extra pressure push down on me as I realized that the guards were here, not to help her but to contain me. They needed all of these men to contain me…if it wasn’t for the poison running through me and making everything feel like it was on fire, I would be proud.
I hissed as she used the knife to cut open the back of my shirt, and I kept my wings in, knowing that if they came out, she would hurt them...I had hit my wings into something hot once and burnt them, and I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have a knife in one, or even worse, if she tried to slice them off.
A shudder went through me at the thought, and I winced, my cheek pressed into the ground.
“Let’s just remind you exactly what you are,” Ava whispered in my ear.
When she brought down a knife to my back and began to carve, I couldn’t help the high-pitched scream that left my throat, hoarse and cracking, but not stopping. The pain was fucking blinding, and tears flowed freely from my eyes as I continued to scream with each flick of the knife as it shredded my skin. I knew the sound was echoing and being blasted across the space, so I tried to swallow my screams down, but she just continued to carve, and blood spread and seeped across the floor around me, soaking into my clothes and hair.
I let out a whimper and sent out a prayer to whoever the hell was listening that my mates wouldn’t fall for this ploy. That they wouldn’t try to come to my rescue. I think around the end of the second carving, everything went black.
Finally.
When I woke,I was instantly shivering, the stone beneath me cold and the space filled with a void of energy, as if I was floating alone in space. I wasn’t, of course. I blinked my eyes open, my back pulsating in pain as I stared towards the top of the cave feeling a weird euphoric high that I had to assume came from the pain I was experiencing.
