Page 168 of Wrath of the Fae

I lose consciousness.

thirty

Idreamofthatlittle boy.

I repeatedly relive his last days of life, surrounded by so many bodies. So much death. I can smell the rotting flesh and hear the buzz of the flies. I taste blood and sweat from those piled around him, dripping onto his face.

When I’m not enduring his terror, I’m suffering my own.

I scream as my eyeballs are burnt. I cry out as Jonah violates me with iron. And I weep as Ivan walks closer. His demonic form casts me in shadow, and the ground shakes as he strides closer.

I dream of him slaughtering everyone I love. Skinning them alive as he demands I return to his machine and end the world.

That machine of his. The poison in the air. He’s destroyed everything he has taken. He’s imprisoned and enslaved. Murdered. Tortured. Bastardised magic and power with his twisted science.

I scream. In my dreams, I scream. But I think I scream in the real world too. Throat-tearing screams as the images of the nightmares fade, and the darkness returns. The darkness and the cold.

The pain… why?

Why am I in so much pain?

My eyes burn. Hands hold me down as I thrash. Sweat pours from my skin. Blood. There’s blood on my face and fear ripping me to pieces.

‘Keep her held her down!’ Tessa shouts, her hands pressing down on my head as countless fingers grip my arms and legs. ‘You must keep her held down!’

‘We’re trying! She’s too strong!’ Lucca roars back. ‘Hurry up and calm her down, Tessa!’

‘I can’t!’ She strains with her power, the tips of her fingers pressing hard into my skull. ‘She’s too strong!’

She screams and relinquishes as my wings explode from my back, razor-sharp and unforgiving. My right arm breaks free momentarily before another set of hands retakes it and presses me into what I think is a mattress.

‘Fetch the iron!’ Wolf orders. ‘She must be contained to this bed!’

‘No! No iron!’ snaps back a most welcomed voice. Her hands take my face, and her forehead rests on mine. ‘I’m here, Raven. Do you hear me? I am right here,’ Rhea promises, attempting to sound calm. ‘Please, don’t fight us!’

‘REID?!’ I scream. ‘CYRUS?!’

I know the fear I feel is theirs. I know they’re in pain too. I feel it. I feel their suffering as much as my own.

I let out another agonising cry. My power comes. The room is thrown into chaos, and several people start to shout.

Rhea, Lucca, Wolf, Tessa and El. They all call my name or shout for others to look out!

Then iron. My entire body is smothered in it.

As I scream and cry, Rhea returns to my side. They all pin me down again.

‘What are you doing to them?’ I cry weakly, the iron stealing my strength and drowning me in pain. ‘What are you doing to me?’

More pain. My cries drown out whatever she says.

Then I’m gone again.

Unconscious and drowning in nightmares.

I have no idea how long this goes on.

I wake. I scream and bleed. I writhe and fight for freedom.

---