Chapter 10
Chapter ten
The corridors grew colder as they descended, ice forming naturally on the stone walls.
Malachar led her through passages that seemed carved from the mountain itself, the ribbon taut between them, bells chiming with each unsteady step.
Her legs still shook from the collar's drain, though she'd stopped actively fighting it.
Each time anger rose, it siphoned it away, leaving her feeling hollow.
"The dungeons here are quite different from your Forest Lord's," Malachar said conversationally, as if they were taking a pleasant tour. "We don't need oubliettes or iron bars. The mountain itself serves as prison. The cold does what chains cannot."
They passed cells carved directly into rock, most empty, some containing shapes she didn't want to examine too closely. Frost covered everything, and her breath misted in the air despite the warm gown.
"Here we are." He stopped before a larger cell, gesturing with theatrical pleasure. "My newest acquisitions."
At first, she couldn't process what she was seeing.
Thaine sat against the far wall, frost in his dark hair, his hunting leathers inadequate against the cold.
Beside him—practically on top of him—was Karse, pressed close enough that it should have been comical except for how wrong the Drak looked.
His scales had dulled from their usual iridescent black-green to something gray and lifeless.
His reptilian eyes were half-closed, and she could see him shivering—actually shivering—his body unable to maintain its usual furnace heat.
"Briar." Thaine's voice came out rough as he struggled to his feet. His gaze went immediately to the collar, the ribbon, the bells that sang with her slightest movement. Something dark crossed his expression. "What did you—"
"Careful," Malachar warned pleasantly. "Your words might have consequences you don't intend."
Karse tried to rise but stumbled, catching himself against the bars. The metal was so cold it steamed against his palms, and he jerked back with a hiss. "You put a leash on her." His words came out slurred, wrong. "Like an animal."
"Like the gift she is," Malachar corrected. "For Lord Malus, who should arrive in two day’s time. He's tending to business at the Forest Court."
The casual mention of Malus caused Briar’s stomach to twist. She stepped toward the cell, but Malachar held the ribbon firm, keeping her just out of reach.
"Are you hurt?" she asked, looking between them. It pained her to see them injured and suffering because of her.
"We're magnificent," Karse said, though his legs barely held him. "Your mountain lord's rock monsters were very welcoming. Didn't even break all our bones."
"Stone golems," Thaine clarified, his attention still fixed on her collar.
"Ancient magic. We crossed the border and they rose from the mountain itself.
" He shifted, and she saw him wince. Broken ribs, probably.
"The cold's killing him," he said bluntly, indicating Karse. "Draks aren't meant for this climate."
"No, they're not," Malachar agreed cheerfully. "Rather like keeping a tropical bird in a blizzard. Fascinating to watch them slowly freeze."
Anger flared in Briar's chest, but the collar drank it immediately, leaving her gasping. The bells chimed as she swayed.
"What is that thing doing to her?" Thaine demanded, moving to the bars.
"Teaching her the value of compliance." Malachar wound the ribbon around his hand, drawing her closer to him and further from the cell.
She had no choice but to comply. "Every time she fights, resists, even thinks about defying me, it feeds.
Eventually, she'll learn it's easier to simply. .. accept."
"Coward," Karse managed with a grimace. "Can't even break her yourself. Need jewelry to do it."
Malachar's remaining eye glinted with amusement. "Says the creature who claimed her as property. At least I'm honest about what she is—a prize to be displayed, a gift to be given."
How did Malachar know that? Just how long had he been watching them? Watching her?
"She's not—" Thaine started.
"Not what? Not property? Not a possession?
" Malachar laughed, the sound echoing off stone.
"Then why are you here, huntsman? To retrieve your lord's lost toy?
She arrived to me with her hands bound. My harpies are smart, but that was your doing.
" He tilted his head, studying Thaine with interest. "Tell me, when you found her, was your first thought her wellbeing? Or your master's orders?"
Thaine's jaw clenched, but he didn't answer.
"And you," Malachar turned to Karse. "Claiming life debts, declaring ownership. You're no different. We all want to possess her, control her, use her for our own ends." He stroked a hand down Briar's hair, making her skin crawl. "I'm simply the most honest about it."
"When I get out," Karse said, each word deliberate despite his weakness, "I'm going to burn you so slowly you'll beg to die like your eye did."
The temperature in the corridor plummeted so fast ice crackled across the walls. Malachar's pleasant demeanor vanished, replaced with something ancient and terrible.
"My eye," he said softly. "Yes. Let's discuss that."
Briar let out a startled gasp when he yanked the ribbon and pulled against him, one arm encircling her waist to keep her still. "Your Forest Lord took my eye defending her. Such a noble gesture. Shall I tell you how it felt? The thorn piercing through, the sensation of it dying in the socket?"
His hand came up to trace the edge of his ornate patch.
"I learned something from the experience.
Perspective. A new way of seeing." He looked directly at Thaine.
"For instance, I can see your heat signature, huntsman.
How it spikes when you look at her collar.
How it flares when she stumbles. You care. How unfortunate for you."
"If you hurt her—" Thaine started.
"Hurt her? I've been nothing but civilized. Fed her, clothed her, tended her wounds." Malachar's smile was sharp as winter. "But you... you knocked her unconscious. Kidnapped her from her bed. Dragged her through the forest in a cage of vines. Who's really hurt her more?"
The words hit their mark. Briar saw Thaine's expression shift. Was that guilt? She didn’t think the huntsman was capable.
"But you raise an interesting point about hurt," Malachar continued. "About balance. I lost an eye because of her. Perhaps someone else should lose one too. For symmetry."
The words hung in the air, their meaning clear. Briar tried to pull away, but Malachar held her fast, and when she fought, the collar drained more energy, leaving her knees weak.
"Don't," she whispered.
"Don't?" Malachar's tone was mock surprise. "But he's so eager to threaten me. To speak of what he'll do when he's free. Perhaps he needs a lesson in consequences."
He produced a thin blade from his coat, the metal so cold it seemed to smoke in the air. "Choose."
"What?" Briar's voice came out cracked.
"Choose which eye he loses. Left or right. You have ten seconds, or I take both."
"You sick bastard—" Thaine started.
"Five seconds."
Briar's chest constricted. The collar sensed her panic, her desperate need to fight, and began draining harder. Her vision grayed at the edges.
"Time's up."
Malachar moved faster than Briar’s eyes could track. One moment he stood beside her, the next he was at the cell bars. His hand shot through, grabbing Thaine's hair, slamming his head against the frozen metal. Thaine grunted but didn't cry out, even as Malachar brought the blade up.
"Wait!" Briar tried to surge forward, but the collar's drain dropped her to her knees. "Please—"
"Too late."
But it wasn't Malachar who moved. Karse, despite his weakness, lunged forward and grabbed Malachar's wrist through the bars. For a moment, heat flared, not his usual dragon fire, but enough to make Malachar jerk back with a hiss.
The blade fell, clattering on stone.
"Touch him," Karse said, swaying but standing, "and I'll burn through this cold if it kills me. And it will be worth it to watch you melt."
For a moment, they all stood frozen. Briar was certain they would both suffer for Karse’s intervention. Instead Malachar laughed, stepping back from the cell, flexing his burned wrist.
"Such loyalty among thieves and monsters.
" He picked up his blade, sliding it back into his coat.
"Very well. The huntsman keeps his eyes.
For now." He looked down at Briar, still on her knees, the collar having drained her attempt at intervention.
"But you've learned something, haven't you?
Your defiance has costs. And others will pay them. "
He tugged the ribbon and it was the sight of Thaine and Karse broken and beaten that finally forced her to stand on shaking legs. "Come. Lord Malus will want a full report on his gifts. All of them."
As he led her away, she looked back once. Karse had collapsed again, whatever reserve of heat he'd summoned gone. Thaine was checking him, his own injury forgotten. They were trying to survive, to protect each other despite being natural enemies.
And she was leaving them there to freeze, too weak from her own imprisonment to even protest.
The bells chimed with each step, a musical mockery of her helplessness, echoing through the frozen dungeons long after she'd gone.
Malachar guided her back through the frozen corridors, the ribbon taut between them, her legs barely managing each step. When they reached her room, he guided her inside with mock courtesy, finally releasing the ribbon.
"You should eat," he said, gesturing to the cold trays. "If you don't, I'll have no reason to feed your companions. The Drak is already halfway to frozen. Without food, he won't last another day."
She turned to face him, trying to summon defiance, but the collar sensed it and pulled, leaving her gripping the back of a chair for support.