29. CHAPTER 29
The last thing I remembered was the taste of cloth pressed hard against my mouth and the pulse of wards thundering in my ears. Voices, muffled. Hands dragging. Then nothing.
I awoke to a darkness that felt heavy, almost physical. My head throbbed in slow, nauseous waves, and a bitter taste lingered on my tongue. Cold stone pressed against my cheek, damp enough to leech the warmth from my skin.
I tried to sit up. My arms jerked to a stop.
Leather cut into my wrists. My ankles too—bound tight, metal weighing them down.
I twisted harder. The rattle of chains cracked through the silence, loud and metallic, like a shout.
My pulse thundered in response. Instinct drove me inward, searching for magic.
Nothing. No flicker, no hum, not even a whisper. Panic clawed up my throat.
A faint lantern glow pulsed high on the wall, just enough to outline the cell: stone walls slick with damp, no windows, one iron door. The air smelled of wet earth and smoke—and something sharper, metallic, that prickled along my skin.
I braced my knees under me, testing the give of the bindings, but they didn’t move. My breath came faster, shallow, too loud in the silence. That was when I heard them—boots on stone, measured and steady, drawing closer.
The iron door scraped open.
Two figures entered, hoods shadowing their faces. One moved with an easy, lazy gait, but the taller one kept his shoulders squared, steps sharp, a man accustomed to command .
“Awake at last,” the tall one said, voice low but cutting. He stepped into the light, and my stomach sank. I didn’t know his name, but I knew the clasp at his throat—the wolf’s head I’d glimpsed before the world went black.
“You’ll be quiet,” he said, “or you’ll regret it.”
My voice came out steadier than I felt. “You drugged me, dragged me here, and think I’ll just sit pretty?”
A slow smile curved his mouth. “We didn’t take you to hurt you, little Rider. We took you because of what you are.”
My skin crawled. “And what exactly is that?”
His smile widened, patient, cruel. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
They left me chained for what felt like hours, long enough for stiffness to set into my limbs and the cold to crawl beneath my skin. I tested the bindings again—no give. Tried for magic—nothing. Hopeless. My bond with Zane felt gone.
The door groaned open again. Only the tall one entered this time. He drew his hood back, revealing sharp cheekbones, storm-gray eyes, and streaks of iron threaded through his hair. He crouched, close enough that I saw the thin scar running along his jaw.
“Do you know why you’re here?”
I kept my face blank. “Because you’re an idiot?”
The backhand snapped my head sideways, sharp enough to sting but not to knock me out. Pain radiated through my jaw. I forced myself to meet his gaze, unflinching.
“You’re here because your father took something from me. From all of us.” His tone didn’t rise, but the weight in it was worse than shouting. “We’ve been waiting a long time to make him bleed. And then—” his smile thinned, “—the gods handed us you.”
Ice spread through my chest. “General Blackcreek.”
His mouth curved again, not quite a smile. “So, you do know. Good. Then you understand how sweet this will be.”
“You think he’ll trade anything for me?” I forced the words through clenched teeth. “You don’t know him very well. ”
“Oh, I know him.” His breath brushed my cheek, cold and steady. “I know what he’s done. And I know exactly how to make him watch while his precious daughter suffers for every drop of blood he spilled.”
Fear spiked hard, choking, but I swallowed it down. “You’ll regret not killing me now.”
That earned me a sharper smile. “We’ll see. In the meantime, you’ll stay here. And when the time is right, we’ll send him your screams.”
He leaned in close. Too close. My pulse roared. Muscles coiled tight. In one lunge, I drove my shoulder into his stomach, twisting my bound wrists toward his throat. The chains bit deep, cutting my skin, but I didn’t care—I hooked my knee and shoved.
He grunted, knocked back a half step. It was enough. I snapped my head up and slammed it into his jaw. Pain burst through my skull, hot and white—but when I tasted blood, satisfaction burned through me.
For a breath, I thought I’d won.
Then his hand clamped my collar. He yanked me up until my toes scraped the floor. “You stupid little—”
I spat in his face.
His control shattered. Fury sharpened his features, dangerous and raw. He slammed me against the stone. My lungs emptied in one violent rush.
“Lesson one,” he growled, his voice venom and steel, “you don’t touch me.”
His fist drove into my stomach, folding me over with a sharp gasp. His hand caught my head, smashing it back into the wall. Light exploded across my vision. The cell tilted, smearing sideways
The last thing I heard—before blackness swallowed me—was the scrape of the iron door opening again, more boots entering. And his voice, calmer now, almost pleased.
“Now, we begin.”
** *
I came to with water stinging my face. My body jerked, lungs dragging in air too fast. My skull pounded where it had slammed the wall, and the taste of iron coated my tongue.
The bindings hadn’t changed—wrists raw in leather straps, ankles locked.
Only now I was upright, forced into a heavy wooden chair bolted to the floor.
My shoulders ached from the unnatural angle.
My spine pressed hard against the backrest. Three of them stood before me.
The tall one, still calm, still watching with that thin smile.
Another leaned against the wall, arms crossed, his hood still drawn.
The third—a woman this time—paced slowly in front of me, her boots clicking against the stone.
“Wakeful enough?” she asked, tilting her head. Her voice carried the easy cadence of someone used to questioning, not shouting.
I spat blood onto the floor between us. “Why don’t you come closer and find out?”
Her lips curved. “Good. Defiance makes the breaking so much sweeter.” She circled behind me, fingers trailing along the back of the chair.
The tall man spoke again, voice as steady as before. “Tell us about your father.”
My stomach clenched. “You want his strategies? His secrets?” I let out a short laugh that scraped my throat raw. “Then you dragged the wrong person. He never trusted me with anything.”
“Lies.” His eyes narrowed, sharp and storm-colored. “He shields you for a reason.”
“He shields everyone,” I snapped. “Because he doesn’t trust anyone.”
The woman leaned in close, breath warm against my ear. “And yet, he would burn the world for you. Wouldn’t he?”
For a moment, I faltered. Images flickered—my father’s warnings, his cold lectures, his hand resting heavy on Kim’s scaled neck as if the dragon were the only one he trusted. Then I remembered he damn near set Ashwynd on fire when I was attacked. They couldn’t know that.
I forced my face blank. “He’d never bend. Not for me. Not for anyone. ”
The tall man studied me in silence. Then, without a word, he drew a thin blade from his belt. Light caught on its edge as he lowered it to my arm. The steel pressed cold against my skin.
“If you’re going to kill me, then fucking do it already.”
The impact that hit my face happened so fast, so hard. Pain shot through my eyes causing black and white flashes throughout my vision.
Darkness swallowed me, then spat me back in pieces.
I was chained to the wall again—leather cutting into my wrists, iron shackles at my ankles. My head sagged forward, too heavy for my neck. Every heartbeat pounded through my skull, shaking my vision loose.
I couldn’t tell how long I’d been here. A minute. An hour. Days.
The lantern high above blurred, its glow splitting in two, then four. Boots scraped nearby, voices low and steady. I caught fragments—laughter, a question, my father’s name—before they slid away again.
Cold fingers gripped my chin, jerking my face upward. A man’s features loomed close, sharp and storm-colored, but they swam in and out, like ripples across water. His mouth moved. I caught only a word here and there—blood—Blackcreek—scream.
I forced my eyes open wider. “Go… to hell.” The words slurred, half-broken, but they still left my mouth.
The strike came fast. My head cracked sideways into stone, a shock of white detonation bursting behind my eyes. The room spun. My stomach heaved. Time fractured again.
I was slumped forward. Then I was upright. Then light flashed, and someone was laughing. I couldn’t tell what order it happened in.
Another blow snapped my head back. Pain surged hot and sharp, then dulled into a roar that drowned everything else.
The silver thread inside me flickered faint, thin as smoke. I clung to it with what little strength I had left. Please. Don’t let it break.
The next impact drove the world sideways again. Darkness pooled in the corners of my vision. My body wouldn’t move, wouldn’t obey.
The last thing I knew was the weight of my own breath stuttering, then slowing… and the cold certainty that I might not wake again.