Chapter 12 #2
The prisoner hissed when the guard rolled up the sleeve. There it was. The spiral tattoo. It sat on the inside of the man’s forearm, etched with surgical lasers rather than ink. Without looking away, Ryneth rose and stepped closer. From closer, it looked more like a brand and less like art.
He’d seen that spiral burned into an arrow that had killed one of his fellow Warden defenders.
“Do you want to ask him anything, Ryneth?” the Imperial asked.
“I…” Ryneth’s throat felt dry. Now that his gaze had locked on this proof that Concordant was not a rumor but a real nightmare that had made his home tremble, he couldn’t look away.
The prisoner’s head snapped up. His eyes locked onto Ryneth’s. A sneer twisted his mouth. “Look at you,” he barked. “So the stories are true. Helion pumps its sons full of filth. They really do create monsters.”
Was that what Lysa and Karo had meant on the shuttle, when they’d called the Imperial family cruel and just in the same breath? He’d thought they were trying to scare him. Now he wasn’t sure anymore.
Ryneth’s throat went dry. “Where do you hide on Düren?”
The man laughed. “Wouldn’t you like to know.
But I’m not telling you shit. I’m not—” He cocked his head, gaze tightening.
“You. It’s you.” His laugh turned obscene.
“Good Light. It’s you. From that night in the skyscraper, when you lit up half the top floor trying to get away.
They should have killed you then and there. ”
The man’s laugh sounded like grinding stones that made Ryneth clench his jaw.
“Beaten and caged, and look at you now,” he taunted. “Think you’re so tough, huh? You think those fancy clothes change what you are? You’re nothing but a dog in a silk collar.”
“Shut up.” But the insult burned. The memory…tore him apart. Ryneth felt the heat rising in his neck. Had the others heard?
He looked at his hands. He saw the faint blue glow beginning to ghost over his knuckles.
“Your owner’s coming,” the man whispered.
The fear hit Ryneth like a physical blow.
I’ll come when it’s time.
Rage rose so fast it made his head spin.
“They’re going to shackle you, and cage you, and—”
“Stop!” The word cracked out of him.
Did you dress up for me?
The room went thick around him. Shame crawled up his throat so fast he could barely breathe. The message on his slate, the word ‘owner’, the heat in his body, the way everyone was watching him. It all blurred together into something ugly and unbearable.
He didn’t want them to hear. He didn’t want them to know. He didn’t want to feel any of it.
His gums throbbed. Heat surged up his spine. If the man said one more word, Ryneth would break him open.
“Make me,” the prisoner egged him on. His grin widened to show blood-stained teeth. “Show the Helion Imperial how a monster screams when the voltage runs too high. You’re nothing but a broken tool.”
“He’s lying,” Ryneth whispered. His body didn't believe it, but his cock was hard inside his pants. He felt the hunger Milanov had promised. The need to kill slammed into him.
“Lying, huh?” The man looked up and even without looking back, Ryneth knew he was looking at Daven. “Weren’t you just holding this monster’s hand? Has he not told you—”
“Stop!” Ryneth bellowed. The surge thundered through the room, making the doors rattle.
Daven couldn’t know about the message. About the promise that someone was coming to collect him.
The prisoner snapped his mouth shut. Ryneth released more static. It was messy, not meant to kill, and it broke a light bulb and all the glasses inside the cabinet.
“If you’re going to do it, do it properly. Give us a show.”
Ryneth looked over to find Kylix devouring Mirel’s mouth, his grip tight at the other man’s waist. Mirel’s breath came in fractured gasps.
The others were watching. A room of predators waiting for entertainment.
“Kill him,” Moargan urged. “Let the static out and aim for the motherfucker, not my dad’s vintage collection.”
Ryneth turned back to the prisoner. He wanted the truth before the silence. He wanted to ask why. Who had bought him? Where would they find him?
What was on the other side of the Ward?
“Why me?” Ryneth growled. He stood inches from the man. The static flared. Blue sparks jumped from his hair to his shoulders. “Who’s coming for me?”
“Someone who knows how to break a monster,” the man hissed. He leaned into Ryneth’s space despite the arcs of light burning his skin.
Ryneth’s fist clenched. The words wouldn't form properly. His mind was a slurry of drugs and adrenaline.
“You’re taking your sweet time, Ryneth.” Aviel stepped in, guiding Theo forward by that strange silver thread of power.
The blond man looked fragile under the lights, mouth parted, his eyes wide and wet with a terror that made Ryneth’s stomach turn.
He swayed when Aviel left him in the middle of the room.
“What are you doing?”
“He’s hesitating,” Aviel said. “If he won’t strike the enemy, give him something softer to fear hitting.”
Ryneth’s vision blurred. He turned toward Theo and saw the phantom from his capture. He didn't want to kill Theo. He didn't want to kill anyone.
The charge snapped out of control.
Blue arcs of light danced between Ryneth’s knuckles. The air hissed. It was screaming for a circuit to close, an ache in his bones that only violence could soothe. The arousal was a clawing beast in his gut. It demanded an outlet.
“Who sent you?” Ryneth roared. He lunged at the prisoner. His hand connected with the man’s throat.
The man laughed even as the blue light began to cook his skin. “The person... who’s going to... break you...”
Ryneth didn’t let him finish. He couldn’t bear one more word. He let the pressure go.
The current struck the prisoner square in the chest. His body lifted off its feet and slammed into the guards behind him.
His eyes flashed white as he went blind, his scream tearing out of him as the heat filled his lungs and seared them from the inside.
The man’s jumpsuit ignited first, the fabric melting against his skin, blistering flesh.
Ryneth couldn’t stop. His thoughts fractured with visions of his home, torn apart by the likes of this man.
The prisoner collapsed, muscles locking as his spine arched. Then his chest gave. The pressure inside him burst outward in a spray of steam and blood.
The light cut off mid-pulse.
What remained collapsed in a smoking heap.
Ryneth should have felt sick. Horrified. Instead, some vicious part of him was still listening for more. Still hungry.
The realization hit harder than the kill itself. Whatever they had put inside him, it had liked that, and that terrified him more than the body on the floor.
If it was true, where did it leave the boy Mara had raised?
The arc didn’t stop. It branched, a lethal ribbon of blue-white current whipping toward Theo.
“No!” Ryneth gasped.
But Theo didn't move. He didn't even flinch. He just watched the light come for him.
“Vireth!” Aviel shouted.
The static hit Theo’s chest and vanished. It was like throwing lightning into a void. There was no burn. No scream.
The charge inside Ryneth collapsed. The lightning didn't bounce off. It was absorbed and neutralized by the blond man’s very presence. Theo looked down at his chest with a flat expression. Then he reached for Aviel, who’d come running, and fainted in his arms.
Silence fell over the office. The only sound was the crackle of the fire and the heavy breathing of the men. The prisoner lay in a heap with his jumpsuit smoking. He still stared up with a dead, bloody grin.
Ryneth stared at his hands. He didn’t know what he was anymore.
Daven moved like a shadow when he wrapped an arm around Ryneth’s waist. Air encased Ryneth, making him feel like he could fly in a bubble.
Or perhaps that was the effect of the adrenaline wearing down and the opium in his system.
“So tired.”
“I know you are. Come on, now.” Daven held him upright as he headed for the door. “We’re leaving.” His grip tightened. “And you owe me answers.”