Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Vad
T he tugging in my chest took control while desire and need soared through me. I wanted to run to the fecking door. My wings twitched, and my legs wanted to move, but I forced them to remain still. I inhaled, deep and slow, trying to settle myself as Briar drew near.
“She close?” Thalen murmured from beside me, tucking his wings tightly into his back and smirking.
I opened my mouth to respond, but the heavy wooden door swung open and banged against the coarse stone wall.
The dim oil lamp on the plank table rattled, and two masked guards entered, holding someone between them.
No. Not someone.
Briar.
Seeing the harm they’d done to her stabbed like a dagger into my heart.
Cuts, bruises, and scrapes marred nearly every inch of her pale, bare flesh. Dark circles had sunk under her wide jade eyes, making me desperate to let my shadows loose and shred her tormentors apart.
She had done nothing wrong. She was too good for this realm. Feck, she was too good for me. I didn’t deserve her. But Fate had marked her, brought her here to meet me, and I would never let her go.
A part of me had known they would torture her, but an even bigger part had hoped I was wrong. Seeing her in this condition gutted me.
The pungent odor of healing salve and the slick streaks on her arms and legs told me they had treated her, which meant her condition had likely been far worse than it was now.
Mud and slime clung to her limbs and clothes.
Her dress was ragged and stained, not a trace of white remaining, and there was a split in her chin as if she’d been hit.
They'd bound her wrists together with rope, and I knew that made the way they were holding her arms especially uncomfortable.
Who had done this to her?
I would kill them all slowly and wretchedly, watching their magic drain into oblivion with a huge smile on my face.
My shadows flared out as if to separate her from the bastards restraining her, but I pulled them back and braced my stance. A few shadowy tendrils brushed her feet. It was the only way I could touch her and show some sort of affection.
Her legs shifted a little, like she’d felt it, but the guards held her still.
Never in my life had I understood how being within a few feet of someone could still feel like there was an entire realm between us. Knowing that I couldn’t help Briar right now had my blood thawing and my rage pulsing.
Her shoulders tightened, and she drew back as if caught between alarm, confusion, and caution. The guards gripped her arms even more tightly, at awkward angles.
“Don’t struggle,” one of them snarled. “Or I’ll draw the ropes so tight that they’ll fracture your bones, and we'll hold you at the breaks.”
My hands clenched at my sides. Thalen inched forward too, his gaze cold and calculating as it was when he was preparing to eliminate threats.
Briar closed her eyes, and her face tensed for a second before she opened them and looked right at me.
A zing pulsed into me. My lungs froze, and my back straightened.
My entire body burned with the need to crush her to me and shield her with my wings.
I wanted to take her to safety, clean her in a warm tub, mend her wounds, then lie down beside her and kiss her lips softly while drinking in her ginger and cinnamon scent.
But no.
Despite being the Shadow king, I had to stand here like some daft fool, playing politics and setting the pieces of her eventual rescue in motion while she wavered before me, barely able to stand.
I narrowed my eyes and examined her, wanting to document every mark, bruise, and injury that had been inflicted upon her by them .
A fire beast mark marred her cheek, along with a small half-imprint of what looked like a chalice.
Insignia markings.
Someone had struck her in the face, and they had not held back, given the blows had left such deep imprints. The red of the cut in her chin was darker than some of the others, suggesting that it had happened earlier.
All those who had harmed her and killed my father would be served a death ten times worse than what they’d inflicted.
I’d cut them to pieces and let the life drain from them as my queen watched.
She could join me in their execution if she liked.
The one who’d marked her face would be left for the end, to show everyone what happened when they touch my beloved.
The stench of this place filled my nostrils, and the hollow ache within my chest expanded.
Colm appeared, stepping forward with his arms clasped behind his back, and barked out, “What are you doing here, Selvan? You and Oathfeln weren’t paired for duty. There are protocols to be followed.” The claws on his fingertips twitched.
The guard with the dull orange marker on his glove bowed but still held Briar tight, his metal fingers digging into her flesh. He shook her. “This one bit Elr’s nose off. He needed treatment.”
Pride flared through me as I fought to keep the corners of my lips from lifting.
That was my Briar. Not backing down even in a void-cursed place like this.
She had the spirit of a shadow beast. But what would they do to her?
Men like Colm didn’t like to be shown up, and these guards needed little reason to be cruel.
A chill cut through me as I realized that, if Briar had bitten through the guard’s nose, he hadn’t been wearing his mask. And if he wasn’t wearing his mask, it meant either her guards had become exceptionally sloppy in their protocols, or they believed she would die before leaving the prison.
A muscle in my jaw jumped as I ground my teeth. I would make this work. I was already searching for the solution. Everyone had a weakness, including Colm.
Thalen shifted beside me. Though I did not look at him, I had no doubt he had the same concern.
Colm’s breath hissed through his teeth. “A wretched little human bit off Elr’s nose?” He shook his head. “I am disappointed that he was so lax that he permitted that to happen. His punishment will be swift and severe.”
Briar’s upper lip curled with contempt, and her hands remained balled into fists, fingers pressed over slick red cuts that were probably not bleeding because of the salve.
Colm faced me and canted his head. His murky eyes glinted as he offered a faint smile. “Perhaps Your Highness would like to see how we handle a prisoner's insolence?”
My shadows stretched farther along the mottled walls, aching and thrumming within me as the flame of the oil lamp sputtered and hissed.
Beating this man’s face in and shattering every bone in his body would send us hurtling into open war with the other kingdoms. I was okay with that if I could get Briar out safely, but this wasn’t my kingdom.
I didn’t have the manpower to do it, but I’d be fecking damned if I was going to stand by and actually watch them torture my beloved.
I narrowed my eyes and sneered. “Do you think I care that a prisoner harmed one of your guards? If he was so careless as to allow a wounded and smaller female to get the upper hand, he was being more than a little careless and deserved it. This is so disappointing. I thought you only employed the best.”
“Perhaps…” Colm’s brow furrowed. “But such conduct cannot go unpunished on either side.”
I took two steps closer to him. “Are you saying that the nose of one of your careless guards is more important than the business of the royal Shadow Fae?”
Colm straightened his shoulders. “Not at all, Your Highness, but?—”
I pointed at her with a sharp gesture. “Do you understand how this impacts justice? She looks like a wreck, all banged up, bruised, and bloodied. If she is to stand before my people and my people are to have justice, then she cannot be harmed further. She must be whole and relatively well for the suffering and punishment to show its full effect. The assassin of a king must suffer publicly, and the punishment must be brutal, clear, and slow in its execution. I am here to determine which punishment is most fitting and to look into the eyes of the one who destroyed my father.” My right hand curled, the claws pricking the inside of my palm as I stared into his eyes.
The claws of my left hand dug into my thigh as I fought to stay calm.
I hated how this must sound to Briar, but if I wanted Colm to believe me, Briar had to remain clueless.
Colm sized me up with a sharp gaze, then straightened his shoulders and pressed his palms together. “I see.”
His expression did not suggest he agreed, and I knew I had to walk a fine line if I was going to convince him. Suspicion was standard, and he wasn’t convinced that I hated her.
Refusing to look away, I gave a curt nod. “Good. Now, I would speak with this woman in private.” I braced my hands against my belt and stared at him unblinking.
“Don’t fret. I'll be here with him.” Thalen crossed his arms.
Colm’s expression remained as guarded as before. He looked between Briar and me, his dull green eyes hard as granite and his ornamental claws pressed point for point against one another. His throat bobbed, and a fleeting image of me snapping his neck with my shadows emerged in my thoughts.
Eagerness to do that settled hard over me.
Patience. Not just yet. You have to play this with care .
The tension in his body was the only real indicator of his strain.
He pressed his palms more tightly together.
“Your Highness, please forgive me, but I cannot permit the request. The wretch has yet to confess how she managed to accomplish the assassination, and though we have taken every precaution, I cannot, in good conscience, permit you to be left alone with her, even with a member of your own guard.”
Huffing, Thalen chuckled. “Even with just one guard, I guarantee you that when we leave, there will be no missing extremities. Not so much as an ear or a fingertip.”