CHAPTER 10
Zara
I woke up, startled, my body trapped where it was. Recognition filled me as I saw the firelight coming from the corners of the dark, dank cell I was being held in.
No, no, no. Not here again. Please Goddess Mother, this can’t be real.
A dark chuckle filled the void and I cringed as Veron stepped out from the shadows.
“What were you dreaming of, Zara? The way you were smiling made me jealous,” he whispered, leaning closer, his eyes, with that sadistic gleam, narrowed on me. “Is it the male again? You talk to him in your sleep, you know.”
He sneered at me, his lip curling with disgust. “As if you’ll ever belong to anyone else. You’re mine .” The word was said with the kind of possessiveness that told me I wasn’t a person to him. I was a thing . “And you’ll never get away.”
The promise was filled with the horrors that lay in front of me. I knew what he wanted now. The things my sweet mother had tried to keep hidden from me. The things that had been done to her . To create me.
A sob gathered in my chest. It was a miracle that she’d still loved me.
“The time of the prophecy is almost upon us,” Veron sneered. “Eight more months and then the stars will be aligned. The Great Conjunction only happens once every twenty years, Zara. That’s when you’ll give me what I want.”
This fucking prophecy.
If only it had never been prophesied, then the women of my line wouldn’t be hunted and used the way these fucking warlocks had done for centuries. My mother hadn’t been the only one to escape, yet somehow, they always found us.
I cursed whoever had given the prophecy, but it was so old that they were long dead anyway.
When the lights of Janus and Lundus are at their peak, the strongest witch of the Aradian witches will become the most powerful vessel ever to be born. The child will bring glory to their kin and downfall to any who oppose them.
With a few short sentences, our fates had been set in stone. No matter how many times we fought against these warlocks, they kept taking our line. And I was the last one.
Helplessness filled me, but I refused to cry. Veron didn’t deserve a single one of my tears.
He leaned closer, fury in his eyes. I knew it was for me. He hated that I still hadn’t given in to him. He thought I would want to be with him.
Pathetic fool.
He reached out, gripping my chin and forcing me to meet his cold gaze. “It seems like you still think you can get away.” He canted his head, and the movement was so snake-like I wondered if he was part serpent. “Like your mother?” He scoffed, squeezing my chin with his nails until they dug in.
I held in the gasp of pain, letting him see the hatred in my eyes instead.
“You’re still dreaming that you’re going to get away and find some poor, pitiful male to protect you. That won’t happen,” he spat, dropping my face until I sagged in the chains that held me.
He studied me for a long moment, an evil smile crossing his thin lips. “But just in case…” he trailed off, moving around the room and lighting black candles as he went. I stiffened, wishing I’d been awake when he’d set all of this up.
A shiver of unease swept through me as I realized he’d been here for a long time while I’d slept—chained to this bed that I was certain would be used in the ritual he was planning in the next eight months.
“I can’t have you tainting yourself any more than you’ve already been tainted,” he laughed, and I flinched as his voice came from behind me. I wasn’t a virgin and when Veron had realized it, he’d slapped me across my face and called me a whore.
I didn’t care what he thought. But the fucker hit hard.
Keeping my lips closed and not yelling and swearing at him took all the self-control I had in my body. I could feel myself vibrating with the need to scream that he had a tiny dick. I didn’t need to see it to know that he was the kind of male who wasn’t packing much in that area.
He began speaking behind me. In magick. Words that I wasn’t familiar with. This wasn’t regular magick. It was a dialect. One that my mother had warned me against. Dark magick . Nothing good could come from using it.
Struggling against my bonds, I fought hard to get away, hearing his voice come closer and closer. I watched as the flames of the candles around us got larger with his words, fluttering with a breeze that didn’t exist.
When he was in front of me, I saw the knife and I gasped, trying to pull away from him, but I was stuck where I was. He lifted his palm, slicing the skin without even blinking, the blood seeping out. I was shocked to see that it wasn’t as black as his soul.
He leaned down now, swiping the blood across my forehead, his words getting louder and the flames getting bigger. I saw things moving in the shadows of the room and fear throttled through my heart. It was almost beating out of my chest.
My breathing was becoming erratic as terror radiated from my every pore. I didn’t know what he was doing, but something told me that it wasn’t good.
The knife was against my arm now and I went stock-still, struggling to make sure he wouldn’t cut me.
Please, Goddess Mother, don’t let him kill me. This can’t be the way it ends.
When the blade sliced, I hissed at the pain, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. A shallow cut that seeped blood. He was grinning as he crouched in front of me—the fanaticism in his eyes as clear as the insanity.
He swiped his fingers through my blood and I gritted my teeth as he smeared it across my forehead with his. He closed his eyes, holding his hands in front of me and I watched as they began to glow red.
I struggled harder, sobs leaving my chest as I tried to escape. I pulled harder on my arms, not caring if I broke them, as long as I could run. Whatever the hell was happening, I needed to get away.
His eyes opened then, glowing as red as his hands and I felt power surge through my body. Something was binding me—tying me in knots—and I watched as my entire body began to glow with the spell. I fought, but it was futile.
Dark magick filled my body and my back bowed with it. I screamed, but no sound left my lips as I lit up from the inside. When it was over, I sagged into the bed, sweaty and shaking. My entire body ached, and I felt sick to my stomach.
“There now,” Veron said, leaning forward to push the hair off my face. “We’re all done.”
“W-what did you do?” I gasped, glaring up at him, but I barely had enough strength to speak.
“I just made sure that if you ever decide to whore yourself out to another male,” he said in a low, terrible voice, a smirk on his face, “then he’ll die.”
My eyes went wide and I shook my head. “I wouldn’t—”
“Now, now, Zara,” he said with a tsk, squeezing my jaw in his hand as he glared down at me. “I don’t need you to lie to me. I know you’ve already thrown your virginity out of the window like the filthy whore you are.” He squeezed harder and I whimpered in pain. He waited a few beats before releasing me and standing, turning away from me.
I wasn’t a threat to him. He was telling me that with his body language and a part of me—deep inside—believed it.
“Sweet dreams,” he called to me on his way out and I felt the gathering of pitiful, ineffectual tears in my eyes.