Chapter 32
The familiar taste of blood filled her mouth, the ache in her head evidence that she had been knocked out. When she tried to move her head, pain shot through her and she gritted her teeth to keep from screaming.
Her back was against something scratchy, and when the fog in her mind dissipated, she realized she was against a tree. Her arms were behind her, and the familiar rattle of iron chains made her stomach drop.
She was cuffed behind her back with iron manacles and she could feel her body fighting with the lack of power she could hold. It was just like when she was on Mavros’s table, she could feel her power stirring but couldn’t use it due to the iron muting it.
Nausea took over and she had to take a few deep breaths to make sure to keep it down. Flashes of her abuse came through her vision and it took everything she had to push the images out.
‘1,2.3..’ she counted in her head.
She glanced around, her vision finally clear and saw many tents and fires around her. They were still in the woods and it was dark, meaning she was out for quite a while.
“You’re awake.” The familiar voice before she blacked out made her jump.
He was an older fae, aging wrinkles covered his face but his body was still in good shape. Had muscles, nothing like Kaden’s, and a scar ran down one side of his face.
He must have been dozens of centuries old to look like that, or had an extremely hard life. He was just sitting on a log by the fire, sharpening a knife in his lap.
“Lucky for you.” She snapped.
“I heard you were feisty,” he said casually.
She looked around and could see more men staring at her, some with unsavory looks on their faces. They seemed to be a large group of mercenaries, not that it surprised her at all. She knew the risk of coming back from the dead.
“What do you want?” she hissed.
“I don’t want anything from you.” He looked at her, his scar even uglier face to face. “However, there is a gentleman that will pay a hefty price for you and hence why you are here.”
She glared at him, her head still throbbing from him knocking her out but she did her best to focus.
“Who is this gentleman you are working for?” she sneered.
“Don’t know.” He shrugged. “Always wears a mask. Came to us a few days ago with a proposal and the route you would be taking. Seems you got caught up in the storm but we waited.”
His smug look made her sick, and the thought of someone betraying them again made her want to puke. Only a few people knew where she was going but it was no secret she left Elnora.
“He will kill you.” she hissed, her head still pounding. “It’s only a matter of time before he finds me.”
The man chuckled, a rasp to his voice and then glanced at her direction.
“The man I shot the arrow into?”
“Yes,” she snapped.
“Well if he ain’t dead yet, he will be soon. I’m sure his friends are trying to cure him as we speak, little do they know there is no cure to the poison that coated the tip.” he shrugged.
She didn’t let her emotions show on her face, but her insides felt like she was being torn apart. Kaden was dying.
“No one is coming for you princess.” The man stood, his eyes meeting hers and the darkness in them made her body go cold. “No one will touch you, or at least they shouldn’t.”
More footsteps got closer and she saw a half a dozen men step out of the shadows close to the fire.
“What a shame.” One of them said.
“It's been a long time since I've felt a female’s skin.” Another rasped.
“No one touches her.” The man she had been talking to orders. “She is to be brought to him unharmed.”
The group of men just nodded, half of them looking at her with a sinister stare and she knew what was on their mind. She pressed her legs together even more, though she knew it did nothing.
“Get to your posts.” The older man ordered and the men disbursed, disappearing into the shadow again.
“We have a long walk tomorrow, better get some rest.”
She watched the man walk into the tent he was sitting closest to, leaving her sitting next to the tree and her hand’s chained to it alone.
Kaden.
She tried not to believe what the man said, the feeling of dread washing over her.
Part of her felt like she would know if it was true, feel him fading somehow but there was nothing there.
That thread she thought she felt was gone and she hoped it was because of the manacles and not the other option.
If he was alive, she knew he would come for her and she just had to bide her time. If he didn’t show by morning, then she would have her answer.
Rustling next to her roused her from sleep a while later, her senses on high alert and she tried to focus on whatever was around her.
Too quickly hands grabbed at her, three pairs and one covered her mouth before she could let out a noise.
“Don’t worry princes, it will only hurt a little bit.” One of the men from earlier let out a dark chuckle and she tried to struggle out of his grip.
The other two men unlocked her manacles from the chain on the tree, but her hands were still bound behind her. Her mind raced as they threw her to the ground, her head hitting a log close by.
This was not going to happen, not to her. She might not have her power, but Kaden had been teaching her to fight without it and she would prove she could.
A hand covered her mouth, but she was able to kick her leg out and nailed one of them in the face. He let out a wail, the other two trying to get him to be quiet and got distracted.
That was her chance.
She threw her knee up, hitting the second man in the groin making him roll sideways. Now she just had the man covering her mouth, and when she looked up at him she knew he was furious.
“You bitch.” he snarled and she tried to throw her body towards him in hopes of throwing him off balance.
He barely moved but she was able to maneuver her leg around his front and throw him backwards onto the dirt. Rolling away from them she got to her feet.
“Fuck you!” she screamed hoping it would wake someone, anyone.
The first man tackled her from the side before she could start moving, her body slamming into the dirt once again. She was now on her stomach, the man's hand pushing her face into the ground.
Panic started to stir in her, the contact and vulnerable position setting off anxiety. More visions of her torture clouding her vision and she did everything she could to keep from throwing up.
“What is going on out there?” the old man said from his tent, but her attackers didn’t stop.
“I heard you had wings.” The man she had thrown backwards chuckled.
At this point, one was pushing on her head and the one she kicked in the groin had her feet. She could see the flash of a knife out of the corner of her eyes and she tried to get out of their grip.
“Let's see if we can find them.” The man chuckled again and bent down with the knife in hand.
The man held her mouth as soon as the blade hit her skin and she could feel it tearing open along her shoulder blade.
Pain tore through her and she tried to scream in agony. She remembered this pain, every time Mavros carved into her this is what it felt like and her vision started to blur.
He went halfway down her back before he stopped, a small relief until he started down the other side.
Her body flailed trying to get away but she couldn’t and she tried to breathe through the torture. She had survived this once, she could survive it again.
Just as he stopped again along the middle of her back, she heard the tent nearby rustle with another set of footsteps.
“Shit.” one of them said before she heard the familiar sound of a knife stab into someone's skull, the man that had been cutting her falling to the ground next to her.
“I said no one was to touch her.” the older man growled.
“Sorry sir.” The one at her feet pleaded and she heard the sound again, a thump to the ground following.
Her head was released and heard the man take off at a run, disappearing into the crowd of tents and shadows.
She didn’t move, her hands still on her lower back and she could feel the blood pooling on her spine. The iron was keeping her from healing, just like in Mavros’s prison.
“Fuck.” She heard the man sigh and felt his hand on her arm. “Let's get you in here and clean up, can’t let you get an infection.”
She rose to her feet, her legs shaking and blood poured down her back as she walked. Tears threatened her eyes but she wouldn’t give this man the satisfaction of seeing her break.
She had succeeded all those months with Mavros, she wouldn't break now.
She shuffled into his tent and laid down on her stomach against the blanket covered floor. Bottles clanked around and soon she felt something cold poor onto her back.
It stung and she knew it was alcohol being poured onto her to sterilize it. Then she felt the padding of a towel and she gritted her teeth to fight the pain.
“That should do for now.” he sighed again. “You will heal slowly, but by morning it should be closed enough to not bleed all over while we are walking.”
The sound of his feet walking away made her breathe out the breath she had been holding, and when she knew he had laid back down, she silently cried.
It wasn’t the pain that was upsetting her, but the fact she had once again been carved up and defenseless. Her mind drifted to Kaden again, wondering if he was in fact dying or still alive.
She tried to find that thread she once felt, but nothing was there just like before. The small pulse of her power was there, but she couldn’t grab it due to the iron’s block that surrounded it.
She tried to remember the feeling of Kaden around her, that feeling of safety to try and calm her shaking body. She was cold, her blood soaked back making it extra hard to keep any kind of warm around her.
The pain ached throughout her body and soon she faded into sleep with tear-stained cheeks.
He would come for her, she had to believe it.