Chapter 43 #2
“I was working on getting supplies out of the academy—I’d bartered for them. Had to trade my bracelet for resources and secrets. I suspected the man I had met who lived in the depths was reporting to some other competitor of the Starcrossed Club. There was something off about him.”
“We know about Silas,” I say.
“Oh, yes, Silas. That was his name.” Arina smiles with her unsettling ease. “One time, I agreed to go with him, thinking that I might be able to catch him in some kind of lie, or find who he reported to. Well, I did find out.
“Turns out it was Prince Ravin. The prince captured me and took me to Halazar—though I didn’t know where I was going until we arrived. First, he blindfolded, bound, and beat me. But the beatings did not end there.”
My hand balls into a trembling fist. There’s something so, so much worse about the methodical and calm way she’s recounting this.
I’m glad she’s not in pain. But…without that pain, every word seems so detached, as if she’s speaking about something that happened to someone else.
But maybe recounting it like this will help her in some way…
“He kept going on about my being the Star—as in the Major tarot.” She laughs lightly. “What a ridiculous notion that was. But he brought a new man into Halazar to verify this claim, allegedly.”
“The Hierophant,” Thal murmurs. I give them a slight nod.
“Once it was confirmed, Ravin asked me—over and over—to ink my card. When I could not, he shattered my legs because ‘legs are not needed to ink cards.’
“When I still could not, he began to demand that I read his future—he said that, as the Star, I was the only one who could catch a true glimpse of what was to come. Something immutable, regardless of what cards were cast or actions were taken.” That must be her innate ability, I realize as she speaks.
Usually a tarot reading shows what is likely to happen, not what will.
But her readings always had an element to them that was so spot-on it was scary…
“Naturally, I refused. I was quite tenacious. So he poked me with hot irons. He ripped off my nails from the beds…”
The room falls into a horrified hush as she continues detailing all the heinous and horrifying acts Ravin committed against her. Every instance of torture is far more gruesome than the last. Every detail turns my blood molten. My fists are clammy from the sweat generated by my relentless grip.
I will kill him.
Never have four words been more delicious. More satisfying. More necessary.
I will kill him, and it will be slow. I will take my time with him like he took his time with my sister. He does not deserve a good death, or a clean death, not after all he’s done.
Her eyes drift to mine. “Then Ravin began to ask about you.”
“Me?” Shock momentarily snaps me back to my body.
She nods. “He began asking what you liked, and what you didn’t.
He…he wanted me to read tarot spreads relating to you.
Of course I refused.” She smiles again, but this time it doesn’t quite reach her eyes.
“He very much wanted to know, however. So he began to interrogate me, alternating interrogations and torture with the Six of Cups.”
The Six of Cups offers glimpses into the memories of an individual, usually whatever is top of mind for them at the time. It’s an erratic card that is impossible to control and is generally regarded as unreliable, considering that people are so apt to misremember or to lie to themselves.
“He would use the Three of Swords to have me relive Mother’s death.
Eventually, he used the Nine of Swords, and I finally broke and told him what he wanted to know.
” Her eyes turn to mine, and I see they’re shining now with emotion that wasn’t there before.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry for what I told him.
I spoke of Mother, our time living on the streets, of your first love and the club. ”
“Like I said, it doesn’t matter now,” I assure her. “Ravin has already played his hand, and so much has changed. There’s nothing you could’ve said that might impact things going forward.”
She smiles, weaker than before. She continues speaking as if I haven’t said anything.
“Even with the Nine of Swords, he couldn’t force me to read tarot for him.
I…” For the first time, Arina trails off, brow furrowing.
Just as I’m about to tell her to stop, she continues.
“I didn’t then. I didn’t ever…But oh, how he wanted me to. He was so, so angry.”
“You can stop now,” I say.
“The Knight of Swords was his favorite.” A card dedicated solely to inflicting pain. “He would pin me down with the Ten of Wands, then he…he…” Her voice has begun to waver. It loses strength, fading out entirely before coming back.
I glance toward Thal desperately. Their eyes meet mine, sorrow and pity filling their gaze.
Arina continues, tears flowing as swiftly as her words. “Then the rats and the maggots, the raw meat, and—oh, Twenty, Twenty, I was a corpse. I wished I was dead.”
“That’s enough. You’re safe now. Just focus on that: You are safe. That’s all that matters.” I try to position myself so that I’m the only thing she sees.
Arina rips her hand from mine, suddenly screaming as if burnt. She grabs her head, nails digging so deeply into her scalp that blood blooms in crescent arcs.
“I feel them! I still feel them!” The words have become shrill and sharp. “They are here with me. In me. Even now.”
“Arina.” I shake her gently, my hands on her shoulders. She screeches and twists, ripping herself from me.
“Let me go!” Arina claws at my face and arms. I take the scratches and beating.
“You won’t be hurt again. Listen to me—that’s all that matters now. You won’t be hurt. You’re safe.” I repeat it like a mantra as if it’ll somehow be enough, when it’s so obvious that it’s not.
“Make it stop.” She weeps. The sound is horrible. Her voice is broken. Shattered. She’s trembling, rattling, as though she’s about to fall apart. “Make it stop.”
There’s a swirl of blue light from where Thal stands.
I see a haze around Arina’s head. Her eyes become heavy, and she collapses in my arms, limp.
The steady rise and fall of her chest assures me she’s all right, merely sleeping.
The Four of Cups comes in handy, yet again.
The only thing that seems to give her relief is unconsciousness.
Saying nothing, Thal leaves the apartments. In their wake is a silence so heavy it could crush the world.