71. Clash of Stone and Steel
Clash of Stone and Steel
Talyn
Talyn lay on her back looking up at the ceiling in her cell. By now she was getting used to the feeling of the caronium suppressing her power.
So this is what it felt like to be mortal.
She’d been in the dungeon for five days, and Morland had barely moved, still under Bressen’s mind control as he was.
The man ate when given food, used the toilet when the urge arose, and slept when the guards put out the lights, but otherwise he either sat on his cot or paced the cell for a few minutes.
Talyn assumed the last was just to give him some exercise so his muscles didn’t atrophy.
She herself didn’t do much more than Morland.
She exercised to the extent that she could by doing pushups, sit-ups, and leg workouts, but otherwise she just read.
To her surprise, Cyra had brought her some books the first day, perhaps out of a lingering sense of friendship from her time as the lady’s handmaid, but Talyn hadn’t seen her since.
Jasper came once a day to visit Aidan, or at least Aidan’s body, but the lord consort didn’t do anything besides stand at the bars and watch his husband.
He never spoke to Talyn, and she never said anything to him out of respect for his need to grieve silently for the partner who was there, but not really there.
Talyn herself never had any visitors. Not during the day at least.
It was well after midnight that first night when Samhail came to see her. She was a light sleeper, but no particular sound had woken her. She’d just popped awake all of a sudden and felt him.
She was on her side facing the wall, and she didn’t move as he stood outside the bars watching her.
Perhaps it had been that faint scent of leather and earth that alerted her to his presence, or perhaps it was just the way her skin seemed to prickle when he was near, as if it knew something she didn’t.
She didn’t move, and she kept her breathing as steady and even as she could, so as not to let him know she was awake.
She wasn’t completely sure when he’d left because she heard nothing at all, but her body eventually relaxed, a sign he was no longer watching. Only then did she dare to turn over and verify the hallway outside her cell was empty.
He came every night that week, always in the deepest darkness. He never made a sound, never spoke to her, and always left as silently as he came, but she knew without a doubt every time he was there.
She looked forward to his visits. There was something strangely soothing about having him there, even if he never said anything, and she never acknowledged him. If he’d left her completely alone, that would’ve been far worse. This, at least, suggested he might still care for her.
She wasn’t sure why that mattered. They had no future together. Three hells, she had no future either with or without him. She’d agreed to turn herself over to Lord Bressen in a month, regardless of what happened with Morland, and then she’d be in Revenmyer.
She didn’t want to think about what it would be like in the prison, about the horrors she’d see in her nightmares.
She didn’t regret the life she’d chosen for herself – or perhaps the one fate had chosen for her – but if what Sandrian said was true, that wouldn’t matter.
She’d feel her victims’ pain over and over again regardless.
Especially that first man.
The man hadn’t been innocent. Morland had chosen him for a reason. He’d been stalking a woman – her – when she’d taken him, so she knew he was at least a predator, but he wasn’t the man who’d killed her sister.
“Fucking three hells!”
Talyn jumped at the voice coming from the cell across the hall and bolted off her cot to see what was going on.
Morland stood in the middle of his cell looking around. He seemed lucid, his eyes no longer vacant. He strode to the bars and pulled at the door to see if it would open, but it didn’t budge.
Talyn didn’t move. Had he broken through Bressen’s hold on him?
Morland’s gaze swung up to her, and she went rigid as he looked her up and down. A malicious grin curled the corners of his lips.
“Well, well. What do we have here?” he sneered. “It looks like I’m not the only one in a cage. Is this how Lord Bressen rewards his savior?”
Talyn didn’t say anything. If Morland wanted to make assumptions about why she was there, she’d let him. Maybe she could get more information out of him.
“How did you break out of Lord Bressen’s hold on your mind?” she asked instead.
Morland considered the question, then shrugged. “I didn’t. It seems he released me.”
Talyn’s body went cold, and she shook her head. “He wouldn’t do that,” she said.
“But it appears he has,” Morland said. “Maybe he thought you were lonely and needed someone to talk to.”
Talyn closed her eyes. Nemesis take her. It had been so nice and quiet down here, but she could see it now. Morland wasn’t going to shut up now that he was out from under Bressen’s control. Why on earth had the lord released him?
“It’s a pity they didn’t put us in the same cell,” Morland mused. “I could’ve shown you exactly what I did to your sister.”
Talyn’s eyes flew open, and her head snapped up. The look of cruel amusement on Morland’s face sent fire scorching through her veins, and she grabbed the bars of her cell to rattle them.
“You’re lucky they didn’t put me in there with you, or you’d learn early what the third level of hell feels like,” she snarled.
Morland tsked. “Such aggression. Your sister was so much more docile, so innocent.” He paused, and his smirk widened. “Did you know she was a virgin? Before me, that is.”
Bile rose in Talyn’s throat, and rage made her ears ring as she rattled the bars again.
“What was your sister’s name again? Julia?” he asked.
“Keep her name off your filthy lips, or I’ll-”
“She was still unconscious the first time I fucked her.”
Talyn froze. Her chest heaved as she tried to rein in her breathing and slow her heart.
It was pounding against the inside of her rib cage like it wanted to get out, but she realized her mistake now.
Morland enjoyed tormenting her, and she had no way to make him stop talking.
The more she showed him how it affected her, the more he was going to do it.
“It’s a pity really,” Morland said. “If I’d known she was a virgin, I’d have waited until she was awake to fuck her so I could hear her scream when I tore through her maidenhead. I like hearing them scream and cry. But who knew the daughter of a courtesan would be a virgin at that age.”
Talyn clenched her teeth together and tried not to react, but it was too late. She’d shown him too much.
“I just couldn’t help myself,” Morland went on, his eyes fixed on her face. “When I pulled her clothes off, all that creamy skin called to me. I just spread her pretty legs and shoved my cock inside.”
Talyn let out a jagged breath. She had to find a way to shut him up. She couldn’t listen to this. Not when she didn’t have any way to get to him, to make him pay for everything he’d done.
“There’s nothing tighter than virgin cunt,” Morland said, “and, gods, she felt so good.”
“Shut up!” Talyn screamed.
“She bled all over my cock. Such a mess. I made her lick it all off when she woke up. Her mouth and throat were almost as tight as-”
Talyn shook the bars with all her might, “Shut up, or I’ll-”
“You’ll do what?” he cut her off. “You’re over there, and I’m over here, and there are two sets of bars between us. Exactly how do you plan to make me stop telling you every little detail of my seven, long days and nights with your sister?”
Morland’s smile was feral now as he reached down to undo the fastenings of his pants and pull out Lord Aidan’s cock. It was erect, and she knew that remembering what he’d done to Julia was arousing him.
Talyn looked away. “I’m going to kill you,” she whispered, and she saw Morland stroke himself out of the corner of her eye.
“I’ll say one thing for that mortal body I had previously,” Morland went on, not acknowledging her threat.
“Its cock was long and thick. Lord Aidan is decently endowed, but that last cock I had made women scream so beautifully, especially when I fucked them in the ass. It really tore your sister up.”
Talyn clamped her hands over her ears and stumbled to the corner of her cell farthest from Morland.
She tried to hum to block out the sound of his voice, but he only shouted louder, and she could still just barely hear what he was saying despite her best efforts.
Tears ran down her face as he described in gruesome, callous detail the things he’d done to Julia.
When she dared to peek open an eye, she saw him stroking himself faster, and she pinched her eyes shut as tight as she could.
Protector save her. There was no way to make him stop, and she knew in that moment exactly what nightmare would haunt her dreams when she went to Revenmyer.
Talyn
Talyn had no idea how long Morland talked before he finally went to sleep.
She’d looked up at one point to see the guards had left her dinner, but she didn’t dare uncover her ears long enough to go eat.
She couldn’t stomach food anyway. She’d already vomited once during a particularly graphic part of Morland’s account that she’d been unable to block out, and she was shaking too badly to eat.
The thought of what Julia had gone through – the pain, the fear, the humiliation – it had nearly driven her mad, and Morland had never slowed in his story. He’d relished telling her, had taken pride in what he’d done.
At some point, Talyn had gotten too tired to continue holding her hands over her ears. Her arms shook with the effort, and she knew her muscles would be stiff in the morning.
The dungeon had been quiet for hours now, but Talyn hadn’t moved from the corner where she crouched, still trembling. Maybe if she exhausted herself enough, she’d be able to pass out tomorrow when Morland started taunting her again. Maybe she’d be able to sleep through it without him noticing.