Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Alice
Reveni.
A hard voice shattered the black void. The peaceful nothingness splintered like glass, and reality came crashing back.
Pain.
Unbearable, all-consuming pain.
It slammed into me from every direction at once. My back—god, my back felt like it had been flayed open. My ribs screamed with every shallow breath. Bones had shattered. Muscles had torn. Everything hurt. Everything.
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t do anything but drown in agony.
Anguish pulsed through my backside where the cane had struck over and over. My stomach lurched and sloshed, rebelling against the trauma my body had endured. Blood raced up my throat—hot, metallic, wrong.
I vomited onto the floor. Onto the pool of my blood that had already gathered beneath me.
My fingers curled against cold stone. Where was I? Still strapped to that barrel? No—I was lying down now. On something hard and unforgiving.
A whimper escaped my lips before I could stop it. I wanted to crawl back into the darkness. Back to the void where nothing could touch me.
But that voice wouldn’t let me.
Someone was here. Someone had woken me.
And whoever it was, I wasn’t sure if I should be grateful or terrified.
Rough hands dragged me off the floor and I groaned—a broken, pathetic sound I couldn’t hold back. The slightest movement sent waves of agony whirling through me like a tornado, tearing through muscle and bone and nerve.
“Drink.”
The voice was distant. Muffled. Like hearing someone speak underwater.
Fingers clamped around my jaw like I was an animal, forcing my mouth open. Something salty and sweet poured between my lips—thick, coating my tongue with a taste that was almost pleasant beneath the iron tang of my own blood.
I coughed. Sputtered. Liquid ran down my chin, and I nearly choked as it flooded my throat.
“Swallow, damn it.”
I couldn’t. My body was betraying me. Everything was betraying me.
“If you don’t drink, you’ll remain in pain forever.”
I knew that male voice. But it wasn’t Darius. Who—
My mind was too contorted in agony to figure it out. Thoughts scattered like shattered glass every time I tried to grasp one. Right now, I didn’t care. I just wanted the pain to stop.
More liquid forced its way down my throat. I swallowed once. Twice. Then the flow stopped and I gasped for air, my chest heaving.
The man released me, and I fell onto the cold floor.
That’s when the healing began.
And it was almost worse than the beating.
Fire erupted across my back—not the sting of open wounds, but something deeper.
Bones grinding together, fusing, knitting back into place.
I screamed, my back arching off the floor.
Muscles twisted and reformed beneath my skin.
The lash marks burned like someone was pressing hot irons against each one.
My ribs cracked—then shifted. I felt them moving inside me, realigning, and bile surged up my throat.
I thrashed against the cold stone, unable to control my body as it stitched itself back together. Tears streamed down my face. Sweat soaked through what remained of my clothes.
The pain didn’t fade—it migrated. From my back to my ribs to my hips to my legs. Every injury demanding its due as the elixir forced my body to heal at an unnatural pace.
Finally—finally—the fire began to ebb. The agony dulled to a throbbing ache, then a distant soreness. I lay there gasping, trembling, my fingers clawing weakly at the floor.
White dots floated across my vision. Through the haze, I caught a glimpse of eyes staring down at me.
Blue eyes. Not silver.
Shit.
Ari.
I gasped for breath. Through my tangled hair, I could make out the dungeon walls. Still here. Still trapped.
Despair crashed over me. I'd hoped—stupidly, desperately—that it had been a nightmare. That I'd wake up somewhere safe. But there was no waking up from this.
Ari wrenched me up and shoved me against the wall, locking my wrists into the chains. I craned my neck, searching. Darius. I needed to see him. Needed to know he was still alive. But the dungeon was empty. Just me and the silence and the growing dread that I'd never see him again.
“Where’s…” I swallowed, my throat raw. “Where’s Darius?”
“Gone.”
The word pierced my heart, cutting it in two. Ari set me down and my legs crumbled beneath me. I was as weak as a newborn fawn.
“Is he…” A tear slid down my cheek before I could stop it. “Is he dead?”
“No. He’s with the queen.” Ari’s voice was flat. Cold. “You need to forget about him. He’s no longer yours.”
The cruelty in his tone cut deeper than Alanna’s cane. This was a man who had never known love. Who couldn’t possibly understand what he was asking me to do.
Ari pulled something from his pocket—a small pink bar wrapped in gold foil. He unwrapped it and held it in front of my face.
“Eat this.”
I dangled from the chains, my arms screaming from holding my weight. I barely had the strength to lift my head, let alone chew.
“What is it?”
“It’s called Eat Me.” His lips twisted into something that wasn’t quite a smile. “It’ll give you strength.”
I turned my head away. That elixir had knitted me back together—but it had hurt almost as much as the torture. Nothing from these people came without a price. Without pain. “Why should I trust you?”
I sniffed, trying to clear my head. A sweet scent cut through the stench of blood and damp stone. Strawberry? Something fruity and light, completely out of place in this hellhole.
But it could be just as bad or even worse than the elixir.
The pink bar was in Ari’s hand, inches from my face.
“You shouldn’t.” He grabbed a fistful of my hair and wrenched my head back, shoving the bar between my lips. “But you don’t have a choice.”
I wanted to spit it out. But my body had other ideas. The sweetness burst across my tongue—strawberry and something else. Some Elder Dimension fruit that didn't exist in my world. I chewed despite myself. Another bite. Then another. I hated him for it. Hated myself more.
I was nothing here. Weak. Vulnerable. Completely at Ari’s mercy.
But Darius was out there somewhere. With Alanna. And if I wanted to find him—if I wanted to save him—I had to get my strength back.
He needed me. For once in my life, someone needed me.
I hated this. Hated that I had to accept anything from him. But pride wouldn’t save Darius. Stubbornness wouldn’t get me out of these chains.
Warmth spread through my chest. Subtle at first, then stronger. Like drinking hot cocoa after coming in from the cold. The trembling in my limbs began to ease. My vision sharpened.
I could feel my strength returning, thread by thread, knitting itself back together.
It started in my core—a warmth spreading outward like ripples in a pond. My stomach stopped churning. My heartbeat steadied. The fog clouding my mind began to lift.
Then it moved to my limbs. The trembling in my arms faded—but not gently.
It burned, like fire stitching through my muscles.
I gritted my teeth. My fingers, which had been numb and useless, tingled back to life.
Pins and needles, sharp and relentless. I flexed them, testing, and felt the chains shift against my wrists, still binding my power.
My legs were next. Strength flooded back into muscles that had given up—but it ached, deep and throbbing, like bruises healing too fast. I pressed my feet flat against the cold stone floor and pushed.
I stood.
Not gracefully. Not easily. But I stood on my own two feet without my legs threatening to buckle beneath me.
One step closer to finding Darius.
I took a shaky breath, then a deeper one. Air filled my lungs without the stabbing pain of broken ribs. My back still ached—a ghost of the agony Alanna had inflicted—but it was bearable now. Manageable.
I lifted my head and flicked the tangled hair from my face.
I wasn’t healed. Not completely. But I was no longer broken.
And that was enough.
Now—these chains. I tugged at my wrists, testing. The metal held, but I was stronger now. There had to be a way.
Footsteps echoed down the stairs. Chains rattled.
Alanna. Not again. Was that why Ari fed me? So she could tear me apart again?
“We have some more guests,” Ari smirked.
Guards shoved two massive prisoners into the dungeon. Manacles around their ankles locked them together, forcing them to shuffle in unison. They wore nothing but tattered pants, their torsos bare and battered.
My breath caught.
Flint and Steel.
They were alive.
Dirt caked their faces and chests. Their heads hung low, their shoulders slumped with exhaustion and defeat.
Someone had beaten them too. Just like Alanna had beaten me.
Was there anyone in her kingdom that showed the slightest bit of mercy or kindness?
Their eyes widened when they saw me but neither spoke.
The guards shoved them into a nearby cell, the iron door clanging shut behind them. Neither man looked up.
Through the bars, I could see their backs—and my stomach turned. Bloody lash marks crisscrossed their skin, some fresh, still weeping, others crusted over with dried blood.
More footsteps came down the stairs, but these were softer. Hesitant.
Guards ushered a frightened blonde woman into the dungeon. Three small children clung to her tattered skirt—a boy and two girls, none of them older than six or seven. Their faces were streaked with dirt, their eyes wide with terror.
My heart clenched. Children. They’d imprisoned children.
The woman’s face was haggard, hollow with fear and exhaustion. She pulled her little ones closer, shielding them with her body even though there was nowhere to hide.
They were escorted to a cell next to Flint and Steel. The iron door clanged shut, and the smaller girl began to cry.
I wanted to scream. To tear free from these chains and rip Alanna apart with my bare hands. What kind of monster locked up children?
One of the guards looked over at Ari. “The queen requests your presence, pet.”
Ari snarled, gnashing his teeth. “Don’t call me that.”
Pet. The guard had called him pet. Was that Alanna’s nickname for him? Or was that just what the guards called him?
Was Ari her prisoner too? Trapped in her web just like the rest of us?
A bitter laugh nearly escaped my throat. Fitting. The monster who’d helped torture me was nothing but a caged animal himself.