20. Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty
Kya
I n what seemed like only a moment, my legs were smacking down the steps of the prison, and I was tossed back into my cell.
An icy sensation jolted me fully awake, and my lips parted with a sharp gasp. I was facing the small window, where I could see night had fallen on the moon-filled sky. I was resting on my hip with my legs bent to my side. My arms were above my head uncomfortably. I tried pulling on them, but the most I could manage was a twitch followed by the soft sound of chains rattling.
Shit. This is bad.
I didn’t need to turn my head to know that Daegel was still in the room. His sinister presence was palpable in the air as I inhaled through my nose, scenting Daegel, Leysa and Talum.
Daegel stepped into view from behind me, instantly making adrenaline rush through my veins. He looked at me with an unreadable expression.
“It seems you have a unique capability. One that poses a problem for your compliance and gives you the hope you actually stand a chance of getting away,” Daegel said, glancing behind me.
My wings.
It was stupid of me to shift them in front of him earlier. I thought I could have gotten away—that it was the only chance I would get—but instead I had thrown away my last advantage.
I tried to speak but only managed a weak whimper.
Daegel’s face remained neutral. “I don’t need your cooperation for this part.” He turned his head and nodded to someone. “And I certainly don’t need to waste my energy in the future by keeping you paralyzed in case you try to use them again.”
The chains were pulled, lifting me until my feet dangled with only my toes grazing the floor. My eyes darted around frantically, and my breaths came quickly as uncontrollable dread washed over me.
A hand gripped the collar of my shirt behind me, and I felt the cold spine of a blade slide along my back as my shirt was cut down the middle, along with my breast binding. I heard as the cloth was torn from around my wings, the fabric hanging loosely at my shoulders. I continued to stare at Daegel while he watched.
He yanked a large knife with a slightly curved blade from its sheath at his hip and flipped it in his hand so the handle was facing outward. He held it out, offering it to whomever was standing behind me.
“Take it,” he ordered in an authoritative tone.
Nothing happened for a moment. I could smell the tension in the air between them, but I had no idea if it was Leysa or Talum.
“This is your doing. You’re the one who failed,” Daegel said.
Daegel pulled his hand back, and when I noticed the missing blade from his hand I began willing my body to move, to shift, to fight, to scream, anything. All I could manage was one small jerk that was barely anything. I heard Leysa sniffle behind me.
“She doesn’t need them to live,” Daegel sounded annoyed as he reassured whoever had the blade.
No!
“Will they come back when she…transforms again?” Talum said from behind me. But I still didn’t know which one was holding the blade intended to destroy the gift given to me.
Daegel studied me with cold eyes and tilted his head. “I guess we’ll find out.”
He stepped back and leaned against the wall beneath the window with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked behind me and nodded.
Not my wings! Please, Gods—anyone—don’t let them take my wings! No. No!
I screamed internally when I felt the tip of the blade on my back at the top of my wing.
Don’t do this! Please, don’t do this!
But I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t beg. I couldn’t move no matter how hard I tried. I couldn’t do anything… The blade dug deep into the flesh around the base of my wings.
They weren’t just cutting them off—they were carving them out.
My mind and body were crying out from the unbearable pain with each excruciatingly deep slice. My body shook uncontrollably, and I felt the blood rushing down my back, soaking into my clothes. It felt like an eternity as I suffered through it all, praying I would pass out.
Daegel continued to watch with nothing but indifference etched across his face.
I heard a heavy thud, and the weight of my wings lessened on one side. Tears streamed down my face.
Every memory of flying with Odarum flashed before my eyes. The memory of pride and elation from Ryker when he saw them for the first time. And the future memories Daegel stole of soaring through the sky with the wind beneath me…
Then the blade moved to my other wing.
Why are you doing this? You bastard! I will kill you. I will make you pay!
A fiery rage erupted in my chest. Through tears and sweat, my eyes bored holes into Daegel’s with the promise of a wrathful vengeance.
He leaned in close—close enough I could see the cascade of color that crafted the blue in his eyes reflecting his dark, cold soul.
“I need you to be broken so I can fix you.”
After my second wing fell, Daegel waved his hand, releasing me from my chains and restoring my ability to move. Two sets of hands helped me to the bed. I lay face down, with the tatters of my shirt still clinging to my arms and soaked with my blood. I could feel the gaping holes in my back, and each soft brush of air felt like scorching flames.
“He’ll come for me,” I whispered, and I wasn’t sure if it was to myself or to Daegel. “He’ll tear the realms apart to find me.”
My shadow will come for me.
My eyes dragged to Daegel’s, who turned to look at me. I hoped he could see the promise that rested in my glare. To my surprise, his icy, empty eyes softened.
“I know he will.” He stated it plainly, not with anger but…understanding.
Daegel, Talum, and Leysa left, leaving me alone with my discarded wings. I stared at them, lifeless on the blood-covered floor. They were close enough to touch, and I reached out, brushing the soft, black feathers with my fingertips. I removed a few of them, then pulled them to my chest. I didn’t know what would happen to my wings, and if they were going to be taken away, I wanted at least a little piece of them to stay with me.
I closed my eyes and fresh tears fell, trailing down my sweat-crusted cheeks. I sobbed into the thin pillow.
The weight of everything threatened to bury me, and I didn’t know what to do. There was nothing I could do…
Sometime later, the door to my cell opened. I didn’t look to see who it was. I didn’t want to see anyone, and I was hoping they would just leave.
My body tensed when I saw a pair of male’s boots step in front of me.
Please don’t be Daegel. I can’t handle anything more right now.
Talum bent down, placing a wooden bowl and a clean washcloth draped over the side on the floor next to him. He looked at me with sympathetic eyes. The bowl was filled with a thick liquid that had a silvery sheen—the same liquid I was dunked into for my “cleansing,” as Daegel called it. I wished he had explained what the fuck it was.
I eyed the liquid warily.
“It’s not going to hurt you. This is heill.” He gestured to the bowl. “It’s a… I don’t know how to say it in your language. But it cleans you.”
“It cleans me?” I croaked out. My voice was hoarse .
“In a sense. More than just a bath though. I don’t know how to say it. It keeps you healthy.” Talum picked up the cloth and soaked it before wringing it out and placing it on my back.
I didn’t fight him. I didn’t even say no. I didn’t have the energy or the will.
But he was right, it didn’t hurt. At least the liquid didn’t. The cloth felt like sandpaper on my sensitive skin making me hiss. He eased the pressure but didn’t say anything as he continued. The wounds were already starting to feel better.
“Who did it?” My voice was thick at the thought of Leysa, my mate’s mother , taking my wings away.
Talum met my eyes for a moment before looking away again. “Does it matter?”
It didn’t. Not really. If it was Leysa, maybe I didn’t want to know. They were gone, and knowing wasn’t going to bring them back. And maybe it was better for me to believe that if it was her, she would have fought for me. But Talum wouldn’t.
“I don’t understand why he’s making you clean me.”
“Daegel has never made me do anything,” Talum said.
Leysa could say he wasn’t so bad, but anyone who willingly aligned with that fucker was diabolical in my eyes.
“Why are you helping me?” I whispered. Wouldn’t they want me weak and suffering? Wasn’t Daegel’s purpose to make me suffer as much as possible?
I supposed he was already. The collar prevented me from using my magic, making me crawl in my own skin.
He destroyed my home. He had taken my Spirit Guardian from me. My mating bond was fractured. And now, my wings. He had taken everything but my life.
“Because,” Talum sighed and dipped the cloth back into the liquid then resumed, “while we don’t have mates like you, I know the pain of being kept from the one you love.” He leaned over so I was forced to look at him and he spoke softly. “He knows what your mate will do to him. And trust me, he’s being merciful to you because of it.”
“Why does Daegel need my compliance? For what?” I asked.
Talum finished and draped the cloth over the side of the bowl, then leaned back on his heels. “I honestly don’t know. But even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”
He didn’t say it in a snarky way. It was just the truth—words filled with blind loyalty.
I nodded. I didn’t like it, but I understood.
“Can you at least tell me why he wants me specifically? What do I have to do with anything?” I pleaded with my eyes.
He chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment, contemplating, then gave a single, shallow nod. “He was told to find the Diamond—you. You’re the one who can give him the power he needs. For what, I’m not sure.”
“Yeah, I know that part. But who told him?” My brows furrowed.
“God,” he said, like it was obvious.
“And you only have one?” It was still a wild concept to me that this realm was only ruled by one of the Gods.
Talum nodded. I hissed as he ran the cloth over my wounds again. The conversation was providing a welcoming distraction.
“What’s your God’s name?” If it was Kleio—or even Xareus—perhaps there was a way for me to talk to them. This world was different, so maybe the rules were different too.
“Odes,” Talum said, and my eyes widened. I wasn’t expecting that. “But he abandoned this world long ago. Long before our ancestors were even born.”
Odes, the Fallen God, and the one whose death ended the War of the Gods. The very reason why none of the Gods or Spirits could interfere in my realm .
I pushed up to my elbows, cringing at the pain in my back. “He didn’t abandon it. He died in my world thousands of years ago.”
Talum’s brows flattened. “A God can’t die.”
“Well, this one did. He fell, and it nearly tore our realm apart, causing the Rip. It caused such an imbalance that the rest of the Gods can’t interfere with us at all outside of the Trial. Not even when Daegel came to our realm and started destroying entire Nations—and lives —with the Glaev.”
“Not everything is as it seems.” My head snapped to the doorway to find Daegel leaning against the frame with his hands in his pockets. His eyes met Talum’s, and he said something to him in their language.
Talum stood up, taking the bowl with him and left the room.
Daegel stared at me for a moment with a cold, unfeeling expression. And just before he left, he warned, “Just remember I could have killed more. And I still can.”