Chapter 62 Rhyland
Rhyland
Ice burns through my veins as consciousness slams back into me. My muscles spasm, betraying me with that first desperate gasp. Black water floods my lungs, and raw fury ignites in my chest.
The chains bite deeper, their magic pulsing with ancient power. Each thrash only tightens their grip, metal singing against metal as I fight anyway. Blood clouds the water—my wrists are raw meat from fighting the links. I don't care. I'll tear myself apart if that's what it takes.
"Dani."
Her name blazes through my mind, and I claw for our bond. Nothing. The wards block everything—my powers, our connection, even my ability to sense if she's safe. The thought of her vulnerable while that horned bastard roams free makes my vision go red.
What if he's going after her next? What if right now, while I'm trapped in this frozen hell, Loki is—
My body convulses as more water fills my lungs. The pain transcends anything I've felt in a thousand years—like being torn apart cell by cell, only to be stitched back together for more torture.
Lightning should be answering my rage. These chains should be ash. Instead, that poison still courses through me, leaving me trapped in my own useless flesh while my powers burn just out of reach.
Find me, baby. Please find me.
But the thought of her feeling this agony through our bond makes my heart seize worse than the ice. She'd feel everything—every death, every resurrection, every moment of this endless torture.
Darkness edges in. My heart stumbles...
No—
Black.
Pain explodes through my chest as life crashes back. The water's colder now, if that's even fucking possible. My muscles seize as ice crystallizes in my bones.
The chains rattle with my renewed struggle. More blood clouds the water, but the wounds heal almost instantly—my body repairing itself just to be torn apart again. Some sick cosmic joke.
These fucking wards mock me—letting my body stitch itself back together just so I can die again, while keeping my real power locked away like a caged beast. A thousand years of strength, lightning, and raw fucking dominance, reduced to nothing but an endless cycle of drowning and healing.
Dani. Gods, stay safe. Don't feel this. Don't come.
But I know my mate. Know that warrior's heart that beats in time with mine. One slip in these wards and she'll feel everything. She'll come for me, consequences be damned.
And Loki will be waiting.
The bastard's probably counting on it. Using me as bait to draw her out, to trap her like he trapped me. The thought sends fresh rage coursing through my veins, but it does nothing against these enchanted chains.
My lungs spasm again. Can't fight it this time...
Dark.
The cycle repeats. Ice. Pain. Rage. My thoughts scatter like—
Find me... no, stay away... protect her... kill him...
Images flash behind my eyes—Dani's smile, her fierce light in battle, the way she looks at me like I'm her whole world. Then darker visions: Loki's hands around her throat, her light dimming, her screams that I can't answer...
Consciousness fades.
Returns.
The cold bites deeper. How long has it been? Hours? Days? Time means nothing in this endless loop of death and resurrection.
Baby... please... don't let him...
My body jerks with another drowning spasm. The chains laugh their metal song.
I'll kill him... tear him apart... if he touches her...
Darkness claims me again.
And again.
And—