Chapter 43
Forty-Three
KARL
ELLNESARI, PRESENT DAY
M y head is pounding, and my mouth is unbearably dry.
I haven’t slept a minute since we were captured by Queen Maewe.
I’m in a small, windowless pitch-black prison cell.
There isn’t a bed or even a cot on the cold ground.
I can’t tell how long I’ve been here. I can smell nothing save for my own scent, and no one has come in what feels like an eternity.
I haven’t eaten anything or drunk any water either.
Dehydration will become a problem soon, but it’s the constant buzzing in my ears that’s driving me crazy.
It’s like there’s a bee inside my skull.
The worst torture is not feeling Manu anymore. It’s like my connection to her was severed. I know she isn’t dead, because I’m still alive, but it worries me sick that I can’t feel her. Queen Maewe hates her, and I can’t imagine what she’s doing to Manu.
I already tried shifting to see if, in my wolf form, I would have a better sense of where I am, but the noise in my ears became worse, so I shifted back to my human form.
I’m about to lose my mind when hinges creak loudly and a sliver of light penetrates my prison cell. The buzzing in my head finally stops, which means I can shift.
“Don’t get any ideas, wolf. If you shift, your mate dies,” the guard I can’t quite see warns me.
“Where is she?”
“Turn around and put your hands flat against the wall.”
Fat chance of that happening. I charge the male instead, banking on catching him off guard.
But I don’t make it far before I’m hit by an electric blast that flings me backward.
I hit the far wall, and before I even drop to the ground, my mouth is filled with blood.
The pain is excruciating, and it seems to go on forever.
Eventually, the shock waves reverberating through my body stop, but I can’t move. I can’t speak. My muscles are like pudding, and my tongue is thick in my mouth.
Rough hands flip me around and bind my hands behind my back. I sense the presence of a second male but can’t turn my face toward them.
“What happened?” the newcomer asks.
“The fool tried to escape. He’s just as dumb as his mate.”
The male laughs. “It definitely makes our job more entertaining.”
“Stop laughing and help me get him up. The queen wants to see him.”
I’m lifted off the floor by the two guards and then dragged out of my prison cell.
Once outside, I’m hit at once by all the senses I was deprived of in the cell.
It must have been enchanted to cut me off from the world outside—complete sensory deprivation, apart from the irritating noise in my head.
The first thing I search for is Manu’s scent, but I realize she wasn’t brought to this part of the palace. There’s not even a hint of her, but I do detect Adrian. He was moved a few hours ago, is my guess.
The hallway is well illuminated, and the glare from the lights hurts my eyes.
I refuse to shut them, though. I need to get the lay of the land.
The walls are made of light gray stone, and there are several metal doors along the way.
Nothing with bars, so I can’t tell if those cells are occupied, nor do I pick up any scents wafting from them as I pass.
They’re either empty, or the doors work both ways to prevent smells from traveling through the cracks.
The two guards dragging me across the stone tiles are both wearing armor, but I don’t see any weapons on them.
I wonder what was used to stun me. Nightingales possess magic, but the blast I endured was powerful, and I’m not sure these males have that type of magic at their disposal.
I’m hoping they used a device. A weapon can be taken away, but innate magic can’t.
That’s a problem for later, when I recover the ability to move.
We go up a flight of winding steps that seems to go on forever, and it doesn’t take long for my captors’ breathing to become ragged.
They must not be happy that they were forced to immobilize me, but neither complains.
When we finally reach the landing, I’m beginning to recover feeling in my legs.
They tingle in an unpleasant way, but it’s better than not having any sensation at all.
The guards continue their trek in a much larger hallway.
The flooring is white granite with silver-and-blue veins, polished to perfection.
The walls are covered by wallpaper with a shimmering texture, and the light is provided by crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.
This is definitely a main area in the castle, and my nose picks up a myriad of scents.
I focus on the smells, trying to find Manu’s in the mix.
My stomach coils tightly when I can’t locate her and the bond remains silent.
“Where are you taking me?” I grit out, finally able to make out words.
“You’ll see soon enough, wolf,” one of the guards replies.
We stop in front of a set of tall double doors with intricate carvings in them. There’s nothing about them that should make me leery, and yet rivulets of dread drip down my spine, and my skin breaks out in goose bumps.
The door opens inward, revealing a grand chamber with a high domed ceiling and a dais at the end where Queen Maewe sits on her throne.
Selor is at her feet, wearing a collar with a chain.
He has a black eye and a busted lip, but it’s the burn marks on his chest that make my skin crawl.
He’s been tortured despite centuries of unwavering loyalty to Queen Maewe.
The desolation I see etched on his face is pitiful.
At once, Manu’s scent reaches my nose, wrapped in fear and blood. My wolf churns inside me, wanting to be set free. But I can’t risk it, not when Manu is at the queen’s mercy.
The guards move forward, and the queen smiles. “Ah, finally. The guest of honor has arrived.”
I ignore her while I frantically search the room for Manu.
When I finally find her, my stomach churns.
She’s strapped to a white tree by silver chains that cut into her skin.
Her clothes are in pieces, barely covering her body, and she has multiple lacerations where her skin is visible.
Adrian is sitting at the base of the tree, rocking back and forth as he hugs his knees.
His chin is dipped low, and his long hair covers most of his face.
“Manu!” I try to break free, but my strength hasn’t returned, and the guards maintain their vicious hold on my arms.
“Karl?”
She lifts her chin, and the ragged cry that rips from my throat echoes in the room. “No! What have you done to her?”
Blood covers most of Manu’s face, seeping from several cuts along her cheeks.
“She brought it on herself,” Queen Maewe replies as if bored. “If she had told me what my husband is planning, then I wouldn’t have been forced to make your new friend try to get it out of her.”
Adrian’s head snaps up, and his frantic gaze connects with mine. “I didn’t want to do it. I tried to stop it,” he says through a choked throat.
The truth hits me like a wrecking ball. Queen Maewe forced Adrian to hurt Manu. He looks miserable and broken. She could have gotten the answer from him, unless…
“It wasn’t his fault, Karl. They vowed to not say a word,” Manu answers the question in my head.
Tears gather in my eyes. “Manu… no.”
“Your mate very cleverly got a vow from her companions, and as you can imagine, that displeased me immensely. But it was all for nothing, for I know you haven’t made a vow of silence.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. The bitch is cunning and cruel. Even knowing Adrian and Selor couldn’t tell the truth, she tortured them.
“You’re right. I made no vow. But if you want information, I require a vow of my own from you.”
The queen’s lips curl upward, and malice shines in her eyes. “You’re in no position to request anything. You’re my prisoner, caught trespassing in my territory. I can do with you as I please.”
“You will never know what King Ruel plans to do, then, and when you finally find out, it’ll be too late.”
“Karl, please, don’t say anything,” Manu begs.
Queen Maewe narrows her eyes and studies me. Sweat dots my forehead, and my stomach twists so tight, it makes me sick. This is a gamble. I am at her mercy. If she hurts Manu in front of me, I’ll cave in a heartbeat.
“Very well. What do you want?”
What I want more than anything in the world is for her to lift the curse, but she can’t find out that I know about it. She would be furious, and I’m already walking a tightrope. “I want your word that you will release us—all of us, including Adrian and Selor.”
The queen’s former favorite widens his eyes. He wasn’t expecting help from me, that much is clear. I barely know the male, but I can’t in good conscience leave him in the clutches of his psychotic queen.
“That’s a big ask.”
“It’s a big secret,” I counter.
“Very well. You have a deal.”
Selor opens his mouth to warn me about something, but the queen yanks his chain and chokes him.
My heart is hammering in my chest while I rack my brain for a detail I could be missing. Nightingales can’t lie, but they can manipulate and trick. The buzzing in my head returns, making it hard to focus on anything. Hell. I bet Queen Maewe is doing it so I can’t think straight.
“Karl… please don’t tell her,” Manu cries out.
I glance at her, and my eyes fill with tears.
My heart is breaking all over again. Telling the queen what her husband plans to do could mean he’ll fail.
If that happens, the curse won’t be broken, and Manu and I will never be able to be together.
But the alternative is to watch Queen Maewe torture Manu to an inch of her life before she kills us both.
Despite the buzzing in my ears, I remember how vows in Ellnesari work.
“You must say it out loud,” I grit out.
Her nostrils flare, and her lips become nothing but a slash on her pale face. “You’ve learned our ways quickly, wolf.”
I remain silent, not wanting to incense the mercurial queen even more.
Eventually, she relaxes against her throne and waves her hand dismissively. “Tell me what Ruel is planning, and I will release your mate and your travel companions.”
I sense the magic wrap around me as the binding takes place. Satisfied this is the best I can do, I say, “King Ruel plans to use the Magna Vis to strip the crown from you.”
The queen doesn’t move for a few beats, and her face remains an expressionless mask. Then she throws her head back and laughs like villains do in movies. The cackles echo in the room, as grating as nails scratching a blackboard.
“That’s your big secret? My dear wolf, I knew that the moment I found you outside the Valley of Lost Souls. Why else would Ruel send you there?”
My stomach falls through the earth as the realization hits me. Queen Maewe has been toying with us this whole time.
“Unfortunately, the Magna Vis is nothing but a fable. You didn’t find it, or I’d be able to sense it. Ruel will never rule Aquila.”
Little does she know that we did find it, but then lost it somehow, which doesn’t help us.
“He can still kill you with his shadowbeasts,” Manu retorts. “And you will never see that coming, since you don’t possess the gift to foresee the future.”
The queen grasps the arms of her throne so hard that her knuckles turn white. “Silence!”
The chains around Manu’s body tighten, and she cries out.
“Stop it! You vowed to release us.”
“True, but I never said when.”
Son of a bitch . That’s what Selor was trying to warn me about.
Queen Maewe continues to torture Manu, taking extreme pleasure from it.
Fury erupts from the pit of my stomach, and before I can stop the shift, I leap in wolf form, gunning for the bitch.
The guards shout a warning, but the queen is so focused on hurting Manu that she doesn’t heed them.
Maybe I can end her reign of terror after all.
It’s a foolish hope. Seconds before I reach her, she raises one hand and lifts me off the floor. I can’t move a muscle, and then I hear bones shattering—my bones. White-hot pain flares everywhere in my body. Manu screams my name right before the world goes dark.