Chapter 25
RONAN
My head hung low, blood dripping from my split lip, the metallic taste thick on my tongue.
The chains suspending me from the ceiling dig into my wrists, the cold bite of metal a constant reminder that I wasn’t going anywhere.
My arms burned from holding my weight, but that was the least of my problems.
For a torture chamber, the place was disturbingly spotless.
Too clean. The walls were smooth, sterile grey—like someone had scrubbed away every scream, every drop of blood.
Not a single crack or stain, not even dust. No windows either, just the low, constant hum of the lights overhead and the sound of my own rough breathing echoing back at me.
The floor was spotless, well apart from my blood splattered around me; there were built-in drains to make the clean up easier.
No doubt this place got hosed down after every poor bastard got dragged in here and didn't walk back out.
Efficient. Cold. Almost funny, if you ignored the part where I was the one bleeding on their shiny floor.
At the far end of the room, couches sat in perfect alignment, positioned like VIP seating at a fucked-up show. A place for spectators to lounge while they watched the pain unfold.
Sick fuckers.
If it's vampires, I don’t give a rat’s ass, but recently she’s hurt more supernatural beings.
My fingers twitch, the weight of the chains rattling in the quiet. I lift my head just enough to spit more blood onto the polished floor.
All this shit, and I can only think of Cherry.
My Cherry.
I was pissed when Kieran told me he took her back into the Whispering Woods, but it had to be done to protect her and Darian’s twin brother and sister. I still didn’t like it.
And that’s when we were taken by some of the guards and brought down here so Vespera could question us.
Some hunters who are so far up her ass they could taste her shit showed up here and beat us to a pulp. And trust me, I’ll never forget who touched us—I’ll slit every last one of their throats for turning their backs on us.
I knew she was watching me through that meeting, and I tried so hard not to react, and I thought I did okay, but I suppose not, because here I am.
Vespera always did have a flair for theatrics. She was a curse that needed to be broken.
Kieran wasn’t far from me, hanging from the same chains. His busted eye was swollen shut, his nose looked like it had taken a solid blow, and he was barely holding himself up. But he was breathing.
That was something.
I have no clue where Darian is; he never showed up with Kieran, and that sets off every alarm bell in my head. I wouldn’t put it past him to go looking for Ravena, hurting her or bringing her to the devil.
The past few months, he's been different, and not in his usual grouchy-muppet way.
Ever since Vespera had him working for her more, he's been colder, cruel at times and completely spaced out.
The way he talks to Ravena grates on my nerves, and I've never wanted to sucker punch someone so much in my life.
She's part of this family now—her, her dragon, and that psychotic blood mage—and she'd better start acting like it.
All I wanted was to go back to her, crawl into my bed, breathe her in, feel her warmth and maybe steal a few more of those sweet noises from her lips.
Now I’m fucking stuck here.
Both of us battered and bleeding, and now Kieran's passed out, not only because of that, but I can’t remember the last time he had a drink.
They haven’t even questioned us, just used us as a personal punching bag.
We have been careful not to let on that we were involved in hiding the witch the seers kept having visions about, and stayed clear of Nyx, so I don’t understand why we are here.
They couldn’t know about her. If they did, she’d be dead—and honestly, I’m not sure what I’d do without her.
In what feels like no time at all, she has turned my world upside down.
It’s fast, messy, and yeah, it’s confusing as hell—but it's real.
And somehow, it scares the crap out of me and excites me too.
Kieran groans, his head rolling forward as blood drips from his nose.
“Are you still conscious over there?” I croak out, wriggling my fingers.
“Unfortunately,” he grits out.. “Would rather be waking up to a bottle of whisky and not a broken face.”
I smirk, but it hurts like hell. “Yeah, well… looks like we're stuck with door number two.”
I yanked at the chains, ignoring the sharp sting as pain tore down my arms. The metal barely budged. Figures. Vespera didn’t do half measures when keeping people in their place.
The door creaks open just as I give another pull, and my eyes narrow when she steps in—Nyx sliding in beside her, all shadow and nightmare.
Shit. Okay. Don’t look into its eyes.
“Good evening, gentlemen. Hope you're holding up well.” She steps further into the room as her bodyguards close the door.
I let out a sharp bark of laughter, shaking my head. “Seriously? Holding up well?” I shoot her a look, my lips curling. “Is that a pun, or are you actually trying to be funny?”
Kieran huffed beside me, shifting in his chains, his busted eye cracking open. “If she’s trying to be funny, she sucks at it.”
Vespera's smile didn't waver, revelling in our discomfort, but I caught the brief flare of impatience in her gaze directed at us.
Good.
If I was going to be strung up like a fucking ornament, I was at least going to be a pain in her ass while I was at it.
Her heels clicked against the floor as she moved closer, stopping just a foot away. Even bound and beaten, I could still feel the weight of her presence, the suffocating power she wielded. It never felt right, like it was infected somehow.
“I see you're both full of spirit,” She muses, tilting her head to study me.
“Good. But let's not waste time.” She claps her hands behind her back, pacing around us like a predator circling its prey.
“I’ll only ask once, and I expect the truth.
Fail me, and you'll answer to me—and trust me, you won't like it.”
She steps in front of us, eyes flicking between me and Kieran. “Who was the girl at your home yesterday?”
My stomach dropped.
Cherry.
I kept my expression blank, forcing myself to meet her stare. She couldn’t sense lies, which was the only advantage I had right now.
“How the hell are we supposed to know?” I shrugged as best as I could with my arms shackled. “We were here with you.”
Vespera hummed, unconvinced.
“Well, Sera says differently.”
Fucking Sera. I always knew she was trouble.
Kieran let out a noise and pulled on his chains again as he glared at Vespera. If looks could kill, she’d be long dead.
I clenched my fists, mind racing. This was bad. Any sign of disloyalty—a crack in her kingdom, we would be as good as dead. She didn’t give second chances. The council doesn't tolerate traitors; hell, she killed Drake for refusing orders.
If they knew about Cherry, she wouldn’t just be on the run, but she would be hunted and sentenced to death for being a threat to the queen, protecting a dragon, even if she were her granddaughter. That means nothing to her.
I swallowed hard, forcing a smirk on my face even as the coppery taste filled my mouth. My lip throbbed, split open from the beating earlier, but I didn’t let it show. Instead, I leaned forward.
“Sera’s just salty because Darian won’t take her back. I guess betrayal isn’t such a turn-on after all.”
I catch Kieran’s judgment burning through me, but I’m stuck in a corner here—and he’s not exactly helping me come up with a solid excuse to protect my Cherry.
She studies me in silence, the air thick with something dangerous. “I think you're lying.”
White-hot agony sears through me before I ever get a word out.
A strangled gasp rips from my throat as I feel a gash tear across my chest, slicing down to the waistband of my pants.
Pain crashes through me like a tidal wave—blistering, unrelenting, consuming every nerve.
Blood gushes freely, dripping onto the floor.
I clamp my mouth shut, refusing to give her the satisfaction, but Kieran doesn't. He lets out a roar of pure fury, shaking the chains so hard the metal groans under the force.
“You bitch. Leave him alone and hurt me, not him.” His voice was raw, a mixture of rage and helplessness, but she barely spared him a glance.
She only had eyes for me in this moment.
“You’re loyal,” She admits, stepping impossibly closer, her voice deceptively soft. “I’ll give you that.”
Her fingers trace along my jaw before gripping it hard enough to hurt. “But even the most loyal men break eventually.”
I will never be loyal to her again.
I force out a ragged chuckle. “Guess we’ll see about that.”
Her nails bite into my skin before she finally lets go—like she’s disappointed that I didn’t scream from the pain. Then she takes a step back, her gaze cold as her eyes blacken slightly.
“Nyx,” she says, smooth and venomous.
The three-eyed panther at her side hisses low, and I can feel those damn eyes boring into me, sizing me up like I’m its next meal. I don't dare meet its gaze. I've stared death in the face before—but that thing? gives me the creeps. One look from that third eye and it's over.
They will know about Ravena.
“Where is Darian?” Kieran snaps, trying to take the attention away from me.
Forever the daddy of the group.
Even with one eye swollen shut, blood caked down his cheek, and his body trembling from withdrawal and whatever else the fuckers did to him—he still looks like the kind of man who’d tear out someone’s throat with his teeth and not give a fuck.
More pain tore through me like wildfire, each nerve lighting up like it was begging to snap. Cuts bloomed across my skin on their own, blood dripping steadily onto the floor, painting a trail of proof that I was still breathing—barely.