33. Echoes of Pain – Rosemary
Echoes of Pain
ROSEMARY
Chains rattled. A stench lifted from the rotted earth. The steady drip of water pounded against my temple, slipping down my head and into my hair. Every inch of me ached, and I squeezed my eyes shut against it all.
"Wake up, sleepy head," a shrill, somewhat familiar voice said.
A pain tugged at my shoulder blade, and I tried to stretch, but my arms couldn't shift.
Fresh agony exploded along my muscles, and I groaned as I realized my arms had been chained above my head.
My body hung, and as I inched sideways slightly, a sharpened stone scraped along my lower back.
I gasped against the pressure and opened my eyes.
Light flickered through the spaces between the bars from the torch firmly clamped within pale, narrow fingers.
Its light casting long, eerie shadows across the dungeon floor.
Distant moans and clanging metal rattled in the air around me as I blinked back the blurriness of slumber and took in my surroundings.
My nose wrinkled at the stench of mildew mixing with decay.
It left a bitter taste on my tongue. I couldn't move, and my body screamed against the agony of being suspended in the same position.
A low hum throbbed beneath my skin—faint, but steady. It wasn't just the iron that drained me. Something else was pulling at my magic, like roots coiling into the depths of my soul and feeding on it.
"There she is," that same cruel voice called to me. Her tone held a sweetness that I cringed away from. I knew better than to trust her. She had taken everything from me. My family. My sister. And now, Elias, my mate.
I swallowed back the lump that had formed within the back of my throat as I realized that he was truly gone. Lost to this world by his mother's hand. My lip curled, disgusted with this woman before me. "What do you want?" I snarled even as pain lanced through me.
She placed pale fingers to her chest as she looked at me with mock concern. "What do I want?" she purred. A wicked gleam flashed behind her gray eyes as she ticked the things she wanted off on her fingers, one by one. "Power. To rule the entire lands.”
She paused, running a sharp nail down my face with a gleeful look that twisted her beautiful features.
“And thanks to you, I now have a new source. Your magic bleeds into the ley lines every hour you sit in this cage. I’ve found that seelie magic, especially from royalty, is particularly potent when siphoned slowly.
” Her gaze narrowed, her lips twisting into a shrewd grin.
"Revenge. I did want the return of my sons as well, but—" She shrugged.
"We don't always get everything we want, now do we? "
I glared at her, barely controlling the rage that burned within my chest. She had killed Elias, and yet…
"One was lost years ago, and now Elias has paid the ultimate price thanks to you," the queen ground out between her teeth, her face inches away from the bars at my face.
Pain ignited along my jaw as she slapped me.
"And for that, dear Rosie," she spat her son’s nickname for me before she continued, her voice low, menacing, deadly. Mocking. "I'm going to make you pay."
I closed my eyes against the pain, and her footsteps echoed through the room as she stormed out of the dungeon.
My shoulders ached, but I couldn't move or find any relief.
I hung my head, letting the tears fall freely from my face, the sobs wracking through me.
She'd left me alone with my losses, the cage around me small and pressing in on me on all sides.
"Elias," I cried out in despair, my heart shattering anew at her confirmation. "Elias."
He had confessed his love to me, but I hadn't returned the words until he was gone. We’d been so close to breaking the curses plaguing our families for a century, but the unseelie queen had thwarted us once more.
I had known my feelings for a long time, fallen for his cocky grin and wild mind, yet I hadn't admitted it until it was too late.
Time blurred in the oppressive darkness.
Hours stretched in torment, my body suspended, the crushing weight driving me to plead for death's release.
A guard entered the cramped space, unshackling me from above.
I collapsed to the floor, a broken heap.
Every muscle screamed in pain or relief, and weak, muffled cries escaped my throat.
The guard left without a word, sealing the metal door, leaving just enough room for me to curl into a defeated ball.
Finally, slumber embraced me, and for a short while, the pain ebbed away.
My stomach twisted with hunger. No food, no light.
The only water was the relentless drip, drip, drip that found me no matter where I pressed against the cage.
When my throat tightened, the rough dryness so close to sending me into panic, I turned my head toward that drip, spending precious time letting it drip into my waiting mouth before drifting off again.
Teeth clamped onto my ankle, jolting me awake.
The sudden movement sent tiny feet scurrying away.
After that, I hardly slept, every slight noise startling me.
I considered staying still long enough to catch one of the rat-like creatures nibbling on my flesh whenever I drifted off. Food was food, after all.
Something stiff landed at my side. My fingers clamped around the stale bread, and crumbs fell from my lips as I bit into it. I devoured it, then settled into position beneath the drip until I took my fill of dusty water.
I didn't know how much time had passed. Starvation gnawed on me constantly.
Exhaustion clawed at my mind, and I knew I would pass out and be vulnerable to the rats before long.
It didn't matter what position I pressed my body into, those sharpened teeth cut into my flesh whenever I nodded off to sleep. I hadn’t seen any light in what felt like days. Down here, only darkness prevailed.
"I have to admit, I really didn't think that you would last this long."
Slowly, I blinked open my eyes. Something flickered brightly nearby, and the sudden light bursting next to my face had me squeezing my eyes closed against the stinging pain.
It took me a full minute to be able to recognize the queen, who stood on the other side of my cage, her fist closed around a torch.
Its heat whispered against my skin, and I almost sighed at the warmth.
For so long, I'd been left in the cold dark.
I stared at the flames. They were so close.
I tilted my head, watching them flicker and dance as I reached my hand through the bars toward the fire.
The queen stepped back, pulling the torch from my reach.
I opened my mouth to complain, but it had been a while since I'd let the steady drip pour into my mouth.
All I could get out was a throaty rasp. "I'm going to enjoy watching you die. "
Her lips curled into a wicked grin, and she pinched my chin between her fingers, pulling my face toward the iron bars.
My gaze widened, my body too weak to pull myself from the iron.
"No, Rosemary," she sneered, snapping her teeth at me as she pulled my face closer still.
"I don't think you'll get the chance. It might have taken me longer than I wanted, but I have finally won.
" The bars now sat only an inch from my face as she cocked her head.
"I found that little cottage of yours. You know the one.
There's the cutest little garden out back, and those morning glory vines that are claiming one side of the home. So quaint. Or… Well. You know… it was."
She gave the slightest tug on my chin, slipping her fingers out of the way of the iron as she guided my face into the bars.
A sizzle ignited along my jaw, smoke lifted into the air, and the burnt stench of my flesh put a bad taste to my tongue.
But she released me, and I scurried to the back of the cage, where the sharp stone scraped rather than burned as I watched her shrug.
"It's gone now," she continued, her voice song-like, as if she were giving me the latest sales at the local market rather than an obituary of the only family member I had left. "I burned it down, along with everything inside of it."
My lungs forgot how to breathe, my heart forgot how to beat, and I could only stare at her.
The image of Briar, peaceful in sleep, unable to move while she burned.
Would Herb have left her? Or would he have gone up in flames right alongside my sister, ever the watchful protector?
Everything I had ever known or loved, gone.
"I had my people search for your sister's remains in the ashes, but it burned so hot, there really was nothing left.
Fae flame does that sometimes, I'm sure you know.
But that leads me to this," the queen knelt stepped closer to the bars separating us, the torch held above her head as she stared down at my pitiful form.
There wasn't an ounce of feeling behind her cold, dark eyes.
"While your sister has found her eternal rest, a release from her torment, you will find no such release.
You will exist here, in this small space I've carved out for you, for the length of my existence.
Then, when I have passed on, which should be several centuries more at least, then I will allow you to slowly waste away and die down here, forgotten by all. "
I screamed, the sound hollow and feral as it rang out in the air between us.
My palms slammed into the bars, the pain immediate as they burned against the iron.
I pulled them back to my chest like a wounded animal, realizing that wasn't far from the truth as I sat hunched along the center of the cage.
"Pathetic," the queen said, giving her head a disapproving shake. "Neither of you worthless, seelie princesses were ever good enough for either of my sons."