Chapter 82 Gedeon
GEDEON
The barrier vibrated from my hits as my knuckles barreled into the hard surface. One punch after another, they all reached their target—the glass. Dull thuds reverberated off the glaringly bright walls, the echoes chasing each other and blending into a cacophony of my failed attempts to free Kali.
My skin tore like paper, and acid streamed in my veins, but I didn’t feel the ache or the warmth trickling down to my wrist. Not when the blond man rose from the couch and stalked over to her.
Crouching down to her level, he curled Kali’s dark hair behind her ear. “You don’t look too bad up close.” Holding her chin, he glanced at his colleagues. “So who goes first?”
Kali took the opportunity to sink her teeth into his hand, shaking her head like a wolf with a hare in its maw.
Yes.
My fierce little death.
Cursing, the man ripped his damaged limb away: his pale flesh reddened, blood seeping from his purlicue. “She bit me.”
“Don’t touch me,” Kali hissed, scarlet coating her top lip. “You have no rights.”
“No rights?” The blond chuckled. “We’ll see what you say after we’re done reining you in.” Twirling his injured hand, he licked the scarlet off. “Such a feisty little girl you are. But I enjoy it when my gifts have a spirit. Makes it more fun when I fuck them into submission.”
As she scrambled to sit up straighter, two lines of red running down her chin painted her in war colors—shades of her adversary’s blood. “Try it, and I’ll bite your cock off.”
“Enough of this.” Reclining against the suede couch, Ardaton’s Head of Military unfastened the top three buttons of his black button-up shirt.
“If you’re set on acting like a rabid animal, you will be treated as such.
” He tousled his russet, slicked-back hair, tucking the errant strands back into place. “Restrain her.”
I loosened my dripping-heat fists. Ruby smears coated the glass wall separating us, distorting the visual I had on the enemy, but not a crack decorated the barrier.
It was too thick to break through.
Willing my temperature to go down, to lower to the simmering level, I breathed out as slowly as was humanly possible. I had to bring my emotions under the umbrella of control. I couldn’t allow them to spin freely in a maelstrom that cut off the path to my logic.
Standing in the observation space but internally striding down the road leading to my reasoning, I vowed, “If you lay a hand on her, I will feed you your bones.”
But the room Adder had left me in contained my promise, absorbed it instead of passing it to the Ardaton’s government, all circling Kali like predators about to pounce on their prey.
“You heard the man,” the blond said. “Come on, girl, get up.” Grabbing Kali’s wrist, he yanked.
“Like your dick can never do?” she sneered, and then elbowed him in the gut.
Her features contorted simultaneously with his, and she rushed to cradle her gauze-wrapped hand. The strike had probably aggravated her stumps.
“This is tiring.” The Head of Military downed his glass. Setting it on the coffee table, he sauntered over to Kali. “Let me tell you how it’s going to work.” With one swift move, he hoisted her to her feet. “You can walk yourself, or we can do it the hard way.”
“Or we can do it my way,” she bit out, though her legs shook. “Where I ensure you never get hard again.” On the last word, her knee connected with his crotch.
The Head of Military fell to the polished hardwood floor, gasping for air as he cupped his crushed balls.
Pride swelled in my chest at how my little death sowed pain everywhere she went.
“There.” The blond gestured to the other side of their room. “We can use the table.”
On command, five of the six Heads converged on Kali.
But not a scream fled her at their advance. She writhed as they picked her up. Kicked them as they dragged her to the teal-and-gold marble table. Spat out threats as they pushed the porcelain bowls and plates and pitchers brimming with food and drinks off the surface.
My insides boiling, I scanned the observation room for anything sharp. The only piece of furniture—the table—was bolted to the floor, but the chair…
I picked up the metal structure, and with one wide swing, smashed into the barrier separating us. The chair bounced off, almost crashing into my nose, but the one-directional glass stood. A mere scratch marked the collision point.
Roaring, I did it again.
And again.
And for the seventh time too.
Hit by hit, my dizziness increased. My muscles burned, my jaw ground, and my breathing grew shallow and irregular. Chills skated down my sweaty back, tingles exploding in my limbs.
But no matter how hard I swung the chair, I couldn’t get to Kali.
The understanding that the barrier was impenetrable caused me to rip the ends of my hair.
Only the pinpricks shooting across my scalp were too feeble to stifle my scream as my rage tumbled out of me, going on and on until my voice disappeared, as if snatched away by the chaos unfurling behind the transparent wall.
The half a dozen men bent Kali over the table. Her hips dug into the marble edge, undoubtedly forging bruises set to rise tomorrow.
The oldest of the six grasped her wrists, securing her arms above her head. “Do what all green-banded women are supposed to and stay still.”
Naked and exposed, she thrashed, disobeying her orders. She fought them the best she could, but exhaustion, coupled with whatever they had done to her back in the cell, drained her of energy too quickly. Her squirming ebbed as she heaved, twitching when the blond stroked down her bare back and ass.
“You will take us until you get pregnant, and then again, and again, until you lose your value. Because you’re worth nothing if not for your ability to conceive.” Unzipping his slacks, he pulled out his dick. “You should thank us for allowing you to live.”
That did it. Fury seized control of my limbs, and low, guttural rumbles lashed out of me as I wielded the chair as a weapon. Pounding the glass as a man possessed, I doubled my efforts when the first crack appeared in the barrier.
One blow, two, and the spiderweb spread. Three, four, and the fractures branched—
Darkness descended on me like the bars of a cage.
I froze with the furniture positioned for another hit.
The glass wall had disappeared. Regardless of how much I blinked or squinted, pure blackness clouded my vision.
The lights had gone out.
As Ardaton’s prison functioned fully underground, not a streak of daylight crept into either of the two rooms—mine or theirs. Nor the faintest sound.
The hush grew heavier by the minute, its cloak weighing on my shoulders. The sensory deprivation drove me insane.
“Fuck this.” I raised the chair once more and drove it into the barrier, blindly aiming for a spot where the glass had fissured. A thump, and then a hiss caressed my ears, and I repeated my blows, trusting my instincts to target the same area.
The repetitive bangs melted into a song of drumbeats, the clunks a melody of their own—
I lurched forward as the wall crumbled. A rain of shards doused me, like a torrent of freezing winter hail.
Yet not a single scream or grunt trickled through what must have become a gap in the glass wall.
Fueled by the lack of sound, I tugged off my shirt and tore it into two, wrapping the synthetic material around my hands. Feeling my way through the wall, I paid no attention to the jagged edges prodding my palms.
On the other side, I paused, listening for a groan or a cry.
The responding silence was deafening.
As I trudged across the room, toward where the table and the group of men surrounding Kali had been, I imagined how I was going to borrow Zion’s favorite knife and carve every body part of Ardaton’s higher-ups.
My shins collided with something hard but soft, and I caught myself on the armrest of one of the cream couches the disgusting rodents had occupied. Navigating around it, I continued my journey toward the table, but the closer I got to it, the more unease stormed in my gut.
Something felt off.
Porcelain shattered under my boots as I stomped into the wreckage of what once had been dishes, yet all I found was cold marble and crumbles of pastries.
Dread pooled in my stomach.
They were gone.
Ardaton’s government had fled, taking Kali with them.
Sharp fragments dug into my flesh as I struck the table. The side of my fist lit up, but I savored the throbbing. It was soothing compared to the fact I had failed to protect Kali.
The possibility of never seeing her smile again lanced through me, rupturing my lungs. I couldn’t go on without hearing her laughter whenever Zion tickled her. Without making her blush. Without tucking that fluffy duvet around her until she hummed from contentment.
Closing my eyes, I surrendered to the blackness, hunting for the faintest of sounds.
If the Head of Ardaton wished to play a final match, he better be ready. I had already played a game with the Head of Ilasall, each of us pushing pieces off the chessboard, but when a king stood against a king, Ilasall was the one that fell.
So if Ardaton thought I would sit and wait until their soldiers came to get me, it was sorely mistaken.
Clearly, Adder had not been dealt the wrath of a man obsessed before.