Chapter 37
Burn
DELILAH
Ihurt all over. My heart was broken. I felt sick to my stomach knowing we had just left her body behind to be forever entombed in Mount Orid until it completely disintegrated into nothing—like she never existed.
She deserved better than that. She deserved a proper burial, something with respect and dignity.
She had died for me and called it destiny.
All I’d wanted was her friendship, and I’d gotten her killed.
I would carry this guilt forever. That I knew for sure.
We landed outside the main gates of the castle, and I quickly dismounted with the help of Drax, using his wing like a ramp.
Titus held the dagger, studying it with measured curiosity. He shifted his grip, careless for just a second, and the blade kissed his skin.
A bead of blood surfaced instantly. He hissed softly. “Delilah, you did it! We actually stand a chance now!” He said.
The tone of his voice was too joyous for my sour mood. It rubbed me the wrong way. I ignored him—not entirely on purpose. I think I was still processing everything.
He fast traveled, blocking my path right in front of me. “The dragon died yes, but she may have saved the lives of all the fire dragons in the realm, not to mention hundreds of thousands of Fae.” He explained matter-of-factly, and my fists clenched.
“The dragon had a name, Zephyros, and she wasn’t just a dragon, she wasn’t just a pet or soldier or a means of transportation like you see them, she was my friend, so sorry I don’t feel like celebrating right now.”
“You feel deeply for the dragons, I’m ..sorry,” he uttered.
I blinked. An apology from Titus landed like a foreign object in my chest—awkward, sharp, and too late.
The words were so unfamiliar to him that they didn’t even come out fluidly. “Let’s get some rest, tomorrow we need to figure out where Eloria might be hidden.”
We both mounted Draxxinar and we flew back to Embris. I didn’t speak to him the entirety of the flight.
We walked inside the castles grand doors, and the next thing I knew, strong hands gripped my arms behind my back. I flinched and groaned in pain because after going into the volcano, my skin felt like I had a severe sunburn.
A metal clink caught my attention.
We had been ambushed, completely caught off guard by the weight of what had just happened.
Titus was seized before he could react, a gleaming gold collar snapped around his neck, a blade poised cold and unforgiving against his throat.
Seven Fire Fae males in crimson hooded robes stood waiting for us to return.
Two burly guards in shiny, red armor twisted my arms behind my back with an iron grip—Holy Guards.
Flames blasted from Titus and everyone took a step back. My skin crawled as Caddver stepped forward.
“Careful Lord Titus, I wouldn’t do that if I were you, the collar around your neck has a spring mechanism that I can control at any point I feel a threat,” he said. “The dagger is tipped in Fae-bane, it will poison you leaving you without your ability to heal while you bleed out from your jugular!”
“Caddver, what is the meaning of this? Remove this fucking device and unhand us.” He snarled.
Now that he was no longer a threat, the Holy Guards released Titus, confident that he was securely under Caddver’s control. “Titus!!” I cried.
He growled demonically to the Holy Guards, “Get your filthy fucking hands off of my mate.”
“Apologies My Lord, but she will be staying at the Temple in the city tonight to prepare her for the ritual tomorrow.” Caddver said wickedly.
“Ritual? What ritual? What the fuck is going on?” He shouted.
Just then heeled boots clicked on the stone stairs. Our eyes shifted to find Aurelius approaching, his mouth upturned with a grin that could only be described as evil.
“The ritual of Natural Selection, through the Law of Flesh, I challenged the rank…brother.” Aurelius taunted.
The chilling words caused my already broken heart to sink and my stomach to twist in knots.
“You son of a bitch, I’ll fucking end you!!!” Titus threatened.
“There’s nothing you can do Titus, the law has been called, tomorrow the three most powerful Fire Fae in the kingdom will breed with your mate, and when her womb carries my heir, it will prove once and for all who is meant to sit the flaming throne.”
A strip of cloth was tied around my mouth, gagging me, and a black velvet hood was placed over my face.
“This is insane unhand her, we have bigger issues than the rank…Folliade’s army will be invading soon!” Titus shouted.
“That’s odd, he told me he was considering reinstating his alliance, what a convenient lie, to avoid the truth.” Aurelius snarled.
“Now, where the fuck is my dragon?!”
“Dead, we tried to retrieve the dagger but were… unsuccessful.” Titus said plainly. He must have had the dagger hidden in his clothing.
I heard Aurelius hitch in his cadence. “No matter, soon I will command the largest dragon in the realm, as is my right as High Lord.” Aurelius replied coldly, but I didn’t buy it for one second.
Titus didn’t even acknowledge his response.
“At least let me say goodbye to my mate.” He demanded fiercely.
“Of course, My Lord.” The council member replied curtly.
Heavy footsteps approached and I felt Titus’s warm, rough hands clasp my shoulders as he leaned in and whispered. “Just trust me Pickles.” Then he kissed my forehead through the thick fabric of the velvet hood.
“Locate General Cercies and summon and collar him immediately, we will need all three to participate for the ritual to be performed properly,…Take her away.” Caddver commanded.
I tried to scream. I tried to kick. I tried to break from their iron grip, but it was of no use. Then I felt a pinprick at my shoulder, and I lost consciousness.
K. ROSé
When I woke up, I was dazed, confused, and not entirely sure where I was. The walls were made of rock and painted a blood-washed red. The ceiling was the same. As more came into focus, I noticed… everything was red.
I was naked and chained to a stone table, or maybe it was an altar. Torches burned and a large fireplace roared, but I was freezing from the chill of the stone beneath me. Goosebumps prickled my skin as I fully came to, uncertain if it was from the cold… or the terror settling into my bones.
Four hooded females surrounded me in dark crimson robes. A sheer layer of red tulle veiled their gaunt, expressionless faces. A raw, uneasy fear started to make me shake.
“Please let me go!” I pleaded with a shaky whisper, my voice still hoarse from blowing my vocal cords in Mount Orid.
But the robed females said nothing. They treated me like I wasn’t even a person—like I was a cut of meat they needed to prepare.
Instead, they started to wash my naked body.
Buckets of warm water and firm brushes with perfumed soap scrubbed my sun burnt skin raw.
It was excruciating. They touched all of me.
Everywhere. Including my tender mate mark, and the violation pummeled my fragile soul.
Old wounds ripped open along with repressed fear and anxiety.
My heart began to race—too fast—and I couldn’t get enough air.
I pulled against the chains, but the bindings were too tight, nearly cutting into the thin skin on my wrists.
“I don’t want to be here, I don’t want to do this, please help me,” was what I was trying to say, but it came out as jumbled weeps between gulps of air and broken cries. I screamed, retearing my throat, calling out for Titus—but he didn’t come.
I was on my own.
I had to calm down. I had to think clearly. I had to find a way out of this.
Finding the silver lining had always been a coping mechanism of mine, so my brain reached for it even now.
Even if it was pathetic and desperate. Only a short time ago when things were different, I had wanted this.
..right? That night in the lounge, drunk on Faerie wine, I was willing to take all three of them… but this was nothing like that.
Then I’d had control. Now I had none.
All this torture was for what? A pregnancy?
Well, FUCK THEM. I would get the last laugh, because when this was over there would be no heir.
I wouldn’t get pregnant from this, because I had been taking the herbs and no one knew—not even Titus—and thank God, because the only thing worse than carrying Aurelius’s child would be carrying Cercies’s.
I didn’t think I would be able to look at Calpurnia after this. The shame I felt… it made my stomach churn. Her heart would be broken, and it would be because of me. She was going to hate me, and the thought plucked a string in my chest so sharply that I couldn’t help but weep.
The females dried me with scratchy towels.
Then one of them walked to a small kitchen area and pulled a pot off the stove.
She set it on the floor, used a ladle to scoop out the liquid, and poured it onto my body.
It was scented oil—lavender, maybe. The other three rubbed it in with their bare hands, missing not a single inch, and again I succumbed to violation and humiliation.
How had I fallen into this again? No. Stop. Don’t blame yourself.
I was the victim. Fuck them.
I would survive this. They might take my body, but they would not take my mind. They would not break me.
After thoroughly oiling my skin, they roughly combed my hair. They sat me up and adjusted my chains so that I could stand and get dressed.
A thin strip of red silk was tied around my chest in a loose knot, barely covering my breasts. With one gentle tug, the fabric would fall away.
A matching red silk string circled my hips, holding a narrow panel of floor-length fabric in the front and another in the back—just enough to conceal a little more than the curve of my backside.