Twenty-Five
CHAPTER
Groggy and light-headed, I was confused, in a daze, and unable to move my arm. In a panic, my eyes widened, tugging and pulling against the restraints. My ankles and wrists were bound to a chair, trapping me in place.
No. No. No. NO. NO.
“There’s no use fighting it,” Neil said from across the room.
His arms were crossed, and he leaned against the table behind him.
“Face it, you lost.” Pushing himself off the table, he dropped to his knees right in front of me.
“I told you, one way or another, you will give me what I want,” he cooed, lifting his hand to toy with one of my curls.
I turned my head, trying to pull away from him.
“I always get what I want.” Neil’s hand slid from that curl and to my chin, forcing me to look at him.
“Things didn’t have to be this way, Little Dove.
” His grip tightened as I attempted to jerk my face away from his grasp.
Neil let out an exasperated sigh. “I did not want to have to resort to such efforts, but this is your doing. Remember that. I am not going to hurt you because I want to, but because I have to.”
I have heard those words before. You don’t mean it. You want to hurt me. I know you do. I can see it in your eyes, you damned monster.
“What is that?” My panic surged as I turned to the vial he held up in his free hand. A single bottle of shimmering green liquid.
“This is how I am going to extract your magic from you,” Neil explained.
I tried to shake my head and pull away from him, but Neil finger’s dug into my cheeks.
“Ah, ah.” He clicked his tongue. “You’re going to drink this.
Every last drop. Black magic is… quite a powerful thing.
You know, if it wasn’t for Casimir, I would have never been able to get my hands on the book to begin with.
” He shrugged lightly. “If it wasn’t for that book, none of this ever would have happened in the first place…
You see…” He paused, tilting his head slightly, watching my every move.
“The Relic of Nightmares, that the Creator of Darkness and God of Death forged himself, is a very ancient, very powerful artifact,” he said smugly.
My heart raced, and my eyes widened in fear. I was terrified of him, and that look in his eyes. This wasn’t the Neil I fell in love with. I didn’t know who this was.
“It gives me power that not even the High Lords themselves can wield. Only the Gods could ever stop me,” Neil whispered.
“To wield such power is… eye opening. The prophecy became real because I made it real.” He blindly gestured to the book on the table behind him.
It was the book he never let me near. “It wields power that only its master can control. It can do just about anything I want. For a price.” Neil used his thumb, flicking the cork cap off the bottle.
It bounced onto the marble floor beneath us.
“If you really are one of them, that means your tears are the missing piece I need for my plan.”
I squirmed, trying to resist him. “Please—don’t do this, Neil—”
“I will force you to submit if I must. You will do as I say.” His eyes darkened, and the last of the love I had left for him was gone.
“N-no—” I pleaded, attempting to keep my lips shut.
Neil pushed the bottle toward my lips. With the hand that held my face, he stretched his fingers, forcefully wedging them between my lips.
He pried my mouth open just enough to pour the contents of the vial into my mouth and onto my tongue.
At my attempt to spit it out, he forced my head back.
He tossed the vial aside, using his other hand to cover my nose, leaving me no choice but to swallow the sour liquid.
“That’s it. That’s my good girl,” he cooed, releasing his hold on me
I coughed. The zing in my throat was almost numbing. Leaning my head forward, I tried to choke back the sudden nausea that rocked through me as the sour taste lingered on my tongue. My surroundings warped, making me disoriented.
“That was the easy part.” Neil turned his back to me and approached the table once more.
There was nothing I could say that I hadn’t already said. The light in my eyes dulled, it was so hard to focus.
“Do you know how it works?” Neil asked, knowing I didn’t.
Smirking, he approached me, slipping the dagger from the table and gripping it tightly in his palm.
My blood stained the blade, dried from however long ago he stabbed me.
Neil hovered over me, holding the dagger up, not all that far from my face.
“I need your tears. I am going to make you cry like never before.”
I shook my head, jerking against the restraints, praying to the Gods who never answered my pleas.
Please, no. No, no, no.
That familiar buzz at the back of my brain reappeared, as if someone was trying to talk to me yet couldn’t. A strange sensation, one I still couldn’t seem to make sense of. It tickled, more than anything. I didn’t think much of it, too light-headed and dizzy.
Sucking air between my teeth, I clenched my jaw. Neil grazed the dagger across my cheek, slicing my skin open just enough to draw blood that trickled down my cheek. I froze, my eyes locked with his.
BAM.
I head-butted him as hard as I could, sending him back a few steps. A line formed between his lips, quickly closing the distance between us again.
That dagger was better used on him than me.
The blade was what made it so wretched. Beings like us did not heal nearly as fast with weapons made from the Realm of Nightmares due to the natural enchantments mixed within the elements of their land.
I only knew that because I read about it a long time ago.
The only explanation for the wound on my abdomen not healing by now was that the dagger came from there, just as the book had.
Neil went for my weak spot by digging the dagger in the same place he did before, turning it deeper within me.
I could hear the squelch of my intestines twisting.
I let out a blood curdling scream. One I knew that everyone within the Manor could undoubtedly hear. Tears welled in my eyes, tears I forcibly choked back. I couldn’t cry. I couldn’t let him do this. What good was I if I was the only one able to stop him?
Please, make it stop. Please, please, please, make it stop. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.
Hours later, I pried my eyes open enough to notice that the sun had set, and the moon was full. It didn’t matter, though. Nothing mattered. All I knew was that I couldn’t do it. Not again.
I screamed until my voice was raw and hoarse.
I screamed until my throat was so dry it was hard to swallow.
I screamed until I physically couldn’t any longer.
I tried so hard not to cry, I really did, but I couldn’t do it.
I couldn’t hold it in any longer. He had hit me and stabbed me more times than I could keep track of.
Blood spilled between my lips, from my abdomen, my face, my arms. I did everything I could to prevent myself from crying, knowing what would happen if I did, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it anymore.
I can’t do it… I just… can’t.
I cracked.
Tears pooled down my cheeks. I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.
Neil knelt before me. One hand gently stroked my hair, the other collected my tears.
“That’s a good girl… good girl. You did so well,” he purred with a soft smile on his face as my tears filled that vial, and a second one for good measure.
“It’s okay… You’re done for today.” Sliding his hand from my curls to my face, he grazed his thumb over the cut he inflicted upon it.
Swiping at the smidge of blood he found there, he then pulled that same thumb to his lips and licked it. Too weak to fight it, I let him.
“Mmm,” he hummed cheerily. “Thanks to you, I will be able to bring the Wall down and undo the foundation of the barrier the High Lords made together all those years ago. Ah, not long now, and the Realms will be mine.”
Please, no…
The door opened, and there stood Acheron.
I struggled to lift my head.
Acheron approached silently. Even in my state of hysteria, I could tell he was doing his best to keep his composure.
I didn’t blame him. I couldn’t help but wonder if Neil knew or not.
The truth that Acheron was on our side, not his.
Just as Nevan betrayed us, Acheron betrayed him.
Nevan must not have told Neil everything he knew, considering he continued to have Acheron do his bidding.
My attention caught on the corner of the room and the pool of blood staining the marbled floors. Nevan’s cold, lifeless body lay there. Just another pawn in this never-ending game of chess.
“Take her back to the others,” Neil commanded.
Acheron nodded, silently undoing my bindings and rubbing the skin where the binds were to encourage my circulation.
Neil turned his back to us, exiting the room with the vials in his hand.
He stopped in the doorway and Gelia greeted him with a congratulatory hug.
Her eyes met mine, and a smile spread across her face.
She appeared to find pleasure in my pain and discomfort.
Neil peppered kisses across her face and presumably whispered sweet nothings to her.
Sweet nothings he used to whisper to me.
How could you do this?
Acheron undid the last of my binds, and I fell forward right into him. Unable to hold myself up, I whimpered in the midst of my tears. Everything hurt so much, and every breath I took only made it worse.
“Shh… You’re okay,” Acheron whispered, carefully placing his hands around my wounds the best he could. He cradled me in his embrace, my blood staining his clothes. White quickly turned red.
I didn’t say anything.
I didn’t need to. No, I didn’t want to. It wasn’t worth the risk. Nothing I wanted to say was worth saying, and I was in no position to protest or revolt.
We lost.
And it was my fault.
It was the beginning of the end, and it was all my fault.
Neil was right. There was no one else to blame but me. This was all my doing.
The worst part of all was that I didn’t know how to fix it.
Acheron dipped his head, and his lips grazed my ear as he whispered loud enough only for me to hear, “Just hang on a little longer. Tomas and I are trying to figure a way out of this mess. Don’t give up hope.
For now, just try to rest and don’t overexert yourself more than you already have.
Tell Mateo that I am doing everything I can… please.”
Slowly and ever so subtly, I nodded. Silent tears pooled down my blood-stained cheeks. The pain became so much, it was numbing.
He broke me.
The rest of our walk was silent besides the echo of Acheron’s footsteps.
I was quiet besides the ragged rise and fall of my chest with each breath.
My eyes carefully studied the route he took.
How many doors, how many steps, which hallways.
Absorbing as much information as I was able until Acheron brought me to the dungeon.
We made it to the cell I was in before, the one with Zathrian and Mateo and Viotto, but then we passed it.
“W-wh-but—” Shifting in Acheron’s embrace, with what little strength I had left, I tried to reach for Zathrian. He stood at the bars of the cell, his hand outstretched for mine, our fingertips just missing one another.
“Aerilyn!” Zathrian called out desperately as my hand fell back to my side, too weak to hold it up any longer. My body was so heavy, my eyes, too. I wanted to sleep.
“I’m doing this for your own good. I’m sorry, Aerilyn,” Acheron whispered, placing me into the cell beside Zathrians.
“I don’t want to, but you must understand that I have to.
” Acheron gently laid me down into the cell.
Chaining my left ankle to the wall, he locked my wrists together.
“Please.” Acheron pulled away. “I’m sorry.
” Retreating from the cell and locking the door behind him, he left me here, alone and on my own.
I curled up on my side, crying harder than before.
“Aerilyn. Aerilyn, please, are you okay?” Zathrian asked. I shook my head, forgetting that he couldn’t see me. “Aerilyn, please, come closer,” he urged.
The chain rattled, and I slowly scooted toward the wall we shared and the small opening that was there. It was just enough space for him to reach his arm through, and he did.
“I’m here,” Zathrian whispered while I cried.
“Shh… shh. It’s okay.” His hand drifted from mine and blindly reached for my face.
I winced at first, as his thumb caressed the cut on my face.
I knew he felt it when his thumb stopped for a moment, before snaking his fingers toward my neck and carefully back down my jawline.
“I’m here,” he repeated.
I nodded again.
“I’m not leaving you,” he whispered. “I am not giving up on you. You… you are so strong. So strong. I’m here. I’m here.” Zathrian attempted to reassure me, his hand shifting to embrace me, to ground me with his touch.
I lifted my hands to hug his arm, for once, openly embracing him.
Even with my hands bound together, I found a way to embrace him in return.
Seeking out comfort in the warmth of his touch, I cried until there were no more tears left to cry, until I couldn’t cry anymore, until exhaustion consumed me, and sleep found me.