Chapter 20 #2
“Let’s go. It’s time for you to see what happens when you think you have a mind of your own.” Cold hands coiled around my biceps, snatching me to my unsteady feet, but the splicing in my ribs rendered me incapable of standing on my own.
The cuffs fell from my ankles and wrists.
The raging hunger within my veins ignited an endless hellfire as my essence fought to consume anything that would feed my magic.
Grim eased off on his ability just enough, allowing me to absorb what I could to heal the broken bones.
But first, I needed to do something about the rib protruding from my skin.
With all the shame that soiled my soul, I looked at Grim from beneath my lashes, gritting my jaw. “I…” I forced out. “I need…”
Grim’s chuckle snaked through my veins, leaving a trail of rot in its wake. “I do love it when you beg.”
“My rib,” I grunted, looking away from him.
My breaths croaked shallowly, compounding the brutal agony as blood pooled in my lungs and excreted from my mouth and nose.
I removed my arm and hand that blocked the rib from sight, then carefully pulled my shirt up to expose the bone. “I can’t heal ‘til…it’s…”
“Ah…” Grim’s satisfaction of having me at his mercy eroded the last of my self-respect. “Of course. But you know this will cost you, right?”
Forcing down the lump in my throat, my teeth ground against one another as I focused on the gouges in the cell wall. “Just push the motherfucker back in so I don’t choke on my godsdamn blood.”
“Lie down,” my stepfather said.
Not having much of a choice, I complied, groaning through the searing torment. I closed my eyes and replayed the kiss I shared with Gray on the rooftop, letting it whisk me away. My only happy place.
Frigid hands pressed on the skin surrounding my ribs.
If I can just get the protruding bone back inside my body, close enough to where my healing ability can heal it the rest of the way, I’ll be fine.
“You need me after all. Don’t ya, boy?” Grim’s whisper forced its way into my ear. The sourness twisted in my stomach, making me choke on the blood in my throat. “It’s always such a sight having you at my mercy like this.”
Slowly, he pushed the rib back in through the hole that it protruded from. I gurgled on a scream from the torturous agony, tears tracking down my temples. The bite of the glacial air chilled the wetness, aching my bones.
Grim chuckled. “There’s that scream I love to hear.
” The dull-yet-piercing torture dragged out for an eternity.
I wondered if he even pushed at all or just put heavy pressure on the bone.
“Look at the powerful Chrome Freyr—the hybrid. The strongest being in our known history. Here…screaming at my mercy. Begging me for help.”
My heart thrashed a dangerous rhythm, threatening my consciousness. My head began to swim, and I grew lightheaded as my vision blackened.
“Oh, no you don’t, boy,” Grim said as he pushed the rib in another inch, eliciting more agonized, raspy screams.
I hardly recognized the voice ripping from my throat.
“I want you to remember this. Remember who owns you the next time you think you’re infallible. I want you to remember that you’re still mortal. Just a boy. A weapon,” Grim whispered in my ear as he pressed his body weight into the rib with controlled precision.
I couldn’t contain the trembles quaking my entire body. I was going into shock. It wouldn’t be the first time.
“I want to hear you say it.”
Once again, bile rose to my throat, but nothing came up. I couldn’t speak, the ability to breathe still being hampered by the pain.
He pushed a bit more. “All this will be over once you say the words.”
I knew what words he wanted. I didn’t care, though. I’d say anything to end this.
“You…” I wheezed. My breaths stopped with just one word, but I had to end this. “Own…me.”
“Go on.” Grim leaned into the rib more, and another torrent of knives cleaved through my body.
“My mind…” I gasped. “Body.” A guttural groan scraped free. “Soul.” My heart split in half. “All yours.”
“Very good.” He sagged into the rib with the rest of his body weight, pushing him flat against me, and I felt the bone pop back inside. Darkness devoured my scream, my body’s healing ability taking hold and mending the bone back into place, stitching my ribcage to its normal state.
Each breath grew easier, and I greedily gulped in air as my lungs purged the blood that filled them.
Grim lifted himself from my body but kept his hand on the spot where the rib had jutted from. “Never forget,” he demanded, “the price for my help.”
The brief reprieve dissolved as fast as water on a steaming surface. My rapidly beating heart sank, and any self-worth I clung to dissipated with the reprieve.
I am fucking disgusting. Weak.
A ringing echoed in my head. The familiar sound reminded me of my place in this world as my body healed from the wounds and my magic desperately searched to replenish.
“Get up,” Grim demanded. “There’s something you need to see.”
I pushed myself up onto my elbows, sucking a deep breath in hopes of ridding the regret now threatening to strip me of any remaining strength. A cold metal bracelet snapped around my right wrist, followed by another on the left, my magic going cold once again.
The magic deprivation singed my veins and jumbled my brain, but Grim didn’t relent. He wrapped his fist into the front of my shirt, snatching me to my wavering feet. “You’re about to find out what happens when you continue to defy the rules, boy.”
The ballroom’s lively chatter crested to the call of the king, exciting them like sheep to their own slaughter.
The roiling in my gut only worsened as Grim hid me in a shadowed corner behind the tapestries with the Monroe family royal crest. Midnight-blue and gray patterns held my focus as I worked to remain upright from the exhaustion weighing me down.
Grim’s bruising vice grip on my biceps wouldn’t allow my legs to collapse despite how much they craved it.
Kinetics bunched together in a loud cacophony for another Forest speech, but no one could see me hidden in the alcove. Uneasiness dug deeper into my soul, knowing I was about to bear witness to something that would break me in ways that Grim hadn’t touched yet.
“Whatever you do,” Grim murmured near the shell of my ear, “do not close your eyes, turn your head, or even move.”
I sucked in a haggard breath, fighting against the willpower of my eyelids as Forest came onto the stage with pompous arrogance.
His charisma immediately spilled out, blanketing the crowd of Kinetics as they cheered for his presence.
The king pretended to be humble, waving their excitement off in faux dismissal.
His shy grin reached my heart and lodged a blade into it as the princess was escorted onto the stage not far behind him.
My muscles seized up, and time screeched to a halt as Gray appeared with her chin held high, strolling to her fate. My mother gripped the back of Gray’s neck between her fingers, forcing her to stop at the center of the stage, positioned several paces behind Forest standing at his dais.
Forest’s bloated words didn’t even register in my brain as every cell in my body screamed for me to storm the stage, toss her over my shoulder, and carry her to safety before I returned to slaughter every complicit Kinetic in this room for even entertaining the thought of bringing her harm.
There was no way I’d be able to physically withstand watching.
A public beating for the princess.
My body was now wide awake as a waterfall of adrenaline cascaded over me, having nowhere to flow.
I could have flattened the building if I wanted to, even through the bracelets’ suppression.
But with Grim standing beside me, touching my skin, and ensuring my magic was completely and utterly snuffed out, I could do nothing.
Gray’s desolate emotions ravaged my heart through the bond we shared. Her fear was so tangible, I swore it was my own.
I couldn’t pinpoint when I could no longer discern which emotions were mine and which were hers.
I saw red at the first strike from the king himself. I didn’t even know what the offense was for her to receive another punishment. All I knew was she was being hurt, and I couldn’t do a fucking thing about it.
Powerless. Weak. Just a boy.
Grim squeezed my biceps tighter in his attempt to suppress the vibrations shuddering my shoulders and back.
If I blinked, I’d be headed for the dais without a second thought.
I heaved through my nose, envisioning every single gruesome way to murder the king on the spot.
“If you even flinch, you can expect a punishment for Peri next. Don’t make me punish her for your lack of control. She’s my pride and joy.”
My heart ravaged my newly healed ribcage, a growl climbing my chest as Forest struck the princess again, knocking her to the floor. She didn’t fight back, but the strength she exuded not to utter a sound with the thud of each blow warped my heart in a way I didn’t know was possible.
With each strike, the crowd cheered, anxious for blood for their underage princess. A princess they didn’t believe deserved to be heir to the throne. Her father had done a fabulous job turning public opinion against her, and it was shit like this that only drove the nail into her proverbial coffin.
My biceps twitched in Grim’s death grip while the veins in my neck pulsed a slow and steady beat. I was anything but calm, but adrenaline did magical things. Time slowed, every detail sharp and clear, forcing me to not only watch her be tortured in front of me, but in high-definition slow-motion.
The drive to protect her flourished through me, but it was the deflation that slapped me with reality like a cold bucket of ice.
I was only a weapon for those wishing to bring harm to the world.
What was the point of being this powerful if I couldn’t even protect the ones I loved most?
I didn’t give two fucks what they did to me.
But they’d now discovered my weaknesses, and they would exploit them to gain more control over me.
I felt so fucking stupid to think I could overthrow someone as diabolical as King Forest. Each thud and jeer from the crowd reminded me how powerless I truly was.
I was just a teenage boy—a teenage boy who could be controlled at will.
I only hoped Gray could keep the secret about our kiss. Not for my sake, but for her own.
“This is what happens when you think rules don’t apply to you, boy. Your little rooftop escapades are done with. Understand?” Grim whispered in my ear.
I stared helplessly at my princess’s battered body on the floor. Her deflation swept through me, causing my shoulders to go limp. I couldn’t even ponder how they’d discovered our secret hangout spot. Maybe Peri hadn’t been able to get me out of trouble this time, after all.
“Back to your cell. You’ll be there awhile until you can finally learn your fucking place, you mutt.” Grim snatched me along beside him, and my jelly-like legs were forced to carry me back to the darkness where I knew I’d replay this nightmare on a loop.
Perhaps it was time to call it quits on the insurgency. I couldn’t risk her or Peri’s life. Nothing was worth that.