Chapter 15 #3
“My lady?” the servant asked. “Shall we continue?”
“Yes.” I smoothed my hands down the front of my dress and squared my shoulders. “Lead the way.”
We descended the main staircase and moved into the back corridors. The light dimmed gradually, and the air cooled, taking on a damp, mineral edge that clung to the back of my throat.
With every step, the memory of the last time I’d been here pressed closer. The cold fear and the way the world had seemed distorted because I didn’t understand what was going on or where I was.
I remembered the heavy iron-banded door, the steep descent into darkness, and the cold seeping into my bones, freezing me to the core. Back then, I’d been the one dragged below and trying to figure out how to survive with the weight of my situation crushing me.
Now I chose to walk back in on my own two feet.
If she were still alive, Aunt Maureen would be shaking her head at me. She’d always said I was like a cat with nine lives, but eventually I’d run out of them.
Ha! Take that, Aunt Maureen! I’d been on the brink of death only two times, so I still had several lives left. Granted, the first two had happened in a short amount of time. Yet another thing to file away and never think about again.
The dungeon hall stretched ahead of us, lined with reinforced doors on either side holding things I didn’t want to think too hard about. The air down here felt thicker, quieter, like the stone itself absorbed sound and left everything muted and close.
We passed the section where I’d been imprisoned, and for a second, I relived the panic, the desperate need to get out.
But this time, I wasn’t the one behind the door.
“Through here, my lady.” The servant opened a door, revealing a narrow stone passage lit by torches burning low, their light dimmer than the lanterns above, more bronze than gold.
I stepped into a room larger than I’d expected, round, with a domed ceiling that seemed to swallow sound. The walls were lined with implements that made my stomach tighten.
Hooks. Chains. Blades in different shapes and sizes. Metal devices whose purposes I sure as hell didn’t want to know.
Every last one gleamed in the torchlight.
Keldren sat in the center of it all, strapped to a heavy wooden chair with thick leather restraints buckled around his wrists and ankles.
The flush in his face from his upside-down ride had faded from purple into a blotchy, angry red, and his eyes moved too fast as his gaze darted around the room like he was trying to keep up with everything all at once.
Panic was there. I could see it despite him trying to bury it under that ugly sneer he wore.
Standing at Keldren’s left, Kai had wrapped his wounded shoulder with a clean bandage. He wore a fresh shirt with the sleeve cut away, exposing a hard line of muscle and a white wrap crossing his skin.
I saw the stiffness in the way he held himself and the careful control in every inch of his posture.
His face gave away nothing. No softness.
No pain. No relief. No sign of the man who had shielded me with his own body while a wolf tore into him.
His eyes were cold, all lavender and no violet, and somehow that made him look even more dangerous.
The shadows in the room bent toward him like they knew who ruled here.
Ashren stood on Kai’s right, quiet and watchful, a simple dark gray robe hanging over his tunic and trousers, and his shoulder-length hair pulled back from his face.
Where Kai radiated violence, Ashren projected something more measured and calculating.
The kind of man who would watch you destroy yourself and remember every useful detail for later.
Gavriel waited near the door with one hand resting on the hilt of his sword, and when he saw me, he dipped his head with the faintest hint of a smile. Two more Dusk Court soldiers stood by the curved wall in dull gray armor, silent and unreadable as the stone itself.
“Oh.” Keldren’s voice cracked before he caught it, trying to force that sneer back into place. “The Aurora bitch returns. Come to watch your betters work? Or perhaps you’ve finally accepted your place and come to service—”
One second, Kai was still, and the next, his hand was around Keldren’s throat.
The room changed with him.
The shadows surged closer, thickening at the edges of the walls and floor as if they had been waiting for permission to move. Keldren’s words cut off in a strangled choke, his eyes bulging as Kai tightened his hold just enough to make the threat clear.
“You will address her with respect,” Kai said, his voice calm in a way that made it way worse, “or I will introduce you to every instrument in this room before I let her question you.”
Keldren’s face passed through several impressive shades of red before Kai let go. He collapsed back into the chair, gasping, sucking in air so hard it whistled.
My body warmed as the yank in my chest nearly had me stumbling closer to Kai. He was too damn sexy for his own good. But I wouldn’t play the fool again.
“Brother. Perhaps we should let Hannah begin.” Ashren’s tone was mild, as if he were commenting on the weather. “After all, this one does seem to owe her a personal debt.”
Kai stepped back, jaw tight enough to crack stone, then inclined his head toward me. “Hannah of Tennessee. This male attempted to violate you. He would have succeeded had circumstances not intervened. The first questions are yours. Do you have something to ask him?”
A dozen things flashed through my mind. His hands on me. His laughter. The way he’d looked at me like I was already broken and his for the taking. The sick, crawling slimy sensation of that memory spread through me all over again, hot and ugly and nauseating.
I walked toward him, each step soft against the stone, my slippers making almost no sound at all. My heart hammered against my ribs, but it didn’t feel like fear this time. It felt sharper and cleaner, like rage had finally burned off enough of the rot to leave something useful behind.
Keldren tracked my approach with eyes that couldn’t seem to decide whether he hated or feared me more, and I found that I liked watching him struggle with it.
I stopped in front of him and smiled, batting my eyes. Then I drove my foot straight into his balls.
The thud of impact echoed through the chamber.
Keldren folded as much as the restraints would allow, a strangled, animal-like sound ripping out of him as his whole body jerked against the chair. His face went sheet white beneath the red, sweat breaking out across his brow.
I stared down at him, breathing hard through my nose, and felt something ugly inside me loosen for the first time since he’d put his hands on me. “How bad does that hurt, asshole? Because I’m just getting started.”