Chapter Thirty-One
Frigid metal shackles bit into my wrists like fleas, and with every passing hour, they grew less tolerable.
The blindfold tied around my eyes robbed me of sight.
Locked me in darkness. Cold stone against my skin made me wish for the clothes and armor I’d been stripped of.
The guards had dressed me in some kind of thin, lacy gown that exposed my sides to the icy air and rough-hewn rock of the dungeon.
It was hard to know how long they’d left me here. Long enough for a chill to seep into my bones and a gnawing hunger to seize my stomach.
At first, I’d thought my wounds were healing.
My leg could bear my weight, if only barely, and felt less tender than it had before.
The claw marks in my shoulders had scabbed—but my injuries hadn’t healed further.
That was all my body could manage in this dark, cold place.
My shivering kept me awake. Vapula hadn’t bothered to feed me.
Without the luxuries of food and sleep, my condition was going to worsen.
I’d sat alone on the bare stone for hours—or days—on end. Waiting for news of Sitri’s demise. Waiting for Vapula to claim me as his prize.
Just… waiting.
I hadn’t expected this kind of torture. Unending agony, isolated from Hell, sealed in this tomb.
Even my emotions had abandoned me. I’d cried until I had no tears left to shed, screamed for help until my voice went hoarse, until all the feelings that tormented me receded.
A wall of ice formed around my heart, keeping them inside, making me an observer in my own skin, as if I were watching myself from somewhere far away.
I wasn’t sure what was worse: the idea that the wall might never thaw, or the threat of emotions flooding me if it did.
Distant footsteps roused me from my thoughts, at first so quiet I thought I’d imagined them, drawing ever closer. When they reached me, they paused. Metal scraped stone, a warning that the door to my cell had opened.
“On your feet,” a familiar voice snapped. It belonged to Zephyr, the legate who had bested Sitri. “Orders of the Duke. Get moving. Try anything, and I’ll make you wish I’d ended your miserable existence on the spot.”
I straightened and rose from where I’d slumped against the wall. Aching twinges shot up my leg. A groan slipped from my lips. Being blind and bound hurt my odds in combat, but that lingering injury would kill them, even if I found myself freed.
A firm hand met my shoulder and delivered a sharp, painful jerk. I stumbled forward, and Zephyr laughed. I grimaced. It took all my willpower to bite my tongue, to keep from uttering a string of insults that would see me annihilated. Or worse.
I inched along at my warden’s insistence.
The cold, rough ground stung my feet as I walked.
The empty halls were easy enough to navigate, but when my toes met the first stairs, it became difficult to match Zephyr’s pace.
My heels caught on uneven stone. Every step jolted my leg wound, and I clenched my teeth, pushing myself to keep moving despite it.
When the ground evened out, fresh air stirred over my skin. One step, two steps, three… I marched another forty paces before a hand grabbed my shoulder, forcing me to still.
“Kneel,” Zephyr commanded.
I took a deep breath, pushed away my resentment, and obeyed.
The thin, lacy garb I wore didn’t spare my knees from the rough stone.
His footsteps trailed to my left, then returned, followed by clanging metal.
Calloused hands seized my shackles, lifting my wrists from my lap.
There came a terrible clang, and the click of a lock.
When Zephyr released me, my arms slammed to the ground beneath an unexpected weight.
I winced at the impact, pulled against that weight. A heavy chain rattled in response.
More footsteps. These were heavier. Slower.
More deliberate, followed by the shifting of fabric and light metal moving.
A tender hand met my head. The stench of perfume washed over me, pregnant with tones of absinthe, toxic flowers, and bitter secrets.
There came an unwanted caress against my cheek, then that hand slipped beneath my blindfold and pulled it free.
With my sight restored, I took in my surroundings.
I knew this barren excuse for a courtyard, seated atop a cliff, looming high above an otherworldly city.
Two towers stood on either side of me, and behind me loomed a pristine white palace, a luxurious prison full of subservience and agony.
I’d been chained before it as a statement, an offering.
Zephyr must have lurked somewhere nearby, but a far more pressing threat eclipsed him—a demon who’d placed his knee on the ground and brought his face mere inches from mine; the monster who had haunted my nightmares for seven long years.
The Duke Vapula himself.
Glittering golden eyes. Angular jaw. A mane of luxurious blond hair.
Broad, rippling muscles veiled beneath a white-and-gold prince suit, adorned with a shining gold belt, and distorted by a faint scale pattern.
He wore the same fortified chainmail as his legates, concealed under extravagant clothes.
“It’s been quite a long time, hasn’t it, Lillia?” That soft, melodic tone raised the hair on the back of my neck.
I forced myself to meet his hungry gaze. “It has—two years. Nowhere near long enough for my liking.” I hoped he didn’t notice how my voice wavered and my hands shook. My quickening pulse called for air, but his presence suffocated me.
“And far too long for mine.”
Vapula studied me, and he smiled, baring his teeth like a lion prepared to tear into its prey.
“Never before has a human shut me out in such a way. Did the drinks and pills do a good job of rending your dreams, hmm?” He laughed. “What a clever trick.”
“I—”
“Hush, Lillia. I see that in our time apart, you have forgotten what I taught you. Don’t worry—you are home now, and I will help you remember.”
Vapula reached out to me. My heart beat wildly behind my ribs, like a caged animal thrashing in its prison.
He took hold of my jaw, tilting my face upward, nails digging into my skin.
I tried to pull back, but Vapula’s boot stomped down on my chain, yanking my wrists to the ground.
Pain shot through my shoulders. I froze.
“Relax,” he cooed, his fingers stroking my chin. “My, just how many years of work has that Prince undone? I thought I broke you of this habit.”
I gritted my teeth. “I undid your ‘work’ myself. Sitri didn’t do anything to me.”
“He let you want, sweet Lillia, and stoked your desire with his lies. To want is not your place. I raised you better than that.”
With one hand holding my chin, Vapula released my tether.
He took hold of my shackles and stood. Pulled me to my feet.
Aches ignited in my arms and leg, making me stumble, and I crashed straight into the Duke’s embrace.
My muscles locked, freezing me with a learned response I still hadn’t shed.
Vapula ran his fingers up my arm, stalling only to trace the lines of the cherry red seal that marked me.
“Lust and lies. What terrible poisons.” His nose and lips grazed my shoulder and trailed along my neck, stealing my breath. “As soon as the Prince is dealt with, I will give you the remedy for his influence. The time has come to cure you of this infection.”
As soon as the Prince is dealt with…
That sentence resonated deep in my chest, calling to something I’d buried under fear and pain, stirring emotions I couldn’t bear to feel.
“He’s still out there.” I breathed the words as a conviction, not a question.
“He is,” Vapula confirmed, “and since Zephyr has already failed me once, it will be you who helps me catch him.”
Suddenly, everything clicked. These clothes, this place, his armor… it was more than a punishment. He’d carefully constructed all of this to ensure Sitri’s demise. He must have escaped somehow. And if Vapula had set this trap at the council of his seers…
I had to get a grip, had to shake off the fear he nurtured, or else it would consume me. I reached for Sitri’s magic and cast the tendrils of my web. They unearthed the Duke’s desires, and what I found made me shudder.
He wanted Sitri destroyed, and Zephyr on the throne, wanted me beneath him in his bed.
But that wasn’t all; he wanted to break me, to instill obedience so thoroughly that I couldn’t resist him, even if I tried.
Vapula wanted to train me like a dog, and in a way, he already had—he’d taught me to freeze when he touched me, to silence at his command, to obey to keep his wrath at bay.
The isolation Sitri imposed, torturous as it was, had disrupted Vapula’s discipline. It allowed me to unwind the threads Vapula sewed into my soul.
The Duke’s voice, his caress, his body against mine… all of it was wrong, and I couldn’t stomach it any longer. My anger ignited into rage, twisting my face as I pulled against his hold.
“I’m not helping you do anything,” I spat, “and I will never be your consort. I will fight you with every breath I take. Set me free, strike me down, or try taking an enemy to bed. You won’t like what happens if you do.”
“There are ways to help you follow. Your cooperation, or lack thereof, dictates how unpleasant they become.”
As suddenly as Vapula had reeled me in, he released me. His arms fell away. I pulled back. My injured leg gave. I lost my footing, and the cold, hard ground rushed up to meet me. Dull pain shot through my side as I landed, gasping for air. My whole body shook now, not just my hands.
I forced myself upright and met his eyes, a snarl on my lips. “Why even bother?”
“Excuse me?” Vapula raised an eyebrow. His smile slowly faded.
Here—there was something here he wanted to hide. His bitter stench intensified, betraying his secrets. Though my leg felt as if on fire and the ache of a soon-to-be bruise ran down my body, I struggled to my feet, refusing to let him see me weaken.
“Why bother going through all that effort?” I pressed. “You have thousands of demons in your legions. Why me?”
“Because there is a bounty on my throne. A bid for my power is coming. You are a piece on my enemy’s board, and I must be the one who controls you.”
It wasn’t the truth, or at least not the whole truth. “You seem awfully sure of that. Where did you get that information?”
“I have seen it, Lillia—all of it.”
Vapula turned, his eyes still trained on me, and started towards his palace. He gave me a generous berth. I matched him step-for-step, my chain rattling as I dragged it across the ground, never letting the Duke slip from my sight.
“The Prince is not the only one with allies, you know,” he continued.
“President Marbus has painted the future for me; the opening of tombs best left sealed, the movement of things which fell long before the Earth was forged. You, dear Lillia, have a part to play. You are a foolish idea that demons can be taught to love, and that Prince of yours, your proof. Without my interference, you will become weapons used to carve fate itself. What kind of Duke would allow his consort to be exploited so?”
“You aren’t making sense,” I snapped. “I know you’re holding back. You reek of poison and secrets. Stop talking in riddles and answer me!”
“Oh, but you will fight me with every breath you take, won’t you, Lillia? If that is how this goes, I see no reason to bore you with the details.” Vapula shot me a truly wicked grin, his face as twisted as his soul.
Then, he gave a wave and turned. On his cue, the porcelain-skinned demon, Zephyr, brought his hand to the hilts of his weapons.
“I expect nothing short of success, Zephyr,” Vapula called as he strode toward his palace. “The Prince and his throne are yours. This time, do not fail to claim them, or I will find someone else who can.”
“Wait!” I shouted. “I said, wait! You can’t just leave me here!”
Fear. Rage. Hatred. Emotions burned inside me like a wildfire, too vicious to be tamed, melting through my icy dissociation.
Vapula kept walking. With every step he took, his silhouette shrank against the backdrop of his palace.
I loathed the idea of him returning to it, sitting on that massive balcony it bore, and watching me from luxury as I suffered at his whims.
If I were to become a weapon, something so powerful I could alter fate, then I’d start by sending the Duke to his end.
I leaped, sprinting towards Vapula one foot after the other, my resentment drowning out the pain shooting through me with every step.
The chain rattled. Vapula didn’t bother turning around, didn’t bother to face his demise, and Zephyr didn’t move to stop me.
I’d catch him off guard and be done with this.
Only a few feet remained between us. As I prepared to raise my shackles and strike him, a deafening clang rang behind me, and my wrists were yanked between my legs.
I nearly toppled over from the force. I fought with all my might, finding not an inch of slack.
When I glanced over my shoulder, my fears became reality.
I’d pulled the chain taut. This was the end of my tether.
Vapula was perfectly safe. Though I couldn’t see his face, I certainly heard the laughter rolling off of him like smog, poisoning the air.
I tilted my head to the sky and howled my defeat.
My tortured wail echoed through the empty stone arena as I collapsed to my knees.
Tears welled up in my eyes, fueled by pain and fury.
Once they started falling, they didn’t stop.
Through my blurred vision, I watched as Vapula escaped unharmed, unbothered by what he’d done, by the husk of his consort chained to the ground, starved and aching, behind him.