Morax’s words turn my stomach and haunt my mind, but I force myself to push back the repulsive picture and stare blankly past him as though he doesn’t exist to me at all.
“It would never be real. A piece of Hell-dreg shit like you could never earn someone like Sable. She’d never want something so tainted and foul!” Toreon barks ruthlessly.
“You shut your fucking mouth!” Morax shouts back, his snap reaction shocking me. Toreon clearly just hit a mark, and it’s all I can do not to shove my hands into his wound and see how much more I can rip it open. I want Morax to feel it, feel how he’s less than nothing and will never have anything more than what he forces people to give him.
I file the information away as I stand like a statue, waiting to see what will happen next. I get the distinct impression Morax is trying to keep himself from ripping Toreon out of his cage and making him hurt until he takes back every word.
But after another beat, Morax seems to regain his composure, and he turns to peck me on the lips, his eyes never leaving Toreon’s cell. Pulling back with a grin at Toreon’s mutinous face, Morax moves away from me to stand in front of Medley.
“It’s time to turn your duo into a trio,” he announces coolly, reaching out and snagging a strand of Medley’s hair and wrapping it around his hand.
“Medley, you will be escorted out of here, where you will be shifted to your sister Delta, and you will bring her back here at all costs. If her mates get in the way, you will end them with your scythe. If your mates get in the way, you will do the same.”
Nausea careens through me. If Medley is in control, she’s doing a damn good job of keeping it together, because his order makes even me sick, and they’re not my mates.
Morax keeps her pinned under his stare. “Your escort will shift you there and back. You will do nothing else other than go to your sister and bring her back here. You will tell whatever lies you need to in order to get her to come with you alone,” he demands, his voice laced with so much power, even I have to fight against the pressure of it as it pushes down on my shoulders and makes me want to crumble to my knees, and it’s not even directed at me.
Please, please let Medley be able to fight this.
The door to the dungeon opens slowly, and Vudu steps confidently into the room. His eyes flick around like he’s trying to assess the situation. “Pardon my interruption, my Liege, I was told that you needed an escort.”
Morax’s hand drops from Medley’s hair, and he steps back. “Yes, come with me,” Morax commands Vudu, and then he pats his leg to Medley like a dog he wants to heel to his side. “Come, Medley. Sable, back to your cell.”
I stride back into my cage, scythe still clutched in one hand, and Morax quickly seals me in before he hurries away. Worry courses through me as I watch Medley leave with the monster that I’m sure will feature in all the nightmares I have for the rest of my life, but just before the doors close, she reaches behind her, and I see her hand form an okay sign on the outside of her wing.
It’s gone just as fast as it appeared, and her arm is once again hanging by her side, but hope surges through me. She’s in control, and she’s about to be let out of here.
Part of me wonders if it wouldn’t just be better for her and Delta to run as far and as fast as they can from Morax and whatever he has planned for us. But as selfish as it is, I hope they come back for me, and I hope together, we can vanquish the monster.
17
As the door slams behind Vudu, Morax, and Medley, my fingers wrap around the metal bars of my cell so hard that my knuckles groan in protest.
Every second that passes feels like a year. But all I can hear is the occasional crackle of fire coming from the torches. I can’t help but think about everything that we need to go right so we can break out of here, like it’s some to-do list I’m checking off with hope alone. I bite