The pale gaze remained fixed below my shoulders, as did his hand. “Your skin here is soft. Unmarred. We shall have to fix that, won’t we, little bird?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
Chuckling, he slid his hand down my stomach and then under the water. I jerked at the contact. His smile grew as his gaze finally lifted to mine. He held my stare for a moment and then looked at the female who waited behind us silently. “Finish with her.”
Aric withdrew, and the female fae did as ordered, making sure the rest of me was clean. Then I was guided from the tub and dried off with a small linen that did more to irritate the numerous cuts than it did to soak up any of the water. A clean slip was tugged over my head, and when I looked down, I saw that it only reached to mid-thigh and offered little coverage or warmth.
Still shivering, I waited where I had been left as the female went back to the door, and both male fae returned, taking the tub and exiting. Suddenly, I was alone with Aric.
“Much better,” he commented, lifting a hand. He crooked his finger. “Come to me.”
I went to him.
His touch against my cheek was almost gentle if not for the pressure against the tender skin there. “I think it’s time to let you free, don’t you?”
Unsure, I nodded.
He bent, picking up the band and securing it around my neck. His eyes caught mine again, and he whispered something. The icy brush of fingers retreated from my consciousness. It was like a retractable leash. Free will snapped back into place with such force that it drove me back away from the Ancient. Slamming into the edge of the slab, I stared at him, gulping air.
“Welcome back, little bird.”
Chest heaving, I pushed off the slab. “Fuck you.”
He smirked. “Oh, how I missed that mouth. But I wished you knew what I missed”—his gaze dipped in a way that made my skin crawl—“most of all.”
I knew what he missed. I could still feel his hands on my skin, touching me. And what he didn’t realize was that I remembered everything. What I did. What he said. I didn’t know how or why, and while there was a whole lot I wished to forget, I now knew how he planned to free the Queen.
So I smiled.
Chapter 10
Fingers brushed my cheek, drawing me out of the abyss of nothingness.
“Open your eyes,” a voice beckoned, one painfully familiar. “I need you to open your eyes, Brighton.”
I knew that deep, smooth voice.
Gasping, I opened my eyes and found myself staring into eyes a shade of pale blue—eyes and a beautiful face framed by blond hair. I couldn’t believe who I was seeing. “Caden?”
The King smiled. “There’s my sunshine.”
My sunshine….
“I don’t…I don’t understand.” I blinked, thinking he’d disappear, but he was still there when I reopened my lids, those full lips curved. “You…you came for me?”
“Of course, I did.” He touched my cheek again, his touch so gentle that I barely felt it. “How could I not?”
Confusion clouded my thoughts as I stared at him. “How?”
“I’ve been looking for you. We’ve all been looking for you. We didn’t give up on you,” he said, dipping his head. “I didn’t give up on you.”
Caden kissed me, and the touch of his lips against mine was a jolt to my system. Not because it caused the swollen, torn skin to sting, but because it was like a rush of fresh air. And because it tasted like the sun.
“We need to hurry.” He lifted his head as his fingers found mine. “We have to get out of here, now.”
Stunned by his presence and the kiss, I didn’t resist as his hand folded around mine and he pulled me up. I stood on shaky legs, throat burning and eyes stinging. “You…you came for me.”
“I will always come for you,” he replied. “I love you, Brighton.”
Tears filled my eyes as I stared up at him. He…he’d come for me, and he…he loved me.
Caden let go of my hand and went to the door. The hinges creaked as he opened it. The faint glow of dusk crept into the chamber. Inhaling deeply, I caught the faint scent of roses reaching me. He turned back, stretching out his hand—
Wait.
His…his eyes weren’t a cool blue the last time I saw them. They were a warm, fiery amber, but his eyes were now blue. I didn’t understand.
“Come,” Caden urged. “You must follow me. Quick. Before we run out of time.”
Realizing that he was right and the whole eye thing wasn’t important, I started forward, hurrying toward freedom, toward life—
Jerked backward by the neck, my feet slipped out from underneath me. I went down hard on my ass, grunting as a bolt of pain jolted up my spine. My hands flew to my throat. Cool, hard metal greeted my fingers.
“What…?” Confusion swamped me as I twisted toward the stone slab.
The chain….
The tether was still there, bolted to the floor, and the chain was still…. It was still connected to the band around my neck.
Why didn’t Caden take that off? He had to know that I couldn’t leave with it still attached. Rising to my knees, I turned back to Caden—
He wasn’t there.
Where he stood was now just the wooden door—the closed, locked, wooden door.
I fell back onto my ass, my hands dropping to the floor. “He’s not here,” I said to the empty chamber.
He was never here.
Realization slammed into me, punching a harsh cry from my chest. Caden had never been here. The door had never been opened, and I was awake. This wasn’t a dream. This was a…this was a hallucination. I lifted a hand, touching my lips. A very real hallucination because I could still feel the press of his soft kiss.
“Oh, God,” I whispered, curling my hand into a fist.
Memories of my mom surfaced. Many of them flipping together, forming a whirlwind of the hours where she was utterly detached from reality. Episodes where she spoke to people who weren’t there or when she believed that she was still being held by the fae. All those times when it was like I wasn’t even there with her. When it was like she couldn’t even see me.
I had just experienced that. A hallucination so real I had mistaken it for reality.
God.
It was official.
I was losing my mind.
* * * *
I didn’t know where I was or why…why I hurt so badly. I was cold, and yet I was hot as I lay on my side on a hard table of stone and stared at the still flames across from me. They didn’t even seem real to me, barely flickering. I was in a tomb, that much I knew, and there was a chain secured to my neck. And I hurt.
My gaze dropped to where my fingers lay limply in front of me. They were covered in tiny, stinging cuts.
I hurt all over.
I was also hungry.
None of these things pointed to anything good.
I started to shift onto my back but stopped with a wince. The skin there felt raw too, because…because there were cuts there also.
Disjointed images and memories took form. The glint of a blade. Pale blue eyes. Screams…screams and laughter—cold, malicious laughter.
Closing my eyes, I inhaled the musty air and sifted through the cotton that seemed to take up space in my head. There was an odd sense of having done this before as I started with my name because that seemed like a good place to start.
My name.
I had one. I knew I did. A moniker tied to a past, to memories, to a duty. A name that was often shortened.
Lite Bright.
The two words popped up in my head. Someone called me Lite Bright, because my name sounded like that—sounded like light.
Bri.
Brighton.
My eyes opened, and I focused on the dark, low ceiling. Brighton was my name, and…and my friends—I had friends—they called me Bri, but he called me sunshine. A whoosh swept through my chest, twisting with sadness and…and love. Love that wasn’t…returned by him? I saw him sudden
ly, golden hair brushing broad shoulders and eyes the color of honey set in a face so exquisitely fine that he didn’t seem real. But he was real, and his name was Caden. He was the King, and he’d wanted me…and then he didn’t. The twisting motion inside me returned at the memory of what I knew in my bones was the last night I’d seen him. We’d been together. It hadn’t been planned, because I…I had been angry at him, and he’d pushed me away until he pulled me to him. We’d made love. Or at least I thought we did, but then something…something happened.
Dampness crowded my eyes, and the back of my throat burned. What had happened?
“I am honored to become your Queen and serve our Court together.”
The words returned with a jolt, along with the face of…of the Summer fae who’d delivered them. His chosen. His soon-to-be Queen. He’d made love to me and yet was promised to another who was worthy, a beautiful fae creature—
I cut those thoughts off as my cheeks became wet. Reaching up, I wiped the tears away. The stinging of my fingers, salt in open wounds, cleared more of the fog. What had happened with the King wasn’t important now, because I was here….
It took me what felt like forever to remember how I had ended up here, and even once I did, some of the details were still missing. Like where I’d been when Aric had taken me, and how long I’d been here. It felt like…weeks, but I wasn’t sure if that was the case or not. I slowly realized that more was gone though as my history stitched itself back together, forming a puzzle that was missing pieces. I could remember Tink and his cat, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t recall the cat’s name. I knew who Ivy was, but her last name was just out of reach, as was her boyfriend’s first name. Or was it her husband? I could only remember his last name, but not his first. And saying Owens over and over didn’t magically make his first name appear. I knew there was something important I needed to remember, something that Aric had said, but I couldn’t recall it. I knew who had killed my mother but couldn’t remember when or how it had all gone down. I knew something had happened to me that night too, but that was just outside my grasp. There was more I knew was gone, because….
Because parts of me were being stripped away, peeled back and discarded with each feeding.
Was that what had happened to my mom before she was killed, back when she’d been held captive by the fae? She’d been fed on so much that she’d lost a part of herself…and lost touch with reality from time to time.
Was that what was happening to me each time I had to backtrack through what had happened to remember, each time recalling less and less? Would I eventually stop remembering altogether?
I shuddered.
Panic forced me upright, and I ignored how every square inch of my body protested the movement. I let my legs dangle as dizziness swept through me, and the right side of my face throbbed. Gingerly, I prodded at the swollen skin along my jaw. The flesh around my left eye felt the same, and as I stared down at my legs, there were fresh bruises and cuts there, a map of slices and ugly shades of red and purple. I remembered how the cuts had gotten there, but I had no idea why I had the injuries.
I couldn’t think about any of this. I couldn’t dwell on it. Not when I still had parts of myself, which meant that there was still an opportunity to escape.
Steely resolve finally settled in my stomach like a lead bullet. Purpose returned, driving home the need to keep going, to keep living.
I would not die in this place.
I would not die by Aric’s hands.
I would not give him that.
A hollowness opened up in my chest even as I repeated those three sentences over and over. My gaze tracked to the side of the slab of stone, and I saw tiny scratches there, likely marked by the rock lying on the floor next to it, a shard no bigger than my thumb.
I counted the marks. Twenty-nine. A sense of knowing led me to my feet and over to pick up the sliver. I worked at the stone, scratching a slash over the last four ragged lines. Thirty.
Thirty days that I was aware of. That was at least how long I’d been here, and I knew in my bones that I had to escape because this wasn’t like when Ivy had been taken back when Caden had been the evil Prince, hellbent on opening all the doorways to the Otherworld. She’d had help from the inside, and people were looking for her. People who cared enough to risk their lives. They’d found her the night she had been aided in her escape. How long had she been held? Three weeks? An incredibly long time, but she had been found.
A sudden memory surfaced—the hallucination of Caden freeing me. That hadn’t been real.
The hollowness spread, threatening to choke me with bitter hopelessness that seemed to linger like a heavy, oppressive shadow.
I dropped the stone, and slid to my knees, curling inward.
“They care,” I whispered to myself. I knew that Ivy did. So did Tink, and Ivy’s man. I knew they cared. Maybe even Caden. He liked me, just not enough. But the truth was, I knew how the Order operated. I knew enough to know that if Caden, the King of the Summer fae, was looking for me, they’d have found me by now. Ivy’s…boyfriend—husband?—had nearly torn the whole city apart looking for her.
And I was still here.
Because no one was coming.
Chapter 11
“I’m amazed. Really, I am.” Aric held the dagger, turning it so the flames reflected off the blade. It was streaked in red. “You’re still alive.”
There was a part of me that also couldn’t believe I was still alive. How long had I been here now? My thoughts were sluggish as I tried to remember how many little nicks I’d carved into the stone. Forty? Forty-five, maybe. There was something about that time frame that seemed important. Something that should’ve happened in that time.
“I must say, it thrills me that you’re still here. You came to me as a little bird I couldn’t wait to break, but now, you’re my pet.” Lowering his head, Aric’s lips brushed the curve of my cheek, sending a wave of revulsion through me. “My most cherished one. How do you feel about that?”
“Like…like my life is now complete,” I rasped.
“Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?” His breath now danced over my lips, so I turned my head away. Lately, he seemed to be…getting way more into this, so much so that I feared he was beginning to change his views on whether he found mortals attractive. “I hope so. It warms my heart to know you still have so much fight left in you.”
Letting my eyes close, I searched for memories to lose myself in. There was the time my mom had taken me to the Gulf. I’d been a teenager, and I knew I’d loved it there, but I couldn’t remember what the sand felt like between my toes. I focused as hard as I could on what the water looked like, but as soon as the picture began to form in my mind, the image scattered like smoke.
It was so hard to remember the details of…of anything.
“You’re obviously incredibly strong, bizarrely so for a mortal.” My muscles clenched as I felt the cool press of the blade’s edge against the skin of my inner thigh. “Unbelievably so, really.”
I kept my eyes closed, my heart thumping as I waited for the sharp, stinging bite of pain to come. At some point, he would run out of skin to carve up, and then what? Would he start on my face? Probably. He’d already covered my stomach with those tiny slices, and now those scars mingled with the ones he’d left behind before, the old, shiny, pale teeth marks and deep grooves that Caden had…worshiped with his lips.
Forty-five days.
Days that sometimes included feeding, sometimes included baths in cold water. Days where I couldn’t recall what exactly occurred, moments that left me feeling that perhaps it was better that I didn’t remember.
“No one has ever lasted as long as you.” The blade moved swiftly across my skin.
A hoarse scream left me as I pulled against my bonds, trying to escape the blade—the pain—even though I knew it was useless.
His pale eyes glowed. “I’ve had men twice your size die within weeks and lose their minds in days, and yet
you and I have had weeks together. More than a month, and you’re still here.”
My head lolled to the side, and I found myself staring at the other stone slab, the one stained in the center. Had men twice my size died there? Members of the Order? Helpless humans? Other fae? Aric was truly a psychopath, so I imagined he was equal opportunity when it came to whom he tortured.
Forty-five days, and I should have had…I should have had my period by now. A frown tugged at my brow. I hadn’t. As far as I could tell, at least. And I figured Aric was the type to have pointed it out if there was more blood than normal. He was an asshole like that.
Probably was the stress of being slowly cut to death and the lack of food and water. Aric seemed to continue to forget to feed me on any sort of regular basis, and I had no idea how much weight I’d dropped, but my stomach was sunken instead of rounded, and I knew my ribs were beginning to jut out, even when I stood, as were my hipbones. I could feel—
He gripped my chin, forcing my gaze back to his. “What I’m trying to tell you, if you’d pay attention, is that I’m beginning to think there is…something different about you.”
I glared at him.
Aric bent over so that our faces were only inches apart. “You shouldn’t be alive, and that makes me very, very curious. Come to think of it, I was somewhat stunned to discover that you’d survived our first meeting. You should’ve died then.”
I should’ve.
His pale gaze flickered over my face, and then he moved away. I tracked him, my heart stuttering when he lowered his head again, this time to where he’d just sliced open my skin. I tried to pull away, but there was nowhere to go. Bile crept into my throat as I felt his tongue against my skin.
He lifted his head, smirking. “You taste like a mortal.”
My hands opened and closed into tight fists. I’m going to kill you. I’m going to rip out your tongue and kill you.
“But I no longer believe that you are an ordinary human.” He moved back to where his face was just above me, his head tilted to the side. “Tell me what I don’t know.”
The Summer King Bundle: 3 Stories by Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 28