Arii had endured hours of endless torture, how long, she did not know. Her skin had been sliced, before the magic stitched her back up again, her insides seemingly set on fire before magic was used to heal her wounds, ready for the next round. Her mind had blanked after the first hour, darkness pulling her into its inky embrace, so she did not need to feel the horrendous, soul shattering pain.
It was easy, plunging herself into a part of her mind that felt nothing, as if welcoming home a long-lost friend. She had done it before – vision turning inward to a place where she no longer felt the outside world.
This pain though, it was unlike anything she had ever experienced, as if the magic in Valdis’ iron dagger set every nerve alight with acid. The crystal set into it was slowly killing her every time he fixed her to the solid wooden table in his room of torture. She saw his face hovering above her, teeth glinting in a sardonic smile.
It reminded her of the Reaper – the creature that had set itself upon Sybell back in the castle.
Now, all she could focus on was the cool stone beneath her cheek.
Her eyes slid slowly to the window, seeing the glittering of stars beyond the barriers. The blink of her lashes was slow, but they did not leave the tiny lights as she lay in her own vomit and bodily fluids.
Her body was covered with cuts and bruises, parts of her skin bubbling with burned flesh. Her face was marred with a bloody lip, her left eye so savagely beaten that her lids had swollen shut.
That was the external damage.
Internally, she felt as if she had fallen into a pit of broken glass.
Why Valdis had not killed her yet, she had no clue. He was obviously trying to get a result from his experiment. What that was, she drew a blank.
The iron manacles remained around her wrists; their weight seemed pin her to the stone floor. She twitched, testing her limbs ever so slightly, her muscles bunched as her brain forced them to move.
She sat up, leaning against the wall, remaining in view of the night sky beyond the window.
Had Lorch reacted badly to her slipping from his chambers without waking him? Had Elijah noticed her absence at training? She wondered if they were both angry at her at that moment, imagining Lorch’s gentle frown and Elijah’s thrumming disapproval.
At some point, someone had tipped water down her throat. Probably to ensure she did not die of thirst. Her tunic was soaked with dark liquid, a mixture of her own blood, water and vomit.
Gods, she reeked. How long had she been here?
Her vision blurred as she again sought the stars, her entire being wishing that the next time Valdis tortured her, her soul would flee her body in search of the next life. Her body would give out before her mind did, she knew that. With a strange wave of emotion, she hoped she would see her mother, waiting to greet her at the edge of a rainbow celestial clearing with open arms.
Her throat clogged as a small sound escaped her.
No. No, if she let go, she would be turned into one of those mindless things. She could not allow that to happen, nor could she allow it to happen to anyone she knew or cared about.
And she cared. Oh gods, she cared.
She cared about what could happen to thousands of innocent people, and to those she had grown to love.
Love. It was unfamiliar… foreign… strange…
Her heart squeezed in her chest, her teeth baring as a new kind of pain sought its way into her cold heart. And like always, she flailed with shaky fingers – trying desperately to push the feelings back within the stone confines of her carefully moulded defences. She understood why the Sisters of Fate trained all of their Furies to suppress emotion – locking their hearts against feeling. Feelings opened her to pain – a different sort of pain that had her feeling bare and exposed.
Yet – it also filled her with a fire of determination, and purpose.
She imagined the faces of those she cared about. Krepth, Nem, the recruits. Lorch. And then a last face danced before her eyes, silver eyes gentle yet flickering with hesitation.
Elijah.
Oh, how she cared for them all.
She cared about the strings of their fate – cared with a ferocity that brought forth sparks to her blood.
The emotions cascading through her - they made her feel almost like the magic had never left her body. Tingles danced along her fingertips, a phantom glitter of feeling gliding along her nerves. She lifted a hand, shakily turning it to gaze at her open palm.
Then, before her watery eyes, the tiniest hint of a spark snapped upon her skin.
One tiny spark of magic.
There was a sound at her door, and her heart began to thunder as she feared who was about to enter the room. Thoughts of emotions fled, leaving her pressed against the stone wall.
Were they returning to take her to Valdis again? Already?
The door opened slowly, and Arii blinked as a cloaked figure entered the cell, followed by a second figure. They moved like silent shadows, and Arii felt her world spin beneath her as a familiar voice whispered from the darkness.
“Well, this place is all kinds of brilliant shades of fucked up,” whispered Nemesis.
Arii almost cried with relief.
The second shadow swept towards her as Nem pressed the door closed without a sound. Arii found her eyes fixed on two silver pools as Elijah gently wrapped his arms around her, his dark face drawn with a look she had never seen before.
Concern. He was concerned for her.
As he studied her, she felt his body begin to hum with suppressed rage. His eyes were like quicksilver in the dark as Nem slid beside him, her lips uttering a curse as she touched a finger to the iron manacles shackling Arii’s wrists. Her hand retreated just as quickly.
“Iron,” she whispered with dread.
Arii was almost about to tell her to shut her mouth lest Elijah ask why iron was a concern, but their heads both lifted to sounds outside the cell.
“We need to move, now,” ground out Elijah as he lifted her against his broad, solid chest as if she weighed next to nothing.
Her eyes were fixed on his face, wide and unblinking - as if he were some sort of mirage in a desert. She supposed she was probably delusional from the torture.
Was her mind conjuring up this as another form of torment?
Her fingers lifted, brushing his jaw as if to prove to herself that he was indeed real. In response, Elijah’s head tilted slightly, eyes lowering to fix on hers as Arii’s hand dropped back to her chest.
“You’re real.” she whispered; her voice pathetic even to her own ears.
Gods how far she had fallen.
Elijah’s eyes held hers, his expression softening ever so slightly, the little crease never leaving the space between his drawn brows. Her eyes catalogued his face to memory, seeing it now like she were in a dream. Her memory of him, the memory that had kept her grounded, dimmed in comparison to seeing his face now.
“We are getting you out of here, Ariiaya.”
Ariiaya.
Ah, he knew her true name.
Through the haze of her mind, she noted to find out how he had come across that knowledge later. If they survived their escape, of course.
Nem’s fingers flew through the air as she weaved a thin veil of magic around them. It would not make them invisible to the eyes, but it would help them escape if they remained in the shadows.
There were a lot of shadows in Bonemire.
The trio swept through the halls, keeping to the darker areas and surveying around corners before continuing when the space was clear. Distant groans and screams sounded every now and then, the sounds more spaced out during the dead of night.
Nem’s hand shot out, halting their escape for a moment as a shadow began to inch its way around a corner they were headed. Their backs hit the
stone, and Arii heard Nem’s sharp inhale of breath.
If they were discovered, she knew it would be incredibly difficult to escape.
Nem drew her dagger as the shadow elongated across the space beside them as its maker drew closer. They could not afford to alert anyone - if one guard saw them, the entire keep would surely know shortly after.
The soldier came into view, and Nem’s movements were swift and savage. She grabbed the man’s shoulders, pulling him back before her blade was sliding across his neck. She dropped him to the floor and pulled his twitching body back to lean against the wall, his mouth working in a silent scream as his eyes rolled wide.
Leaving the man twitching in the darkness, they hurried on, keeping to the outskirts as they entered the courtyard containing the caged Kryverns and experiments. In the flickering torchlight, they could see that many of the animals slept.
Nem’s eyes danced over the scene, noting the array of humans, elves and even Water Nymphs – their scales glittering with blood, their chests open to the night.
Thank the gods for the tiny mercy of the beasts sleeping.
Nem lead the way as Elijah followed, moving on swift, sure feet as they ducked behind crates of crystals. They were quick to move on, the blue light from the stones sending shadows across the courtyard as they passed.
One of the cages rattled as they crept past, and Nem’s hand flew out once more in warning.
Blood red eyes flickered open, nostrils flaring as they froze in front of the cage of a Kryvern. Its head began to rise, eyes blinking as if still waking from sleep. Elijah’s voice was a guttural whisper as the beast’s lips rippled with the beginnings of a growl.
“Nemesis,” he said in warning as jaws began to part, hot breath causing their cloaks to flap around them.
Nem’s hand flew out, through the bars and onto the beast’s muzzle, palm slapping against solid black scales. She threw magic into her hand and prayed to the Gods that what she was about to try did not backfire. Blue light flashed momentarily as she forced her magic into the beast’s skull, directly into its brain.
Blood red eyes dimmed and slid shut as the Kryvern’s head slowly dropped, rippling jowls softening as she put it back to sleep. As its head rested on the floor, Elijah’s breath whooshed from his lips silently.
“Impressive,” he whispered, meeting Nem’s small, triumphant smirk.
“I can’t believe that worked,” she whispered back.
They continued on, clearing the area to head into the inner ward of the fortress. They paused as they surveyed the main doors into the structure.
Firmly closed.
Elijah’s eyes slid to Nem, and with a small nod, the Fury slipped into the shadows.
Elijah stepped into a dark enclave, setting Arii down while he waited for Nem to open the doors, hopefully undetected. His muscles bunched, ready to spring into action if this went badly.
Arii grimaced, her swollen eye darting to find his face. Elijah placed his palm against her cheek, his hand practically hovering for fear of hurting her. In the short time he had known her, he had become used to her sassy, bold and strong demeanour. To see her so broken physically, it took his breath away. Even now as their eyes met in the dim light, he saw dim, flickering fire in their purple depths.
He knew that even the worst torture could not douse the fire in those eyes. It had been there from the moment she had knelt before the King at his birthday celebration and every time they had exchanged threats in the castle halls, or when they sparred in the training ring. There was a fire in her that he could not help but be drawn to, no matter how hard he tried.
“You look like shit,” was all he could manage, and her lips curled in a smirk that ended in a pained grimace.
“I may need to borrow your hood,” she croaked in reply.
“Hah.” Elijah’s laugh was half hearted, before his expression became serious once more. “We are going to get you out of here, you have my word.”
Arii lifted her hand to rest on his own as it continued to cup her cheek. Her touch was cool against his warm skin, nails skimming his knuckles as her eyes drifted shut. Her head tilted against his palm, her lips parting with a tiny sigh that had Elijah’s creased brows softening.
Elijah promised himself that he would do anything to see her safe again, see her unharmed and fighting with the ferocity and fire he had come to admire.
When their gazes met once more, Arii felt a heavy weight press upon her chest, and at the same moment – felt she may just drift away upon the storm clouds in his eyes.
She realised then that it was not gravity keeping her there at that moment.
It was him.
Elijah.
She felt as if he was her gravity, keeping her to the Earth.
His face was all she could see, the taut pull of his lips, the unexpected softness in his eyes.
Oh, how things had changed in the last few days.
She could not imagine anyone better to have come to save her. She imagined Elijah and Nem would be a force to be reckoned with.
Above, the gates creaked and began to open. Elijah deftly scooped her up once more, her entire body protesting with burning hot pain, and she bit back a scream. She would not undo how far they had come.
Nem leaped and landed with a subtle thud a few feet away, wiping a blood coated dagger on her sleeve as they made their way through the gates, swiftly melding into the darkness beyond.
~~~
Once out of range of any eyes upon the fortress walls of Bonemire, Elijah began lifting Arii onto the back of his black steed while Nem untethered her own horse. When she groaned in pain, he immediately paused.
“No,” Arii groaned, and it took a moment for Elijah to understand that she was struggling to be released from his grip.
“You cannot stand let alone mount a horse on your own,” he said firmly as she groaned again.
Nem lead her dappled brown mare over to them.
“N-no, you cannot take me… back to Viridya,” Arii ground out.
Nem paused and her eyes met Elijah’s. “She’s right, as soon as they figure she is missing, the castle is the first place they will look.” She paused. “We need to take her to the Sisters.”
Elijah’s brows narrowed in confusion, and Nem’s lips curled. “The Three Fates,” she elaborated.
Well hell, if Elijah was not already suspicious of who Arii truly was, this was surely going to reveal it to him.
Elijah gently set her down at the feet of his horse as Nem placed her hands on her friend’s shoulders. Light flared as she attempted to heal some of her wounds, but her magic was almost spent. Between keeping up the veil and making the Kryvern sleep, she found her pool was depleted.
Warmth flooded Arii’s muscles, seeping into her bones. She could feel some of her internal hurts slowly disappear as Nem leaned back into a crouch, heaving a sigh. “We should get moving. I can take her from here.”
“I will come with you.” Elijah’s voice was like the steel of his sword, hard and sharply edged.
Nem hesitated, before her head snapped to the man, her eyes luminous in the dark. “Absolutely not.”
“And why not?”
“Because it will look awfully suspicious if Valdis returns and his son’s personal bodyguard is nowhere to be seen.”
“I will leave before the sun rises.” He paused. “Having only been gone for one night, that will not be seen as overly suspicious,” he reasoned, his tone firm.
“And could you return to the castle before the sun rises?”
“Caviar here is the fastest horse in the stables. He will get me back before sunrise.”
“Caviar?” laughed Arii between them. Elijah’s eyes dropped to see her grimace, a hint of her flippant attitude leaking through her pain. He huffed just as the dark horse be
hind them snorted. “I did not name him…” Elijah muttered, as if offended.
When his eyes lifted to them once more, the silver haired Fury’s arms were crossed upon her chest, chin lifted stubbornly, and eyes narrowed. Nem was assessing the man carefully, her face not at all looking convinced, but slowly her expression softened.
“Fine, but we must go now.”
What she had seen between them in Bonemire was not but a fleeting moment. Nem had felt the fire between her friend and the man, seen the tender way the guard handled her. Ariiaya did not need tender handling, not really - the Fae needed a strong partner to move with her, bring out the fiercely passionate woman Nem knew her to be inside.
Elijah had not needed to come to the fortress, he had not needed to put his life on the line to save a Fae. He had, though – and Nem knew that if she had not come with him, then he would have come alone.
Whatever Arii was part of in that castle, Nem had a feeling she was in deep. Things were slowly making sense, her hesitation and fixation on finding out about the Kryvern with iron claws. It was safe to say now that they knew what was transpiring, and it was not good.
With a swift nod, Elijah helped Arii up onto Caviar’s back, mounting the horse shortly after her. Even though she was still burning on the inside with aches and pains, Arii was incredibly aware of the solid form at her back as his arms came around her, clutching the reins.
Despite herself, she found her body leaning back into him, her head resting against his bicep as her eyes drifted closed.
She swore she heard a soft intake of breath before she drifted into a fitful sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Arii’s eyes slowly opened, her vision blurring before gradually coming into focus as consciousness took over, her sluggish brain catching up with what she saw.
Moonlight dusted the grey sheets of the cot where she lay, streaming through the windows and gently lighting the small room. There was a hearth, the logs within crackling with flames. The room was warm, and she could smell the smoke lingering in the air.
Love, Blood & Fury Page 36