by S. D. Grimm
Chapter 60
Brother Against Brother
Ethan jerked his head up, all his thoughts spinning. Where was he? Not where he’d been moments ago. Actually, he didn’t even know if it was moments ago. How long had he been out? He tried to move his arms, and his blood turned to ice. He was standing, arms and legs chained to a wooden pole, his arms extended above his head. The pole scratched his skin as he peered around at his surroundings. The chilly room—if anyone would call it that—smelled dank and rancid, with the strangest hint of pears. Moist brick lined the walls, and the yellow flames of torches cast a sickly glow on everyone’s skin. Were they underground?
Some of the corners remained in shadow, and beams from floor to ceiling supported the room at various spots. He squinted, eyes adjusting. What was in that back corner? Old food storage baskets? A cell that the door had rusted off of? What was this place?
Jayden and Serena were bound in rickety chairs too far away for him to reach. And a woman with crazy eyes stepped in front of him. Belladonna.
His blood boiled. She would pay for this. The faint heat of a threat pulsed across his chest, almost as if his talent were flickering out like a dying fire. That made his stomach lurch.
So did the fact that she held a whip. And that someone had removed his shirt.
Ryan loomed behind Belladonna, head lowered, glaring. He was a ghost of what he’d been. His eyes, typically so full of humor and charm, were lifeless.
Guards dressed in black with white shirts lined the walls, hiding in the shadows—armed and ox-huge—likely ready to do Belladonna’s bidding. There had to be at least twenty.
Belladonna stepped toward the girls. “Jayden, I didn’t expect the Mistress to have such a strong hold on your mind already. You must be weak.”
“What do you want, Belladonna?” Serena asked.
“The Creator’s power. I don’t have much time to make you all mine before our common enemy shows up, so it’s a good thing I enlisted help. Kara.”
Kara stepped forward. She glanced at Ethan and smirked. “Soldier. Nice to see you again.”
“Wish I could say the same,” he bit out.
Belladonna’s eyes met Ethan’s. “Your strength belongs to me.” She tugged thin air, and a ripping pain in his chest pulled forward, slamming him, hard into the pole.
“Serena’s soul is already mine.” Belladonna pulled out her dagger and sliced Serena’s face, right under her left eye.
“Leave her alone!” Jayden fought against her bindings.
Ethan’s talent begged him to save her, but how could he? He looked at his brother, pleading. “Ryan!”
Ryan’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Belladonna nicked Serena’s cheek again, and she spit in Belladonna’s face.
“Stop healing yourself.” Belladonna’s voice was cool. Calm. And Serena’s cut continued to drip blood.
Ethan’s pulse raced. Belladonna could do that? He glanced at Ryan, who stared at Serena, the look on his face somewhere between pain and confusion. Hope ignited in Ethan. Did Ryan still have feelings for Serena? How far gone was he in truth?
Ethan braced for all the strength left inside of him and pulled at his bindings.
“Ryan’s heart is mine.” Belladonna walked over to him and stroked his jaw as if he were some pet, and he kissed her.
Ethan grimaced. “What are you doing? Snap out of it! Ryan! Look at me!”
Ryan’s head turned slightly, and his cold, dull eyes met Ethan’s. “Do I know you?”
“Y-yes! Ryan. It’s me, Ethan. What has she done to you? Come back, brother. Don’t let her—” A slight wave of warmth spread across Ethan’s chest in a warning as Belladonna approached him. He didn’t care. Let her hit him. It got her farther away from Ryan. Ethan kept talking. Trying to reach Ryan as he ignored Belladonna.
The back of her hand slammed into his face, and he tasted that familiar metallic tang. “He isn’t yours anymore.”
“Not mine?” Ethan looked at her like she was crazy—which she was. “Is that what you do? Wipe people’s memories so you can claim them as your pets? Treat them worse than animals?”
“Shut him up!” She pointed to Ethan and four guards stepped forward.
Ethan’s heart raced, but Belladonna held out her hand. “Wait. I have a better idea. Let’s make her mine first.” She approached Jayden, and Ethan pulled harder at the chains. Belladonna held out her hand. “Come, pet.”
Ethan’s heart slammed against his chest when Ryan followed her. Belladonna pulled back on Jayden’s hair.
“Leave her alone!” Ethan’s cries fell on deaf ears, and he yanked the chains with all his might.
She poured a dark liquid into Jayden’s mouth while Serena shouted her protests and begged Ryan to help. Jayden struggled, but Belladonna held her in place with Ryan’s help and forced Jayden to swallow.
Ethan pulled again, and this time his heart skipped as he felt some give. He just had to keep tugging.
Jayden stopped struggling. Her became lifeless like Ryan’s. And Ethan’s heart stilled. He looked at Serena, who wore the same look on her face that he felt. They’d come to save Ryan and instead had given Belladonna everything she needed to gain the Creator’s power.
Belladonna showed Ethan a golden bracer on her arm. No. That was the weapon Connor had told them he needed. The one Morgan had seen. It was all coming true.
Serena gasped when she saw it. “What did you do to her?”
“I just made her into one of my black blood soldiers. Everyone had some but me. So I made my own. It was easy really. Spelled black lion venom turns their blood black. Another special potion stops the venom from taking over their hearts completely. And this lovely bracer gives me control over them. It’s wonderful really.”
Ethan tugged his bindings. “I. Will. Kill. You.”
“Have you forgotten? You can’t.” Belladonna laughed. “When the Mistress gets here, she’ll believe Ryan’s heart and Jayden’s mind are hers. She’ll want Serena’s soul and your strength. She’ll think I delivered you to her. And then, I’ll stab her in the back. Or the chest. I haven’t really figured that part out.” She leaned closer to Ethan. “Doesn’t matter. You’re going to give me what I want now.”
He looked her in the eyes as realization hit him. “You don’t have my strength.”
A flicker of a patronizing smile stretched her lips. “I thought you might say that. We’ll call this assurance then. Shall we?” She walked behind him, and his chest ignited. Her hand glided over his back, and he wanted to pull away. Then a thin, black weapon danced in his periphery. “You’re about to become acquainted with my weapon of choice.” Ethan had never felt a whip against his skin, but something inside him froze.
Serena started fighting against the ropes that bound her, but Jayden sat silent, and Ryan waited like a ghost of a man.
Ethan had to make them fight this evil, insane woman.
“Ryan.” Belladonna held up the whip and he cringed. “Remember your training?”
He nodded.
“We need to train this one now. Would you like to do the honors?”
Of course she’d make Ryan torture him. Ethan’s stomach flipped.
Ryan walked over to him, like a beaten dog who was too scared to disobey.
“Ryan, you don’t have to do this.” Ethan pulled at the chains again. He felt a surge of hope as one of them seemed to give. The anchor was in the wooden slats of the ceiling. Did he have enough strength left?
“Ryan, please. Don’t.” Serena trembled.
Ethan pulled harder, straining at the end of his chains. But he kept his face placid, stone. “Go ahead, whip me, Ryan, but if this is what she did to you, she doesn’t love you.”
“The torture was earned. Her healing was the act of love.”
“Healing!” Serena screamed. Tears raced down her face as she struggled to get free. “Those scars she left on you? The way she treated you? Remember, Ryan! She doesn’t love you! I—”
&n
bsp; “That’s quite enough.” The sound of a slap silenced Serena, and Ethan bowed his head against the pole in front of him. Then Belladonna said, “What are you waiting for, pet? Break him.”
Ryan stood in front of Ethan and showed him the whip. Then he smiled. This man looked nothing like Ryan anymore. All his kindness, all his caring bathed in humor was gone. He looked like one dining on wrath, and thriving.
“Ryan?” Ethan’s voice trembled. “Hear me. You know me.”
Ryan walked behind him, and the sound of the ends of the whip converging sent a shiver through Ethan. Ryan chuckled. “Scared?”
“I’m not scared.” Ethan tried to put every ounce of his calm demeanor into his words.
“You should be.”
“Not of you.” He looked over his shoulder and met Ryan’s dead stare.
Belladonna laughed. “He doesn’t know you.”
“Ryan, listen to me! Please?”
Ryan donned a smile that reminded Ethan of Belladonna. “You will break. They all break.”
He looked away as Ryan swung the weapon. The whip slammed into him with more force than he’d anticipated. More sting than he’d thought possible. And the shock of pain stole his breath. “Like she broke you.” His words strained as he yanked against the chains.
“She made me whole again.” The whip lashed across Ethan’s skin again, tearing his back open.
He caught his breath. “Torturing someone who can’t fight back is weak.”
“It makes me stronger!” Ryan slammed the whip against Ethan’s back again, and Ethan screamed.
After each lash, he pulled the chains anew, but his strength was draining. “Fight me man-to-man, and we’ll see who’s stronger!”
“You are in no position to bargain.” Another burn slapped across his back.
“Is this what she did to you?” Ethan asked, his voice wavering. “Is this how she trained you?”
Ryan’s persistence with the weapon cut him off. Ethan pulled the shackles harder, but the ceiling was giving way. With one more yank, the wood splintered. A chain broke free. He turned around and stopped Ryan’s incoming blow.
Ryan pushed back and drew his sword. A fire ignited in his hands and heated the weapon. Made the blade turn red. Ryan smirked, but there was no joy in it.
Ethan sank against the wooden beam, his back screaming, and faced Ryan the best he could with one arm still chained to the ceiling. “You don’t hurt those you love.”
Ryan paused. “She heals me.” His voice wavered.
“No, Ryan. She hurts you. That’s not love.”
Ryan’s sword barreled down toward Ethan’s chained arm.
Serena screamed.
Ethan whirled toward the pole, and Ryan’s sword slammed into the wall. His heart hammered. That was close. Ethan’s foot hit something, and he glanced down. A sword? His pulse thundered. He looked up to see Kara slinking in the shadows behind the food crates. She pressed her finger to her lips. Ethan pulled with all his might and yanked his other arm free, then he scooped up the sword. The familiar weight of it told him it was his own sword.
As Ryan advanced, Ethan sprang up and kicked him hard in the chest, sending him sprawling into a beam.
“Come here!” Kara’s whisper was harsh.
Ethan didn’t know who to trust, but Kara hid behind the baskets in the old cell—not actively trying to kill him. He ducked back there, counting on his fading talent to mask the pain. It failed him and a lance of pain shot through him before dulling again. That was not good.
Kara held out a key.
“What are you—?”
“Do you always question your rescuers?”
Even as she unchained him, he glared at her.
Regret registered in her eyes. “I’ll explain later. Just trust me.”
“Fight me, coward!” Ryan’s voice called to him.
Kara looked at Ethan’s back. “How are you standing?”
Talents he wasn’t as confident in. “Just give me the plan.”
Kara nodded. “Leave Belladonna to me.”
Half of him wanted to run her through, but she posed no threat. So he nodded. “I’ll give you a distraction.”
Ryan kicked over a stack of food baskets, and Ethan sneaked around another stack, bracing against them as another wave of pain got past his failing talent. As his strength returned, he jumped out of hiding and faced Ryan, sword ready.
Ryan sprouted a crooked smile. “I knew the fighter in you wasn’t buried far.” He advanced and swung his weapon. Ethan blocked the blow.
As metal scraped metal, Ryan started pushing Ethan. “Ryan, this isn’t you. Fight her hold on you. Do you hear me?”
“You talk too much.” He sliced his sword through the air, and Ethan jumped back. Ryan rounded on him and swung again. Ethan blocked blow after blow, his strength draining fast.
And he caught sight of Kara slinking out of the shadows.
Ethan didn’t have a chance to worry about that—he was too busy dodging Ryan’s attacks.
“You’re not even trying!” Ryan’s blade chopped toward him and sliced into Ethan’s right shoulder. Ethan gasped and managed to get out of the way of the next blow, but Ryan was relentless.
“I don’t want to hurt you!” He held the sword with two hands, his right arm trembling.
“That’s your mistake!” Ryan slammed his sword against Ethan’s. The blades shrieked, and Ryan kicked Ethan hard in the chest. He fell to the ground, every gash in his back screaming and Ryan struck again. Ethan blocked the blow, calling what was left of his strength, but Ryan had leverage now. And he pushed. Ethan’s arms shook as he strained to keep Ryan’s weapon from slicing his head off. His shoulder screamed. His back burned.
Ryan’s weight pressed against it, and Ethan looked up into his eyes. The eyes of a madman.
“Ryan . . .” He pushed the words out through clenched teeth. “Please don’t do this, brother.”
At the word brother, Ryan flinched. Then he shook his head. “I don’t have a brother.”
“Yes . . . you . . . do . . .” Ethan’s arms quivered, his right arm failing to support the weapon anymore. “You’re my brother, Ryan. And I love you!”
Ryan’s pressure wavered just enough that Ethan pushed him off and rolled out from under him. He struggled to his feet, sword in his left hand. There was no way he could keep this up. Everything hurt too much. His strength was fading. But Ryan knelt on the ground. He looked up, and something sparked in his eyes that wasn’t heat or a threat. Recognition?
Ethan shivered as relief pulsed into him.
“Ethan?” Ryan shook his head. “Where?”
“Look out!” Serena shouted.
Ryan stood as Belladonna came at him.
Her eyes gleamed like dark sparks of cold, hard rock. “Men! Subdue them.”
Chapter 61
Be Ready
Ryan waited for the rush, but the guards against the wall did not
move from the shadows.
“The guards are napping.” Kara sauntered forward and held out her blow tube and wiggled it. “Tangle flower seed.”
Ryan gasped. “You?”
Kara made eye contact with him. “I’ll distract her, Charmer. You know what to do.” She wiggled her fingers above her other hand.
Fire. She wanted him to kill Belladonna? His heart hammered. Kara raced toward Belladonna, dagger ready. She threw it.
Belladonna held up her hand and the dagger fell to the floor. “Stupid assassin.”
Kara cocked her head. “I have more.”
This was it. His moment. He could take her on and be rid of her. Why wouldn’t his feet move?
Ethan charged after Belladonna, and she held out her hand to stop him. “I don’t even need guards.” She touched him, and Ethan fell to the ground screaming. Ryan stared at his brother in horror. He knew that feeling. She was pouring all of his previous injuries into him at once.
“Oh, isn’t this interesting?” Belladonna’s eyes went
wide and she smiled. “You’ve died before?” She looked at Serena. “I can kill this one with a single touch. I just have to push. A little—”
Ethan’s screams intensified.
“Stop it!” Ryan’s voice cracked. “Don’t hurt him!”
Belladonna looked at him and narrowed her eyes.
“Charmer!” Kara yelled. She raced toward Belladonna, a dagger in each hand. Belladonna reached her hand out in front of her, and Kara stopped mid-leap. She hung, suspended, gasping for air. Her daggers clattered to the ground as she pulled at something unseen around her throat. Then she swiped at Belladonna’s face. Her hand caught the necklace Belladonna wore.
“Tramp!” Belladonna pushed Kara further away and she held tight to the necklace. It snapped apart, but she remained suspended, clawing at her own throat.
Ryan stepped in front of Belladonna, and her eyes widened. “You too, pet?”
He shook, lowering his weapon. “I’m sorry.”
“No!” Serena’s voice was desperate. “Ryan, no!”
But Belladonna smiled. “That’s right pet.” She took a step closer to him, holding out her hand as if she might touch him. He turned away from her, chest heaving.
“Don’t be frightened,” she said. And her words made him want to spit. She came closer, one arm still raised to keep Kara suspended. The other reaching for him.
He flinched away from her, and she paused. “I won’t hurt you this time. I told you to obey me, though. I might have to”—she leaned closer, closed her eyes as if she was about to kiss him.
And Ryan straightened. This wasn’t right. He looked down at Ethan’s writhing, crumpled form on the floor. Ethan. His brother. This time Ethan was in need of rescuing. Ryan’s heart clutched. Because this time it was all his own fault. He’d—he’d done this. He’d—no. He looked up at Belladonna and her seductive smile. “And I told you—” Ryan swung his sword with all his might. The blade sliced through her neck. Her eyes opened momentarily to reveal her surprise, and then her head tumbled to the floor and rolled across stone to sit at Jayden’s feet.
“—not to hurt my brother.” Ryan fell in a heap, leaning on his sword hilt. The bloody tip rested on the floor and blood, black as night, dripped off the blade and onto the cement. He’d done it.