by Sammie Joyce
“Araivis!”
The pain spell should have dropped Gavin to his knees, but he just kept dragging her along.
“No magic for you, Rose, not until you realize that it’s meant to be just the two of us. Only then will I take the bracelet off.”
So the thing blocked her magic too. Where on earth did Gavin get hold of it? Rose had never even heard of magic like this.
She wasn’t going to be able to stop him. Without her magic, she was no match for him, and words clearly weren’t doing any good.
Rose’s only chance was that Asher, Mace, and Jagger rescued her.
She threw herself to the forest floor.
The move surprised Gavin, and he momentarily lost his grip on her. Rose didn’t use the opening to try to escape—she knew he’d just run her down. She frantically searched the ground, her fingers alighting on a sharp rock.
Without hesitation, she drove it into her arm. The pain made her cry out, but it was worth it. Her blood spilled onto the forest floor.
By the time Asher and the others came looking for her, they would be long gone, but they would find the blood. They would know Rose was taken against her will. She didn’t put it past Gavin to have faked a note or something from her telling them that she wanted to be with him alone, and had left.
Rose doubted they would believe that, but if there was any doubt, her blood would tell the true story.
Before Gavin could wrest the rock out of her hand, she stabbed him too, also in the arm.
“Fuck!” He had the rock out of her hand in moments, but it was too late. Her purpose was already accomplished. Gavin’s blood, too, was on the ground.
She had no way of telling her dragons that it was in fact Gavin who had kidnapped her; they would probably assume someone had taken both of them. That was still better than nothing, though. They would know Rose and Gavin were in trouble, and they would come.
Gavin examined both of their wounds briefly, but they were minor. Then he grabbed Rose around the waist and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
“You’re coming with me, Rose, whether you like it or not. Soon enough, you’ll see that this is for the best.”
Rose didn’t answer the insanity. There was no point. Gavin carried her away, each step taking her further from hope of rescue.
Chapter Ten
Rose blinked blearily, trying to clear her foggy head. It was so dark that for a moment she worried she’d gone blind. She’d struggled so hard that Gavin had knocked her out. What if the blow to her head had done more damage than he’d intended?
Fortunately, her wits caught up with her soon. This was simply a dark room. Rose expected to be bound, but she found that she was quite free to move around. The hated bracelet was still on her wrist. Rose tugged hopefully at it, but it didn’t budge.
She climbed to her feet, making her way carefully forward, holding both hands in front of her. Her fingers brushed against stone. The moment they did, there was a grating sound, and light flooded the room.
She was in a cave. The wall in front her had been converted to some kind of sliding door, no doubt with magic. Rose squinted as her eyes adjusted.
The adjoining cave seemed bigger, and there was a fire lit, which was the only source of light.
The fire wasn’t what drew her attention. Rose’s eyes locked on the figure standing behind the fire.
She’d only seen it once before, over nine months ago.
Hellith seemed to have grown bigger and more horrifying since then. The huge serpent was covered in black and red scales and spikes. She glowed slightly, almost like an ember, but no ember could ever have been so sinister.
Her glowing red eyes met Rose’s gaze. It took all of Rose’s willpower not to back away. Without her powers, she could do nothing to Hellith, but she wasn’t going to let herself be intimidated.
“Rose, it’s okay.”
Gavin had been standing in the shadows, but he now stepped forward.
“Gavin!” Rose was caught between the desire to hug him and hit him. “What the hell?”
His face was remorseful, but his voice was hard with determination. “I’m sorry it had to be this way. I did try to get you to come willingly.”
Rose had thought that she knew the sting of betrayal. She’d felt it sharply when Gavin had taken her against her will.
That was nothing compared to finding that he was aligned with Hellith. How could he do this? He knew what Hellith was, what she planned.
Rose bit back the words she wanted to scream at him. Screaming wouldn’t help. She still hadn’t given up on trying to talk some sense into Gavin, but that would have to wait until they were alone.
If he had a change of heart now, Hellith would just kill them both. She’d have to convince him when they were out of Hellith’s sight.
Rose knew that her chances of convincing him were slim at this point, but she had to try.
Even if she did, though, and even if they managed to escape, what then? Asher would never accept Gavin back into the clan, not after this.
“It’s not what it looks like, Rose. I’m not helping her—she’s helping me. Just give up your necklace to Hellith, and she will let us go. She’ll send us somewhere no one will ever find us. We can be together, like we were supposed to be.”
“If you want the necklace so badly, why don’t you just rip it off me?” Rose spat.
“It won’t come off. Trust me, I tried. I didn’t want to have to bring you here. Hellith tried too, but it seems you have to remove it willingly.”
Rose tried to switch to mental communication, but found she was completely blocked out of Gavin’s mind. The small part of his mind that she couldn’t access had taken over. She couldn’t access him at all.
“Gavin, are you insane? She’ll destroy everything and everyone!”
“No, she won’t. She just wants to be left alone, the same as us.”
He was insane. What had Hellith done to him?
Clearly, she had him under the grip of some spell. Gavin wanted her to be his alone, but he’d never believe that Hellith’s intentions were anything but deadly. She had to have enchanted him somehow.
“I’m not giving it up.”
“Yes, you will.” Though Hellith’s mouth didn’t move, her voice echoed around the cave. It wasn’t like mental communication—Rose couldn’t hear Hellith in her mind—but it clearly used some kind of magic to talk.
“I will not.”
“You think so now, child. I have lived and suffered more than you can even imagine. Let’s see how you feel when I have your intestines wrapped around your throat, strangling the life out of you.”
“No!” Gavin put himself between Rose and Hellith. “You said you wouldn’t hurt her.”
At least something of Gavin remained underneath Hellith’s enchantment.
“I have only so much patience, dragon. You get it from her yourself, then. I will give you a day. If she hasn’t handed it over by then, I will use my power to rip it from her. Unleashing that much power will probably kill her, but that’s not my concern.”
Gavin hurried over to Rose, trying to usher her into the smaller cave.
She jerked her arm away. “Don’t touch me!”
Hurt flashed across his face. “Then get in there. We need to talk—privately.”
Rose stormed back into the smaller cave, trying her best not to cry. She was terrified of Hellith, and the man she loved had just betrayed her. Rose wasn’t sure how far back the spell went, but she suspected Gavin didn’t have it as an excuse for all of his actions.
Gavin had a small lamp, which he lit and placed on the cave floor so that they weren’t in total darkness once the door automatically closed behind them. That little lamp had Rose’s hopes sinking further. How many times had he been in here before? Exactly how well did Gavin know Hellith’s lair?
“You have to be insane if you think I’m giving up my necklace,” Rose hissed. She didn’t know how good Hellith’s hearing was,
but even if Hellith couldn’t hear past the stone door, she probably had listening devices in here. She’d already proven she was proficient in using magic—it had to be her who had made the bracelet Gavin had used to trap Rose’s powers.
“It’s the only way, Rose. I’ve told Hellith that you won’t attack her, but she wants some assurances. The necklace is a sign of good will, nothing more.”
“Snap out of it, Gavin!” Rose grabbed his shoulders and shook, trying to shake some sense into his stupid head. “This is Hellith we’re talking about! She is not on our side.”
“No one else is on my side, not even you. Hellith offered me help.”
“I am on your side, Gavin! You’ve fallen under some spell of Hellith’s. You’re not yourself.”
“You can’t be on my side and on theirs.” Gavin’s face darkened. “My brothers don’t understand. They are the true enemy, not Hellith.”
Rose stepped away from him. Arguing wasn’t going to do any good. She knew that Asher, Jagger, and Mace would arrive sooner or later to rescue her, but she worried about what Hellith might do to her and Gavin in the meantime.
Even though he had betrayed her, Rose still loved him and didn’t want to see him hurt. She had to get them both out of here. Gavin clearly wasn’t going to contribute to his own rescue.
“I need some time to think this over, Gavin. This is all happening very quickly. Please, just give me some time alone, to think. Come back in a couple of hours, and we can talk again.”
Had Gavin been in his right mind, he never would have fallen for it. Fortunately, this brainwashed version of him wasn’t nearly as smart as Rose knew him to be.
“Of course. Don’t take too long, though. I want to get started with our new lives as soon as possible.”
Had he forgotten that Hellith had threatened to strangle her with her own intestines, or was he just choosing to believe it wouldn’t happen? Rose was certain that Hellith would follow through with her threat, but if Gavin could keep her at bay for a few hours, they may have a chance.
“The door will close behind me, but you’ll be able to come out if you need food or anything. You won’t be able to leave the main cave, though.”
“Of course not.” Rose tried to dial back her sarcasm. Gavin wasn’t himself. Being angry with him wouldn’t help right now. When they escaped and got Hellith’s spell off him, she’d need to figure out exactly how many of his actions he was responsible for, before the spell took away his ability to think.
Gavin left, the door closing after him. Rose picked up the small lantern and used it to examine every inch of the cave. There wasn’t so much as a crack in one of the walls. She slapped and kicked at the stone, trying to find any weakness, but there was none.
The door wasn’t an option, not with Hellith waiting in the chamber beyond. Rose’s only option was to get Gavin in here, then escape from this room. He couldn’t shift in here without being crushed, which meant their escape was on her.
Rose knew that Asher and the others would come, but they may not get here before Hellith started to torture her. The thought made her hands tremble, and she went back to examining the cave.
There was no way to tell time in there, but Rose must have spent over an hour fruitlessly looking for some way out, but the place was impenetrable.
If she had magic, she could probably blast her way out, but her magic was blocked.
Rose turned her attention to the bracelet. She yanked and twisted it until her wrist was red and raw, but it wouldn’t break. There were no sharp pieces of stone lying about, and rubbing it against the stone walls did nothing except graze her wrist. Rose suspected that even if there had been a sharp rock, it wouldn’t have done any good.
She tried to pull the thing over her wrist, but it was impossible. The bracelet was already snug close to her skin. Her thumb bulged out to the side, impossible to get the leather over.
An idea came to her, but it was horrible to contemplate.
Rose dismissed it and renewed her attempts to drag the bracelet over her thumb.
Her nails were a bleeding mess by the time she gave up. She really had no other options. Gavin would come back sooner or later and expect an answer. She had to be prepared to get away then.
Rose knew she had to do it right the first time. She wouldn’t have the strength to do it twice.
She stood close to the wall and twisted her body away. She twisted back, using her entire body’s momentum to slam the side of her hand against the wall.
Her thumb broke with a sickening crunch.
Rose fell to her knees, pressing her good hand to her mouth to prevent herself from screaming. The world spun. She thought she’d throw up.
Her thumb was a pit of fiery agony. Gritting her teeth, Rose slid the bracelet off her wrist, over her hand, and tossed it away. Even the small pressure it caused on her broken thumb had her clamping her mouth shut to keep from screaming in agony.
Rose cradled her injured hand on her lap, whispering the words to a healing spell. She only knew the minor healing spells so far, not enough to heal broken bones, but her necklace contributed the difference. It glowed red, sending warm healing energy into her hand.
The bone mended. The pain vanished.
Had she not already been on the floor, Rose would have collapsed in relief. She sat there, panting, getting her bearings back.
She needed to try to escape, but first, she had to call for help.
Asher?
ROSE! We’ve been so worried! Where are you?
In Hellith’s lair.
She felt panic fill Asher’s mind, but he worked to focus past it. Are you hurt?
No, but Hellith isn’t going to keep it that way for long. We’re in a cave, under a mountain.
Cave, mountain, got it. That should narrow our search.
When you get here, Gavin isn’t going to come willingly. Hellith has him under a spell.
Fuck. Well, we’ll make a plan. Just hang in there, Rose. We’re coming for you.
I know.
Rose wanted to talk for longer, to hear the reassurance of his voice in her mind, but she knew Asher and the others needed to devote their full energy to finding her.
Now, she needed to figure a way out of there, in case they didn’t get there in time.
Gavin wasn’t going to come with her willingly, which meant she’d have to disable him before blasting her way out. Rose used a simple perception spell to give her an idea of what waited outside the cave.
She bit back a groan. They were surrounded by rock. The cave must be deep inside a mountain. Blasting her way out wasn’t an option. Getting past Hellith would be impossible, and Rose didn’t want to rely on her leaving or wait for her to fall asleep and hope she didn’t wake up to someone sneaking past her.
Okay, plan B.
If she couldn’t get out, then Rose could at least barricade herself and Gavin in here until rescue came. She didn’t know how long she’d be able to keep Hellith out, but she had to try. First, she had to prepare the room for a long siege.
Rose went to the door, which opened for her. She looked cautiously around. Gavin was nowhere to be seen. Hellith’s malevolent eyes were watching her, but Hellith didn’t make any move to stop her when Rose made her way over to a small pile of supplies.
She packed bottled water and canned food into a crate, pulling them into the small room. She even took a bucket, not happy about the prospect of using it as a toilet, but she may have no other option.
Rose went back to the room, examining it. The walls were secure. It was the door she needed to worry about. A holding spell, combined with a strengthening spell, might do it, but those would drain her energy as long as she maintained them.
Perhaps her best option was a melding spell. The door was made of stone anyway. If she could meld it with the surrounding stone, it would just become part of the wall. It was thick and strong, and would probably keep Hellith out for a while, at least.
Rose had to wait until the last moment.
Only just before Hellith started torturing her would she seal the wall. Hellith would no doubt start trying to break through immediately. Waiting would give the rescue group the most possible time to find her.
She’d have to get Gavin in here with her and make sure he was in here when Hellith advanced. Then she could seal them inside. Once she did, Rose would send up a flame beacon, to fly high above the top of the mountain. She was fairly confident she could do it even through all this rock.
Doing it before then would tip Hellith off that she had use of her magic, and she couldn’t have that. She needed it to seal them in.
Satisfied with her plan, Rose sat down to wait.
Chapter Eleven
Rose picked up the bracelet, put it in her pocket, and shoved her hand in behind it. She didn’t want Gavin to see that she no longer had it on.
Just in time too, because the next moment, the door opened.
Gavin came inside, looking grim. “Don’t struggle, Rose.”
“What?”
“Let me do this, or Hellith will have to do it. Believe me, you don’t want that.”
“What are you talking about?”
Gavin lunged for her, holding something Rose couldn’t make out in his hands. She tried to leap back, but found herself pressed against the wall.
“Araivis!” The spell was enough to knock Gavin onto the ground, but then he was up again. Rose didn’t want to use lethal force against him, and she had to take a moment to consider what spell she might be able to use to disable him safely.
It was a moment too long.
Gavin grabbed both of her wrists in one hand and snapped a round metal collar around her neck. The seam vanished, just as the bracelet’s seam had done.
Rose shouted an incantation, but nothing happened. She tried to reach out to Asher, but she was blocked.
The collar must do the same thing as the bracelet. Except the only way she was getting this off was decapitation.