by J. N. Baker
“I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head.
I took the clothes from his hands. “Really?” I scoffed, looking them over. “He wants me to wear a damn gown?”
“He picked out the material himself.”
“Of course he did,” I mumbled. At least it had more fabric than anything Jade had picked out for me. I waited to see if Josh was going to leave the room so I could change. He watched me expectantly, his gaze sending bolts of electricity straight to my core. He was taking Baldric’s orders very literally. In fact, his eyes hadn’t left me yet.
“Fine,” I grumbled. Two could play that game.
I held his stare as I released the towel, letting it pool at my feet. Josh stopped breathing. I stood no more than two feet from him, the energy pulsing between us making me tremble. The pull connecting us was stronger than ever, more intense even than in my dreams. His eyes danced over my skin as I took the underwear from the pile of clothes and slipped them on ever so slowly. By the time I was done dressing, Josh was practically panting.
“Tie me in?” I asked innocently, turning my bare back to him.
After a minute, he took a hesitant step forward. His deft fingers began working their way through the ties on the dress, cinching it tightly around my body. My stomach did a little flip each time his fingertips grazed my skin, which was often.
“I won’t be his,” I said as he worked diligently on my dress.
“You’re already his,” he replied.
“And yet, I don’t think that’s what you really want,” I whispered, glancing over my shoulder at him.
He was standing a lot closer than he should have been. Josh’s fingers lingered on my neck, his breath caressing my flesh. “You belong to him. It doesn’t matter what I want.”
I leaned into him, our bodies molding together. “Doesn’t it, though?”
Josh took a step back, putting an uncomfortable amount of space between us. “Like I told you, do as he says. Things will go easier for you if you do.”
I just needed to catch Baldric off guard. If I could do that, maybe I could end him.
A key jammed into the lock and Roland barged in. I glowered at him from the edge of the bed as he tossed a tray full of food on the floor. A piece of bread rolled across the room, coming to a stop at my feet.
“Your dinner is served, your highness,” he mocked, bowing to me.
I was on my feet in an instant.
Roland laughed. “Oh, I dare you, princess,” he sneered, staring me down with his one eye. “Please, give me a reason to beat the livin’ shit outta you. That’s all it’s gonna take—one mistake and you’re all mine, pet.”
All the more reason to make sure I killed Baldric sooner rather than later. I couldn’t escape and I couldn’t die. If I did, Baldric would kill everyone I loved. But if Baldric died…
“Enjoy your supper, bitch,” Roland said before laughing his way out of the room. Even his laughter rubbed me the wrong way. After I killed Baldric, he’d be the first to die.
I picked up the piece of bread from the floor and tossed it absently in my hand as I scanned the room for something to use as a weapon. Decapitation was out of the question. I’d have to stab him in the heart, Chosen to Chosen.
My eyes landed on the dresser. I moved over to it, kneeling on the floor to get a better look. With a quick yank, I pulled one of the legs free, making the dresser wobble. A wooden stake—I hoped Baldric saw the irony in that. All I had to do was wait. And I didn’t have to wait long.
Heavy footfalls approached my room. I slipped into the corner behind the door, gripping the stake in my hand as the lock turned and the door creaked open.
Baldric stepped into the room, almost in view. One more step and I’d have him.
I leapt onto his back like a possessed spider monkey, bringing the stake around to his chest, aiming for his heart. As the sharp tip touched his sternum, it snapped in half. Shit.
Baldric ripped the broken stake from my hand and threw it across the room before reaching over his shoulder and prying me off his back. He tossed me onto the bed and climbed on top of me, his hand finding its way to my throat.
One swift kick of my leg and I found his groin. Two things surprised me in that moment: he was more than a little aroused, and he didn’t get off me. Instead, he tightened his fingers until I started to feel my windpipe collapse.
“Did you really think you could kill me?” he spat, his face so close to mine that our noses touched. “Stupid girl. You are mine. And you will be mine for the rest of eternity. Death will not separate us, I will see to that.”
With that, he pushed off me and I grabbed my neck, gasping for air.
“I was hoping we could do this the easy way, truly I was, but apparently I was mistaken. You have forced my hand. Roland!” Baldric boomed, shaking the walls.
A few seconds later, Roland was standing in the doorway, grinning ear to ear. He knew what was coming; he’d been waiting for it. I could practically see the drool forming at the corners of his mouth.
“Take her to the dungeon,” Baldric commanded, a hint of sadness in his voice that I didn’t have time to analyze. “Keep her there until she sees the light.”
I found irony in his words as Roland dragged me away. What I would have given to “see the light” again.
I was quite literally thrown into the dungeon. A single torch flickered on the wall, illuminating the damp, dark cell that smelled of rotting flesh. There were no windows, no fresh air, and I could no longer hear the ocean. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been locked up—days, maybe weeks. Time stood still down here.
Roland had taken great pleasure in chaining me to a wall with reinforced chains that even I couldn’t break, complete with metal casings to cover my hands. I tried shocking my way out only to remember the hard way that metal was a conductor of electricity. I burned myself more times than I cared to admit before giving up. Roland wasn’t as stupid as he looked.
The only faces I saw were Roland’s and Josh’s, though I could have done without Roland’s company. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to see Josh. It wasn’t like he was doing shit to help me. Drawn to protect me…what a joke.
“Chained like the dog you are,” Roland sneered as he entered the dungeon, Josh at his heels.
“That line is getting old,” I muttered. “Find a new one.”
Roland grinned like a kid on Christmas morning, his yellow-tinged fangs peeking out from his drawn-up lips. “I think it’s time we start havin’ some fun, don’t you? Clearly, lack of food and isolation ain’t enough for you, pet. Maybe you need a little extra…persuasion to see the light.”
I glared up at him. “I will kill you,” I swore.
“I’d like to see you try, princess,” he purred.
Before the witty retort could leave my lips, his fist connected with my cheekbone, the bone crunching under the force of the blow. Almost immediately, he swung at me again, backhanding me across the other cheek so hard, blood pooled inside my mouth.
Roland looked pleased with himself as I spit the blood at his feet. He was thoroughly enjoying this new version of captor and captive.
“You don’t know how bad I’ve wanted to do this,” he said, breathing heavily. He grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my face up. “Payback’s a bitch, ain’t it?”
I growled and strained against the chains hopelessly, the iron shackles ripping through my flesh. They had to be the thickest chains I’d ever seen.
Roland’s boot came barreling into my ribcage, cracking ribs and knocking the air clean out of me. He reared back his foot and kicked me again.
“I don’t think the king would be please to know you’re beating her.” Josh’s voice was a breath of fresh air in the dark, dank dungeon. Though I would have preferred he just run Roland through with a blade and end the whole thing now.
“Silence,” Roland snapped. “The king won’t give two shits what was done to her as long as she goes back to him obedient. I’ll beat her into submission if
that’s what it takes. Besides,” he added with a vile grin, “she’ll heal.”
“When I get out of these chains,” I wheezed, trying to catch my breath, “I’m going to rip you apart, limb from limb, starting with your remaining eye.”
Roland laughed that sandpaper laugh of his and I pulled against the chains, lunging for him. I winced as the skin on my wrists tore all over again. “Coward!” I shouted. “Let me out and we’ll see how tough you really are.”
He smirked as he picked up a whip I hadn’t seen him bring in. He cracked it in the air, the tip snapping directly in front of my face. The next time it came down, he didn’t miss. The leather bit into my shoulder, tearing through my dress and leaving a bloody welt in its wake.
Roland brought the whip down again, and again. He flipped it around in his hand and hit me over the head repeatedly with the handle until I teetered on the edge of consciousness, blood leaching down my temple.
Tossing the leather weapon aside, Roland unsheathed his sword.
It took everything I had not to scream as the sharp edge of his blade sliced through my shoulder. I didn’t want to give Roland the pleasure of seeing my pain. Blood oozed from the open wound, spiraling down my arm.
“That’s enough,” Josh’s deep voice boomed, sending chills down my bleeding spine.
Roland spun around to face him and Josh held his ground. “Know your place,” Roland snarled. “You might be Chosen but I am the king’s second-in-command. And don’t you even think about cryin’ to him about this,” he warned, “or I’ll tell him you did it and it’ll be you in these chains next. Baldric will always believe me over you, boy.”
My patch-eyed foe turned back to me, grinning ear to ear as he ran his filthy finger along his blade. He stuck his blood-coated digit into his mouth, his eyelids fluttering in pleasure as he sucked every last drop from it. “I know what I’m doin’,” he finally said.
I winced, clenching my jaw as he brought the blade down once more, this time across my back. The skin opened like tissue paper and Roland chuckled, taking a step back. When my flesh fused back together, the blade came down once more.
He gave just enough time between blows for my wounds to nearly heal before striking me again. And again. And again.
No matter how hard I tried to become one with the pain, to push past it as William had taught me to do, I couldn’t. I screamed out as he shoved his sword through my stomach, twisting it back and forth to see me squirm. He yanked the sword free and brought it down on my leg and I screamed again.
I looked up through the haze of pain to see Josh standing in the darkness, unmoving. He leaned against the wall, his eyes glued to mine. How could he just stand by and let Roland do this to me? Oh, that’s right—he was the enemy now. A heartless, soulless monster just like the rest of us.
Roland kneeled in front of me, blocking my view of Josh. He smiled, patting me on the cheek. “He can’t save you, pet,” he said, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder at Josh. “Only the king can save you. Baldric is the only one who can protect you. You can make all this go away, all you have to do is call out for him.”
I hung against the chains like a rag doll. I hadn’t been fed or given water, and the metal restraints were never removed. I started to wonder if I’d be left down in that dark cell for the rest of my long life. Roland had spent the past week dishing out his nightly beatings. I was weak, broken. He had me right where he wanted me. I had no fight left in me.
Footsteps came down the passageway but I didn’t have the strength to lift my head.
Someone opened the door and tiptoed over, kneeling in front of me. I was surprised to be met with a familiar pair of dark brown eyes. I had expected Josh, not Lindsay. A warm washcloth connected with my forehead and I sighed. It felt glorious. Lindsay began patting my face gently with the washrag, moving the cloth down my neck and over my back. She wiped away the dried blood that had caked onto my skin after the hundreds, if not thousands, of lashes with anything Roland could get his hands on.
I opened my mouth to speak but Lindsay put a finger over her lips, glancing back at the passageway to make sure no one had followed her. She pulled a piece of bread out from her pocket and I winced as my empty stomach cramped. She fed me small, bite-sized pieces and I struggled to keep them down. Lindsay tilted my head back and poured water down my throat and I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. Right, like that was possible.
“Why are you helping me?” I rasped.
Lindsay thought for a moment and then shrugged, fiddling with the washcloth. “I know how Roland is. That scumbag is a loose cannon. When I asked Josh what was happening down here, he wouldn’t tell me anything so I decided to find out for myself. I was quite literally a fly on the wall during your last beating.”
I turned away the bread she offered. As hungry as I was, I didn’t think I could stomach another bite. “So, you do remember who I am.”
“Of course, I do,” she retorted. “Your people and your kind are so convinced that all of us must be brainwashed or possessed in order to be here. Josh is one of the few exceptions to that. The majority of us actually chose to be here on our own. I know Cody didn’t understand it, but this was my decision. I chose my own fate, just as he chose his.”
“Must be nice to have a choice,” I all but hissed. “And what do you mean Josh is the exception?”
She sat back on her heels, eyes searching my face. “You don’t know?”
“What I know is that Josh made his choice just as you made yours.” Didn’t he?
Lindsay furrowed her brow at me. “Josh was taken during the Great Battle, Zoe. He’s one of the few people in this kingdom who didn’t come here by choice.”
The air escaped my lungs. “But, that’s not possible. Alec said—”
“Look, I don’t know who your source was, but they’re wrong,” she said, going back to work wiping the blood from my skin. “When Josh got here, he was all but dead. Baldric had to turn him into a vampire just to save him. His wounds finally healed but he was putting up one hell of a fight. All he wanted was to get back to you.”
“I-I don’t understand,” I breathed, my head spinning until I thought I was going to be sick. Josh hadn’t betrayed me? But Alec had sworn Josh was working for Baldric; he told us Josh had turned on him and tried to attack him. Had I been right from the beginning—had Alec tried to kill Josh to get rid of him and Baldric’s men found him?
Was Josh really here against his will—forced to do Baldric’s bidding?
And then I did get sick. I swung my face away from Lindsay, retching until I was dry heaving, which didn’t take very long since I hadn’t eaten much.
“Don’t be so shocked,” Lindsay said, wiping the vomit from my chin. “Josh has always loved you, just as you’ve always loved him. We all saw it back then. You two were just too stubborn to admit it to each other. Always worried about ruining your friendship instead of just being together. Doesn’t surprise me at all to find out you’re both Chosen. Even fate couldn’t keep you two apart. But it’s too late now, isn’t it?
“With how much Josh was fighting, Baldric was forced to glamour him,” Lindsay continued. “It’s something I’ve seen him do all of maybe two times in all the years I’ve served him.”
“Glamour?”
“Being the creator of all vampires, he has the ability to control their minds,” she explained. “But he hates doing it. He doesn’t like having to manipulate people.”
At that I snorted. His trying to use Josh against me proved he was a master manipulator.
“His people,” she amended. “He prefers people do things of their own volition. Anyway, the king never comes down here. I don’t think he has any idea what really goes on. Roland feeds him lies of denying food and water to ‘weaken the spirit’ until his victims succumb. If he knew what Roland was actually doing to you down here, I’m sure he’d come running to your rescue.”
“Then why don’t you tell him?” I snapped and my head spun all over again.
“Do you think I’m that stupid? I’m a shift, Zoe,” she stated the obvious, her attitude not much different than it was back in high school. “Roland is always within earshot of the king. He’d kill me before I even got the words out. They can’t even know that I know you, not yet at least. Do you realize the risk I’m taking just by being here right now?”
“Am I supposed to thank you?” I asked with more bitterness than I intended. I didn’t want to completely bite the hand that literally fed me.
Lindsay stood, looking down on me. “The king is a good man and we are far from the bad guys here. If you stopped fighting us long enough, you’d see.” With that, she turned and tiptoed silently out of the dungeon.
Heavy footfalls made their way toward the door and I knew they belonged to Roland. As Lindsay said, Baldric didn’t come down there. The one-eyed bloodsucker didn’t bother to say anything as he entered my cell. He hadn’t the last few times he’d come down. He just smiled down at me, picked up his weapon of choice, and started his torture. Tonight, it was a wooden plank.
I hung from the wall, taking his beatings. I couldn’t fight back. Each blow fell on me harder than the last, breaking bones and bruising flesh.
“What’s wrong, pet?” he sneered. “No fight left? Come on, scream for me. I do so love to hear your screams.”
He brought the board down so hard that it dislocated my shoulder and snapped the plank in half. I grunted, hanging my head. It was only pain, I tried to remind myself. Pain was temporary, that was what William had always taught me. I was starting to think William was full of shit. Or maybe I’d always thought that.
“What do you want me to say?” I asked in a moment of weakness. “Just tell me what you want me to do.”
Roland smirked. “You know what you need to do.”
This was my new life. I could spend it rotting in a dungeon cell as Roland’s personal punching bag or I could spend it as Baldric’s bride. The choice was mine. Both “choices” felt like death sentences.