His cloak, I noted, judging by the scent. That he’d given me that much meant he might be the only one I could reason with.
He spoke before I got the chance to think of a convincing argument. “If I were you, I’d give your father anything he desires so that you’re not sent back to your soulless beast of a husband in pieces.”
The word husband was another slap to the face.
I shook my head. “What is the point, Avrin? Molkan will kill me.” I knew it within my bones. There was now no leverage to be gained with my existence—only with my death.
Avrin said nothing, apparently waiting to see what else I might divulge.
“I didn’t know.” I swallowed as a spell of dizziness arrived, and leaned against the cold stone beside me to keep upright. “I didn’t know we were married.”
“You expect us to believe that?” Avrin glowered and stepped closer, growling low, “What is your plan, Tullia? Tell me what Florian has sent you here to do, and I swear I will do what I can to get you out of this alive.”
“I have no plan because I did not know,” I gritted, tears leaking from my eyes. My voice softened with dismay. “I didn’t. I had no fucking idea, Avrin. He had me blood-sworn before he brought me to Hellebore, and I assumed the contract was merely an agreement to marry, not the actual…”
“Marriage contract,” he finished for me, brows crinkled.
I nodded, my throat tight. “I didn’t even know who Molkan was—that he was my father. Florian never told me. I found out when one of your spies was captured and brought to the estate to be tortured, and I snuck into the dungeon.”
Avrin’s frown deepened. “Frensroth.”
“Yes,” I said.
“His head was delivered to Molkan amid a wagon of fresh produce riddled with his bones. Straight to the palace gates.”
My eyes widened. I hadn’t thought I’d still have the ability to be horrified. Nevertheless, my blood churned, and my stomach quaked. Exhaustion, heavy and unexpected, followed.
I stumbled back to the corner of the cell, tripping over the cot.
Avrin watched, his brows remaining low. “Are you injured badly?”
“Would it matter?” I slumped to the bloodstained blanket on the cot, dizziness deepening the dark of the small cell. “What will happen to me now?” It was all I could think to ask, all I could manage to ask, as my bones seemed to melt and adrenaline faded into dust.
Avrin didn’t answer. I supposed he didn’t need to.
He gave me one last assessing look as his jaw tightened further, then he left.
I hadn’t intended to sleep.
My body apparently hadn’t cared. I woke with a scream when a warm hand gripped my arm and tore me from the cot. I didn’t know how long the brief respite had been until we left the dungeon and I closed my eyes against the harsh glare of the rising sun.
Sleep hadn’t helped. The heavy weight of weakness had only seemed to worsen, and when I recalled all that’d happened the night prior…
My empty stomach quivered with my knees.
Glimpses of halls were fleeting. I was led up another flight of stairs that seemed to never end to a room tucked away behind a locked door. Shelves filled with various vials and baskets lined the walls. Two windows displayed the bright-blue hue of a new day.
I feared it would be my last as I was tugged into the room.
The guard’s grip firmed when I stumbled over the edge of a coarse carpet, an impatient grunt leaving his gnashed teeth. Not carpet. A large strip of hessian fabric. Atop it stood a metal type of table.
“Lie face down on the bench,” the guard ordered.
I turned to him as he released me, his dark red hair aglow in the early morning light and his scarred lip curling with disgust. There would be no asking him questions.
I looked back at the bench as steps sounded.
“Get on, or I’ll force you,” the guard snapped.
“I’ll take it from here.”
Avrin.
I was shoved forward by the guard.
Avrin growled, “I said I’ll take it from here, Jellinson.”
Thoroughly warned and dismissed, he left. I looked from the awaiting bench to Avrin, unsure what to do as the door closed with an intentional slam behind the guard.
“Climb on,” Avrin said.
“What will happen when I do?”
A dark brow arched. “You don’t really have a choice, Princess. Climb on and just make sure you answer what is asked of you.”
I gnawed at my lip, fear stampeding through every tight muscle. My heart stopped when the door opened again.
Molkan entered, throwing the wood closed behind him. “Get her on the bench.”
Avrin seized me.
I shrugged him off. Still only wearing the cloak, I climbed atop the cool metal.
Metal rings glinted on either side of the carpet. I stared at the fibers, tense as Molkan clipped brisk instructions to Avrin behind me. The cloak was tugged from my body, and I tried to sit up to reach for it, but a heavy hand pushed me down.
Molkan’s hand.
My neck protested as my head swung harshly over the edge. “Restrain her now,” Molkan ordered. “Then hand me the stencil.”
I didn’t bother fighting the inevitable, and that should’ve shamed me. I’d grown too numb, too accepting of this nightmare I couldn’t seem to wake from, to feel anything, as Avrin chained my wrists to the metal loops within the stone floor.
He did the same to my ankles, the iron forcing my teeth to grit. A large piece of soft material, then the brush of something wet and sticky, met my back.
From my shoulder blades to my lower torso, my skin was carefully decorated with swirling patterns.
My teeth unclenched, though I didn’t relax. Then they met again with a clack when a sharp blade sank into the painted skin. My back arched as the knife dragged.
I cried out for them to stop, writhing but unable to move as Molkan finally did stop and said, “Another set here.”
More chains were wrapped around my upper thighs, bound tight beneath the metal bench.
Gathering enough of my bearings, I sobbed, “What are you doing?” But the question broke into a scream that scraped claws over my lungs as another slow drag of the blade curved through the skin of my back.
“For every refusal, you will earn a mark.” Molkan’s tone was that of the king who’d spoken in the throne room while he’d allowed his loyal subjects to torment me. “Easily understood, so let us begin.”
My eyes were closed tight against the overwhelming burn radiating up my back, but I sensed movement. Avrin now stood in front of me when he said, “What did Florian ask you to do before he sent you here?”
“He didn’t send me here. You even found me in Crustle your—” I screamed, my eyes bulging wide and blackness entering the edges of my vision, as Molkan carved into my back once more.
“Where does he intend to strike next?” Avrin asked before the blade had even left my skin.
I could scarcely breathe, let alone talk.
My silence was taken as a response.
Molkan sliced again. This time with a circular shape between my shoulder blades that seemed to never end. The entire room swam with red and black before my eyes closed. My limbs pulled taut, attempting but unable to move.
Avrin’s gritted voice forced me to remain in this wretched reality. “How many units of warriors await his orders in the Frostfall Mountains?”