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“I am going to kill you!” Darkness snaked along the iron chains.

Theron watched the shadows move towards him with boredom. “Oh Rook, you really want to try and kill me again? Knowing that if you fail, you’ll be leaving her all alone with me?”

“I won’t fail. Not this time.”

With an exasperated sigh, he withdrew a golden dagger from his side and plunged it into my stomach. I sucked in a breath, and my body jerked violently as he pulled the dagger out. I slumped forward, the chains holding me inert. I watched as blood dripped and pooled on the floor below me.

“You never fucking learn, Rook.” Theron rose to his feet. “You just don’t understand that I have the upper hand here.”

“She. Loves. Me.” I coughed, blood moving up my throat. “She. Loves.Me. And you will.Never.Have. That.” Breathing was painful as the wound in my stomach gaped open, pouring blood down my legs.

“I don’t need her to love me.” Theron’s tone dripped with disdain. “I need her to open her legs and bear me a child. Nothing more. That’s the difference between you and I. I know what needs to be done, and you still answer to your baser instincts.” He scoffed. “Night Demons. The most pathetic, poetic creatures to ever take to the skies.” He dropped back to his knees, head dipped so he could meet my eyes. “Now, would you like to see her? Knowing what I will do to her, right in front of you?”

My vision had started to gray. My breathing slowed.

“Rook, I asked you a question.”

“Fuck.” I rasped in a breath. “You.”

“I know you can feel me fucking her.” He grabbed my hair and pulled my head up sharply. “Now, would you like toseeme fucking her?”

“If she has any sense at all,” I said, feeling my knees slide in the slick of blood that had gathered underneath me, “she’d run you through while you slept.”

Theron laughed. “Ah but she won’t do that. She loves you too much. Speaking of which.” He licked his lips as he grinned. “When did she first tell you she loved you, hmm?”

How could he know? How could he possibly know? His triumph was complete as defeat twisted my face. He laughed out loud, shoving me away from him and rising to his feet.

“You’re a fool, Rook. A fucking fool.” He turned on his heel. “Get him a healer. I need him alive and well for his Trial in the Pit.”

My head hung as I watched my blood congeal on the stones.

* * *

Once again, the healer brought me back from the brink of death.

Once again, I lay in my chambers, clawing at my heart, feeling it crack and shatter anew as Elara screamed in my head.

Once again, a new day dawned, and when I looked out my window, I saw Regan’s head on a spike, the mouth torn open, the eyes picked away by hungry crows.

The old man had failed in his plan. I had no idea who I could trust in this palace. I had no idea if Theron knew of any other informants, if they had now turned since their leader was dead. Had Regan even been the leader?

I smashed my fist into the window frame, letting out a guttural roar. I'd failed. I’d sworn to Elara I’d get her safe, and I hadn’t kept my word. I’d let her down and probably made everything so much worse.

I didn’t yet know what Theron had planned for me in the Pit. I had nothing to win back, nothing to gain as Elara had once believed. No, this was more torture, just another opportunity to make Elara suffer, and to hurt me.

Rook?

I clenched my eyes shut at the sweet voice.

I’m here.I wished I could reach out and touch her.

Are you alright?

Yes. I’m alright? Are you?

My bleeding came this morning. Theron is furious.

My relief was mixed with yet more fear, more anxiety. She was safe for now, but without Regan sneaking that contraceptive elixir into her water… Drusilla, the fucking snake, certainly wouldn’t be amenable to that.Fuck. I punched the window frame again.