Page 68

The water rose quicker than I thought it would. It didn’t take long for the dirty mattress to be submerged and for the ice-cold water to touch my knees. It was so cold it burned my skin everywhere it touched.

I shivered uncontrollably as the water continued to rise up to mid-thigh. Oh Jesus, it was so cold. Freezing really.

There was a really big part of me that had thought they wanted me to survive this, and now, as the water rose even higher, I wasn’t so sure. If the water had been warm, maybe. No one could survive this dirt filled ice bath.

Julian had forced me to watchTitanicwith him so many times I knew what it looked like when people went into the frozen water. I’d end up just like one of those human bobbers if I spent enough time in this stupid fucking hole.

No one above me spoke. They all just watched me in silence, likely waiting for me to open my mouth and start begging for this to end.

They’d be waiting until I died and then way longer. That longer being forever.

The water was up just past my hips, and still no one had spoken. They all stood there with their hoods hiding their true identities while they watched me shake uncontrollably in silence.

I might have even peed in the water and hoped nobody else noticed it. It wasn’t like I could ask them to unchain me so I could make a trip to the bathroom. Thank goodness I didn’t have to poop. That would have been a whole new horror show to contend with. One I didn’t want.

My teeth chattered. My body shook. My feet and most of my legs stung as if I’d been prodded with sharp needles. I hoped they’d go entirely numb soon so I would no longer have to feel any kind of pain. Still, I refused to meet Adrian’s sharp gaze, but I held my head up proudly, refusing to back down even though I didn’t have a leg to stand on.

“I’m going to need you to tell us all about your sins, dear,” Adrian said as he leaned over the edge of the hole, almost dangerously so. “Tell us about all the horrible things you’ve done so that we can help you wash them away. Come now, Ariel Kimber, tell us about your first real sin in this life. We’re all dying to hear about it.”

Fuck him.

I wasn’t going to tell him anything about the horrors of my life or the things I had once done. I found him demanding that I do so to be quite laughable. Did this fat, bald man really think I’d do what he told me to without putting up a fight? He didn’t know me very well if that was what he thought was going to happen here.

If I had sins, which I didn’t think I had all that many, they weren’t worth sharing, and they certainly weren’t worthy of all this. Adrian should be the one down here in chains confessing his sins. I’d bet he had a great many sins to confess to, far more than I had.

“Speak, child,” Adrian commanded, and I still kept my mouth shut.

He didn’t really want me to speak anyway, he just didn’t know it. He wouldn’t like the things that would come pouring out of my mouth if I were to open it.

“You think you’re better than the rest of us, but you’re not. I’d be willing to bet everything that you’ve got questionable morals hiding under all that do-gooding bullshit you put on for the rest of the world to see. Show us. We’re dying for you to finally remove the mask and show us therealAriel Kimber.”

If I did not die in this hole tonight, I was going to murder him with my bare hands, I swore it so.

Finally, I unhinged my jaw and spoke. “How about I make a deal with you? I’ll tell you about the real Ariel when you tell me about the real Adrian. We can compare notes, but we both know yours are way worse than mine. I don’t think I’m better than you, Adrian. I know it. We both do. Hell, everyone standing up there with you knows it’s the truth. You’re just too stupid and full of yourself to see the truth right before your eyes.”

That might have been pushing it, but I didn’t care. What did I really have to lose at this point?

I would more than likely die here tonight. I wasn’t afraid. I was simply sad for my loved ones who would be caused so much pain by this night.

“Brave words for a naughty girl. You’ll learn your lesson, and then we’ll talk again.”

I shook my head as I looked at the water in despair. Conversing with him got me nowhere, I needed to remember that and not speak to him again in a moment of weakness.

I felt a tug on the bond I shared with Dash, seeking, questioning. It took a lot for me not to cry out in relief. Dash was okay, and he was coming for me. I just hoped the rest of them were the same.

The fact that Marcus still hadn’t revealed himself to be present to bear witness to this shit show he created was really starting to bother me. Not only was he a coward, but he had no balls. If you were going to start something, then you damn sure ought to be able to see it finished. How dare he start this then not stand up there with the rest of these assholes and watch me go through this torture?

More shadows appeared around the opening of the hole. More young, impressionable boys here to watch the show, and still no Marcus Cole.

Was this supposed to be Adrian’s way of teaching them how to deal with the female witches of the world? Whatever the hell happened to being precious and something to covet and protect?

The Council was a goddamn joke and full of hypocrites. I hated every single one of them, but I hated Adrian the most. He seemed to get the most joy out of everyone else’s heartache.

I looked from one shadowed face to the next, taking in the smaller forms and focusing on them.

“How many of you boys has he raped so far?” I called out to them, but my raspy voice came out barely above a whisper. There was a stillness to them that let me know they were listening. They’d heard me.

“How many of you had their families slaughtered before being brought to this place? Do you ever wonder why that happened to them, to you? Has it ever crossed your mind, just a shadow of a doubt, that perhaps the oh so powerful Council might have had something to do with their deaths? Ask yourselves who benefited from their deaths, because it certainly wasn’t you. Now the Council has control over you, and they basically own your lives. Do you really want to spend the rest of your lives being someone else’s bitch and taking Adrian’s cock whenever he wants to feed it to you? There’s a better life out there waiting for you to seize it, I promise you. You just have to be brave enough to fight for it.”