Page 35 of A Fate of Blood and Magic (Fated #2)

Chapter

Fourteen

ELIAS

Niev’s only prisoner hung from a rope, his head forward and body dangling from where I’d bound him by his wrists tight enough to cut his circulation.

By the time I’d come to see him this morning, his face was a battered mess, courtesy of Alastor’s interrogation from the previous day.

Although his jaw was misaligned and broken from meeting Alastor’s fist, I’d make him talk.

“Lift him higher,” I told Pietro.

While normally Pietro wouldn’t have anything to do with prisoners, he’d immediately gone to Teddy’s aid, so I’d granted his request to be present while I interrogated the vile human with Garrison there to gauge any deceptions.

Pietro nodded once before he pulled on the rope so that the male’s toes barely touched the ground.

Garrison’s stance changed with a slow drag of his boot over the stone floor.

Whether he was nervous or just weary, I needed him here.

He was one of the few truth-tellers I knew personally and with him growing up in the castle, I knew I could count on him.

Slipping into my primal instincts, I filtered out the truth- teller’s scent so that I could concentrate solely on my soul-bound mate’s attacker. I wasn’t sure what delighted me more – the sound of his tortured moan or the sound of his shoulder popping when it dislocated.

Wanting him to experience the pain again, I healed his shoulder from a distance where I leaned against a dungeon wall. My grin grew with his anguished cry when it dislocated again.

Slowly, I pushed off the wall, taking measured, careful steps toward him. My footsteps echoed in the dark dungeon we’d never had use for before today. I tilted his chin up, my fingers covering in blood when I dug my digits into his skin.

Garrison gave me a stiff nod, his shoulders tighter now.

“Who else came with you from the human realm?” I gripped his chin harder when he didn’t answer.

It wouldn’t take much to fracture what remained of his lower jawbone that Alastor had left untouched.

“I strongly advise you to answer me. Yesterday, the mage treated you far kinder than I’m inclined to. ”

Spit and blood dripped from his panting mouth, and he cast a nervous glance toward Garrison. As if he knew Garrison’s role. Curious.

“No one,” he whispered.

I looked at Garrison, who shook his head. “Lie.”

“No one, you say.” My lips lifted in a small smile while I squeezed tighter.

Bone crunched beneath my fingers and despite his despairing moan, I didn’t stop. Blood spilled over my hand while I dug through his flesh and bone. I drank in every one of his painfilled whimpers and it still wasn’t enough to satisfy me.

Not when he’d gone after my mate .

“Please continue lying,” I said, tone low as I moved my hand to splinter his upper jaw.