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Chapter Five

ELIAS

T he breath was torn from Elias’ lungs as he was dragged from oblivion.

“Wake up,” a voice hissed as a fist landed in his gut.

No, he thought. Let me sleep. Let me dream of her.

He’d had dreams of Arabella every time he’d closed his eyes. Each time, she looked decadent in her leathers, and there were chains woven into her long braid.

Slowly, he opened his eyes to the sight of Flynn, one of Magnus’ inner circle, standing before him in Magnus’ tent.

Flynn wore a leather breastplate with crisscrossing straps and countless sheaths, metal shoulder plates, thick leather gloves with metal spikes atop the knuckles, along with trousers and tall leather boots. It was a mix of browns and blacks, a perfect blend to move stealthily in the dark forest.

Swinging, Flynn’s gloved fist connected with Elias’ gut again, the spikes sinking deeper. Instantly, Elias coughed up blood, gasping for air. Blood trickled down his stomach and over his cock before dripping onto the ground.

He was naked, and utterly at his captors’ mercy.

He couldn’t fight, couldn’t move. Not when his hands and feet were cuffed to two crossing beams of wood that formed a giant X and were staked into the ground.

It was a magical device that suppressed an erox’s strength and powers.

The only magic it permitted was his body’s regeneration.

His flesh could sew back together if he had enough essence—even if the weapon or blade was inside him.

Except for one blade.

His syphen.

If that was embedded in his flesh, his body wouldn’t be able to heal. Not until it was removed.

The X was the perfect torture device for the erox. They could be ripped apart again and again, and their bodies would stitch back together. But they couldn’t fight, couldn’t flee.

Couldn’t object.

He’d been tied to this torture device all those years ago beneath the mountain in Magnus’ stronghold.

And now, Elias knew one thing with certainty.

There was no escaping unless someone set him free.

He’d escaped Magnus once, and the sorcerer would ensure it never happened again.

“Took you long enough,” Flynn hissed as he pulled his fist back with a wet squelch that had Elias biting back a groan. Then in a mockingly sweet voice, he said, “Have we been too hard on you?”

“Just needed my beauty rest,” Elias said before spitting blood onto the ground. “I trust there’s a reason why you woke me?”

One of Flynn’s nostrils lifted before his fist landed beneath Elias’ chin.

The spikes punctured his skin, and blood filled his mouth.

He struggled for air as pain assaulted him.

Though this was nothing new. Not since he’d given himself over to Magnus.

But even as Flynn pulled his fist free, Elias could feel his wounds stitching back together.

As they did, a deep hunger—a never-ending desire to feed—plagued him.

But he didn’t want just anyone.

He longed for the taste of Arabella’s essence on his tongue.

Now that he’d fed on his mate, he no longer desired the taste of anyone else’s essence. Still, he was so ravenous that he might give in and feed on one of Magnus’ human prisoners if they offered one to him. Worse still, he feared he wouldn’t be able to stop feeding if he started.

“Keep mouthing off.” Flynn wiped Elias’ blood from his gloves with a cloth. “The sorcerer will just work harder to break you.”

Swallowing thickly, Elias tried to keep any emotion from showing on his face. But a fear that had been rooted deep in his chest was growing—spreading until there would soon be nothing left of him.

“Thank you, Flynn,” came a voice from the tent’s entrance. “That will be all.”

Slowly, Elias’ gaze turned upward, his eyes skirting across the large tent.

There were rugs and plush pillows on the ground along with a table filled with food and drinks.

So many luxuries in an encampment deep in a demon-infested forest, far away from civilization.

He looked past the ridiculous opulence to the male at the tent’s entrance.

Even silhouetted as he was from the forest outside the tent, Elias knew who he was.

Magnus strode across the tent with a mere nod to Flynn.

But he didn’t have eyes for him. No, Magnus’ gaze skirted up and down the length of Elias’ naked body as Flynn saw himself out.

Robes as bright as Magnus’ scarlet eyes swept along the carpeted floor as the sorcerer came to stand before him. “Have you nothing to say?” Trailing a finger down Elias’ stomach, he swirled the blood over Elias’ now-closed wounds. “Won’t you beg for your freedom?”

“I’ve pledged myself to you,” Elias said, fixing his gaze on the tent’s entrance.

And you possess my syphen , he didn’t add.

When Arabella had fled the castle with the amplifier, she’d taken Elias’ syphen with her. The sorcerer must have gotten hold of the blade when she’d been captured.

The moment Magnus chose to wield the syphen, he could force Elias to do anything he pleased. For reasons he didn’t yet comprehend, the sorcerer hadn’t compelled him. Instead, he’d kept Elias inside his tent, cuffed hand and foot to the X.

“You know I long for your undying obedience,” Magnus purred, his finger swirling ever lower.

“You have my compliance,” Elias said, gritting his teeth. “As I promised.”

The sorcerer made a tsking sound. “One day, I’ll have your loyalty.”

Torturing hardly inspires loyalty , he thought.

Let Magnus scheme.

Arabella was safe, and her memories were returned to her. That was all that mattered.

“Perhaps you’ll have a change of heart when you hear of what I found today.” Magnus removed his finger and studied the blood on it. “That little castle of yours—the one by the lake. You didn’t tell me how… scenic it was. I can understand now why you spent so many years there.”

For a moment, all sounds in the room faded into the distance.

No, no, no . Magnus couldn’t have found the castle. Not yet. Had he taken Arabella?

Elias had been careful not to reveal anything about his home in order to protect Arabella, her friends, Breckett, and the goblins. And he’d been lucky enough that Magnus hadn’t forced the information out of him with his syphen. But how had Magnus found it so quickly?

Elias could only hope Arabella had left the moment her memories returned.

“But that ward… Surely, you could do better than that,” Magnus continued. “It was hardly a challenge for my ogres.”

Elias’ mind raced.

If Magnus had captured Arabella, he’d be parading her before him. Wouldn’t he?

Then Elias remembered.

The mating bond.

He reached for the constant pressure in his chest—a cord that wrapped around his heart. It was tight. Far tighter than it had been before he’d fallen unconscious.

She’s farther away , he realized.

Somehow, Arabella was no longer in the forest.

“Why are you telling me this?” Elias managed, trying to push past the fear still infusing his mind—irrational fear that Magnus had somehow captured Arabella despite him knowing she wasn’t nearby.

“I came across something of interest,” Magnus said. “You can imagine my surprise when your friends were surrounded, were moments away from capture, and then they just… disappeared.”

For a moment, Elias could only stand there, blinking.

The goblins.

They must have helped Arabella and the others escape.

He nearly wept with relief, but he forced his features into neutrality. He couldn’t let Magnus suspect he knew anything about what had happened when the ogres attacked. Not when the sorcerer could use the syphen and force that information out of Elias. If he knew what to ask.

“Apparently, there were winged fae,” Magnus continued, his eyes fastening on Elias’ face. “My gargoyles are currently in pursuit, but… It sparked my curiosity. Why were fae at your castle?”

Elias’ mind raced.

There were fae at the castle? Could it have been someone from the Twilight Court?

Suddenly, a different kind of fear filled him.

Had Hadeon come for Arabella’s favor? Something akin to rage boiled in his veins. If Hadeon dared to hurt her…

He’d what?

There was nothing Elias could do. Not when he’d promised himself to Magnus. He was the sorcerer’s creature now. He’d promised obedience.

“As you may have observed,” Elias began slowly. “I’m not at my castle. So, I can’t say why a?—”

A finger pressed to Elias’ lips. He froze as it ran along his lower lip.

“I won’t tolerate lies,” Magnus purred as he pushed his finger into Elias’ mouth, tasting his blood.

Slowly, Magnus moved it over Elias’ tongue, as though fucking his mouth.

Elias swallowed back bile but didn’t fight, didn’t object.

Magnus pulled his hand free before trailing his finger down Elias’ chest. His hand moved until it was just above Elias’ cock, his fingernails running over the hair there.

“Perhaps you need reminding of who you belong to,” Magnus purred as his other hand wrapped around Elias’ throat, forcing him to look at the sorcerer.

Magnus’ hair was so blond it was almost white. The color reminded Elias of bones bleached by years under an unyielding sun. Magnus’ hair contrasted his eyes, which were as red as freshly spilled blood.

Swallowing thickly, Elias knew there was nothing he could do to stop what came next.

“Come for me, Elias,” Magnus purred. “Show me your compliance. ”

Instantly, the magic of their bargain burned in Elias’ chest.

The sorcerer’s eyes glowed a bright scarlet as his erox powers alighted.

As the creator of erox, Magnus could feed on anyone he pleased. No one, not even erox, could deny him once he chose to use his magic. And as Magnus’ erox magic swirled to the surface, demanding Elias’ remaining drops of essence, it was all he could do to obey him. To let him summon it.

To spill his seed for him again.

Desire pooled in Elias’ core, and his body grew pliant as he awaited what came next.

His cock hardened instantly. The pleasure was so sharp, so sudden, it was painful. Tears streamed down his cheeks even as he moaned against his wishes.