Page 74 of Of Blackened Blood (The Blackened Blade #3)

MICAI

A splitting pain sears through my head, a ringing sound echoing inside my ears as the feeling of being roughly jostled back and forth takes hold of me.

My eyes try to flicker open and figure out what’s happening, but they feel too heavy; a dark blurriness is the only thing I can make out as I fight to fully awaken.

I battle back and forth with my body, until—after another few moments?—

My eyes finally open fully, the blurriness in them slowly clearing. I look up toward the night sky above me and the forest moving around me as I quickly realise I’m being dragged by someone.

My body is being pulled roughly along the forest floor, scraping off rocks and tree roots as my captor moves at a slow, steady pace.

I feel my hands bound above me; a heavy ache sets in my shoulders with my captor’s tight grip on the restraints holding me. They jostle me back and forth, yanking me from time to time in certain directions, intentionally aiming for the jagged tree roots and broken rocks to further injure me.

Blood trickles down my forehead and cheek, the pain from the blow they landed to my head still fresh as they continue to move me through the forest.

I try to glance around, to see if I notice anything familiar about the direction we’re moving in but can’t place anything.

I couldn’t have been out for more than a few minutes though, as the blue glimmer of the barrier is still visible from where we are. From the outside of it.

They must have been the one to create that hole in the barrier ... and let those beasts loose inside.

But who the hell were they? And why have they targeted me?

We suddenly come to a stop, and I quickly close my eyes again, playing possum as a male voice rings out from somewhere nearby.

I don’t know who is behind this or why, but I’m damn sure going to find out soon. And make them pay.

I can feel my body begin to heal, the dizziness fading more quickly than it had before, and the blow to my head repairing itself too.

In a few more moments, I should be able to fight. But only after I find out who is behind all this shit first. And why.

Why had they attacked me during the challenge? Had they been lying in wait or was this all on impulse? Had I been personally targeted— as is my luck these days —or had I been in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Then my thoughts fall to Mrs. Fleur. She had been beside me during the attack. Where is she now? Had she made it away or gotten hurt before me?

She couldn’t possibly be involved in any of this. It was Mrs. Fleur.

She is the only teacher who ever treated me well in the academy, even supporting me when I couldn’t sing during the exam. She wouldn’t?—

“This was supposed to be discreet,” argues the man to the person holding my restraints, cutting my thoughts short at the sound of his gruff and impatient voice.

“We’re only supposed to take a couple, and only those on the list. She’s not on it.

” A heavy sigh leaves his lips as my captor drops me and my restraints to the ground below. “The elders won’t like this, Belle.”

“It’s fine.” A cold chill runs down my spine with the sound of the familiar voice, my heart picking up its pace as it continues. “The rest of those morons will just take it as losing a student to another beast attack. That’s what those creatures were let loose for anyway.”

Mrs. Fleur. Her usual soft and flustered voice sounds lower and twisted in anger, a bite to her tone I’ve never heard before seeping out as she speaks to the man.

I try to calm my heart and breathing and the spiralling thoughts twisting my mind.

You would think by now that I would be used to being betrayed by the people I care for, having been fooled so many times in my previous life and paying the price for it all .

.. but it still causes an ache to form in my chest with the memory of my time with her. How could I have been so stupid?

“You need subjects. So, here’s another one,” continues Mrs. Fleur as I feel the tip of a foot kick toward my restraints and hands. “This can stay between you and me. All I ask is that you make it slow ... give her extra special treatment and put her in the smallest cell there.”

A cold shiver works its way into my spine with the vitriolic hate lacing her voice as she speaks of me. What the hell is going on? Why is she doing this to me, and why does it seem like she wants me to suffer so much?

And who the hell is this man she is trying to hand me over to?

Then her words hit me. “Put her in the smallest cell.”

My heart picks up its pace, my mind racing as I try to control my breathing, my lungs wanting to burst with that small four-letter word. Cell.

The place I had spent so many years tortured and suffering every day until I finally took my last breath. A word that carries so much pain for me.

My brows draw slightly downward. But why would she mention a cell to this man? Who is he?

She also mentioned letting the beasts loose ... so they were involved in that too?

Bit by bit, my mind places all their words together; they were talking about taking a “couple,” ones who were on the “list.” Were they planning to kidnap students? And use the beasts as a reason for their disappearance?

Supes going missing, all these beast attacks, and broken barriers ... and the mention of cells.

A chill runs through my body, my blood running ice cold as a vise grip wraps itself around my heart and squeezes it tightly, my mind finally connecting all the pieces together.

Are this man and Mrs. Fleur connected to The Facility, or worse, are they a part of it? A part of the Domynion Clan?

A kick to my shoulder pulls me from my thoughts, the ache and pain searing through me and dragging me back to the present.

“Belle—” begins the man before Mrs. Fleur cuts him off.

“Just take the bitch and make it painful, Croy,” she grits out, her foot prodding my back. “Make sure you torture her for killing my Gerad. She deserves the worst death for taking him from me.”

Who the hell was Gerad ? And when was I supposed to have killed him?

“Anyone put in that place suffers slowly, Belle. You know that.” Croy sighs. “But I’ll put a word in and have them give her the extra attention you want. Too many perished under her group. We have our plans for them too. Don’t worry.”

I hear footsteps before they soon come to a stop, his feet resting near my head as his voice rings out above me.

“What about the youngling? This one belongs to her, doesn’t she?

” There’s a sound of confliction in his voice.

“She still needs her for her placement, doesn’t she?

” I hear more movement from him above me, but he doesn’t make a move to take me.

“The elders could find out if she throws a fit.”

“I don’t care anymore,” shouts Mrs. Fleur. “Seria was just extending the inevitable. This one was becoming too hard for her to handle, and she was beginning to draw attention. I’m doing her a favour by removing her sooner.”

My heart begins thumping faster, so loud that I’m worried they’ll hear it.

Seria is connected directly to them and the Domynions. They called her a youngling and mentioned elders too.

But what does it all mean? Is she a part of their clan? Was her mother a Domynion? And what do they mean by needing me for her “placement”?

Mrs. Fleur lets out a dark chuckle before taking a couple of steps away from me.

“Seria will get over it. She’ll have her hands full fixing her little fuck-up with one of her partners as it is .

..” Another chuckle rings out. “She used something she shouldn’t have, something the elders won’t be happy about, and has run back to the Banes with her tail between her legs, crying crocodile tears to dear old daddy.

” A scoff echoes out around me. “The elders won’t care when they find out about the mess she’s caused and the attention she’s drawing.

She couldn’t manage this by herself. I had to step in . .. that’s all.”

I hear more movement as a loud sigh leaves her lips. “Seria only needs her power anyway. Just make sure the syphoners are connected. She won’t complain then.”

The man shuffles above me, and I feel him nearing my hands and the restraints I’m wearing. And I prepare myself to attack.

“Wait,” calls Fleur, halting both my and Croy’s actions as I hear her footsteps drawing closer again. “Let me have a few more minutes with her. I deserve to break at least a few of her bones or rip the skin from her face for what she’s done.”

She takes another step before I feel Croy move above me. “We don’t have time for this?—”

“Then make time!” Mrs. Fleur screams. “She took my husband from me. He died in that damn explosion because of them . Because of her .” Her voice twists with rage. “I couldn’t even collect his fucking remains, Croy!”

Her husband? What the hell is she talking about? When did I ever meet her husband or cause an explosion?

She reaches for me again as I ready myself, now knowing her intent to maim me. But a loud explosion rings out from somewhere nearby, stopping both of us in our tracks.

The ground quakes below us as I peer through the gaps in my lashes and watch on as blue static forms all over the barrier in the distance.

A loud, blood-curdling howl rings out around the mountain following, sending the trees shaking as a shiver rolls up my spine with the sound.

More blasts ring out, followed by more static and the shrieking of beasts as noise and movement in the distance grows closer.

“We don’t have any more time, Belle,” calls Croy. “I’ll make sure she gets what she deserves.” I hear him move closer. “Leave here and keep your cover, and I’ll handle her?—”

Just as I feel his hand nearing mine, I open my eyes, ready to attack, but instead, watch as a blade embeds itself in his large hand.

He leaps back, clutching his hand and howling in pain before quickly pulling the blade out and throwing it toward the forest floor, blood dripping from the wound as he holds it.