Page 148 of The Queen’s Shadow

“Back to your cell until I am ready for you.” She ordered, and the slavery bond roared to life. I took a step, but the strength seemed to seep away from my body, and I collapsed to my knees in the sand. I had taken a great deal of damage. Even with the healing magick, I was still too hurt to walk. Ash Nevra sniffed at me in disgust and summoned The Siren to come forward.

“Nytara. Help him back to his cell.”

I grit my teeth against the all-consuming pain that burned through me as Nytara grabbed my arm and forced me to my feet, dragging me forward. The world swam and I worried, for a moment, I might pass out after all.

“Get your shit together, Shadow. The show will go on, whether you can walk or not.” Ash Nevra called after me, but I refused to acknowledge her.

I may have just barely survived one of the most brutal whippings I had ever endured but having been present to hear Kieran tell her that Raven had wiped the floor with her army had nearly made it worth it.

Amon

Ineeded to lean heavily into Nytara, as she led me down the hallway back to my cell, and I was too injured to care. My body was going into shock and a cold numbness was coursing through my veins as she forced me through the door. I stumbled forward and fell face first into the bed, wincing as the movement dragged my shirt across the open wounds on my back.

I heard Nytara stalk to the door of my cell. She slammed it shut and I relaxed, only to tense again when I heard her footsteps as she walked back to the bed.

She hadn’t left.

I grunted as she used her magick to cut the shirt off my back, exposing my open wounds to her. A hiss of pain escaped my lips as the fabric, which had already begun to stick to the wounds, was torn away.

She had told me she would kill me for what I had said to her about her brother. There was no one here to stop her now. I was too weak to defend myself and even if I had the power to fight back, I was still crippled by the slavery bond.

My back felt hot, like I was burning up. I realized I had broken into a cold sweat and wondered if I had developed a fever from the inflammation and trauma my body had just been subjected to. I was in agony. My body was failing me. My heart was broken, and my soul had been torn in two.

It was at this moment that I realized I may truly die here. If Nytara was going to kill me, I would welcome death with open arms. The only regret I had was what I knew my death would do to my mate. I nearly choked at the thought of the pain Raven would endure. Suffering through the death of her mate, so soon after she had lost her mother felt unspeakably unfair.

I wasn’t sure what happened to daemon souls after they died, but if there was a way to get back to her, I knew my soul would spend eternity trying to find it.

I kept my face turned away from The Siren, so she wouldn’t see as I braced myself for the cut of her blade across my already ruined back.

Finally, after a long moment, her magick came down on me, and I jumped as her freezing aura touched my ruined skin.

But it didn’t hurt. It soothed the burning, and I realized suddenly, she had summoned a small flurry and was cleaning my wounds with the cold, soft snow.

With more effort than I would have admitted to anyone, I pushed up so that I could turn my head to face her, frowning. She didn’t bother to meet my gaze. She was focused on her magick, working the snow as it melted to gently remove each grain of sand that had found its way into my wounds.

“What are you doing?” I asked, astonished. My mind was racing. What was her end game? She had to be doing this for a reason, and I was positive that whatever her motive for helping me was, would come back to haunt me later.

“I’m cleaning your wounds, so you don’t get an infection.” She said flatly, and I relaxed back against the pillow.

Ah. There it was. I wasn’t permitted to die. She had been ordered to ensure I survived. That, at least, made sense.

I lay there, in silence, as she continued her work, removing the sand. She could have made it hurt, but instead she took her time, and was surprisingly gentle.

When she was done, she turned on her heel without a word and left, slamming the cell door behind her on her way out.

I frowned as her tiny snow flurry continued to gently float over my exposed back. Soft, soothing snowflakes continued to drift down, cooling the fire that burned in my wounds, offering me some reprieve from the all-consuming pain of my injuries.

I didn’t have time to wonder why Nytara had bothered, before the darkness that had been edging across my vision finally took hold, and I finally lost my grip on reality.

Raven

‘Alexa, play Cars Outside by James Arthur.’

Iwas dreaming. Amon had always told me daemons were good with dreams, but I hadn’t understood what that had meant until he had visited me the other night. My usual nightmare tried to take hold of me, but I shook it off and pressed onward.

I could feel his consciousness, pulling me forward. But he was tired and weak. On top of that the dream felt sticky, hot and full of blood.

I needed to find him, because right now, I had a strange and overwhelming feeling that he did not have the strength to find me.