Page 11 of Vengeance and Vipers

The one who brought her follows him, but the figures now standing in the hall are muted, like shadows or ghosts, and their voices are muffled.

Because she was in the room, not out here, I suppose. She could hear their exchange but not see them.

‘This isn’t progressing quickly enough. Increase the duration by twenty percent and the frequency to every day.’

‘But, my lord, she’s already—’ The fae falls silent at the other’s warning look. ‘Of course, my lord.’

The realization that this hasn’t been as entertaining as I thought it would be has me twisting the tacturn in my hand to end the illusion.

The cells appear before us.

She’s standing right where she was, still staring at the floor. There’s nothing in her expression to show she’s upset, but her body is quivering. I reach through the bars and gently pull the tacturn’s chain out of her hand.

‘Victoria?’ I ask gently, knowing I don’t have long before the fog takes me again.

It’s the only reason I kept this infernal device. When I’m enveloped in its magick, I can think clearly for a little while. It has a price like everything fae, taking slivers of power I don’t missuntil I do, but I’m going to need it when Maddox returns. If I can’t prove I’m stillin here, he’s going to kill me. I know that would be best, safest at this point, but there’s something inside me that’s telling me to fight just a little while longer, that maybe there will be salvation for me.

Victoria doesn’t answer and, in fact, gives no indication that she’s heard me.

I glance at the cell door. I probably have just enough time if I make it quick.

I pull it open, releasing the lock with a phrase I’ve buried deep in my sane mind so that the growing dark part of me doesn’t know it when he takes over.

I use the same one at her cage and walk inside.

She doesn’t move.

‘Victoria?’ I ask again.

This time, she looks up at me, but I know she’s not really seeing me. She’s still in that place. The only difference is that it’s no longer the tacturn keeping her there but her own mind.

I pick her up and pull her against me gently.

I wish I could say that I hadn’t dreamed of holding her, but I have. Many times. Those weeks she spent with us were some of the happiest that I can recall of my life.

I lay her down on the blankets, wrapping her shaking body and stroking her forehead.

‘It’s all over,’ I murmur, shaking my head at the useless platitude.

She’s as much a prisoner here as she was there, and while I doubt Maddox and the others would stoop to such methods of punishment as those fae, I’m not sure about myself anymore.

I can already feel the dark impulses worming their way into me. The more I fight them, the more I want to give in. Intense, insatiable hunger eats at me. I step away from her, swallowing hard at the urge to rip the blankets away and make her scream for me in a completely different way to the fae before I rip out her throat.

Jaw clenching, I turn and rush to the door, flinging it open and closed again, thankful when it relocks automatically. I open my own cell door, and my body freezes.

No!

I force my foot forward into the cell while my head screams. I pull the cell to, hearing the lock and lurching across the space before I give in.

The melody I hear is one of pain, and I revel in it, eyes locking on the female in the next cell who’s sobbing quietly on her bed. I hate her, but I can’t quite remember why. Not that it matters.

I reach out as I demon-up, trying to grab her so I can feed from her through the bars, but she’s too far away. I grin. If I can lure her close to me in my human form and let my glamor down quickly enough, I’ll be able to get my claws on her.

I’ve tried lulling her to do my bidding several times, but it’s not working.

My jaws snap in frustration. I’m hungry, and I will not be denied!

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