by Ivy Asher
“Step out of your cell and walk to the table,” he orders me, his voice layered with his ability.
He doesn’t move aside much to let me by, so I’m forced to rub against him while trying to follow his instructions exactly. But the issue I quickly realize with faking mind control is that I still have a mind. I don’t know if I should go to the table and stop and stare at the wall or if I should turn around.
Would it be suspicious if I do? He didn’t tell me to, but he also didn’t say stare at the wall.
Damn. Interpreting his orders is a little more complicated than I thought it might be, but I lock all of my uncertainty up and walk evenly to the table and stop and stare. He makes a pleased little coo, so I figure I’m doing just fine. Hopefully.
The room is quiet, and I know Toreon and Medley are watching, probably equally nervous and concerned.
“Very good, Sable. Now turn around and call your scythe.”
My heart wants to kick up a notch, but I wrap it with blackness so the uptick can’t be heard. I’m not sure if Morax has supernatural hearing, but I figure better to be safe than sorry. I turn around and call my scythe into my hand, and then I have to keep myself from jumping at the sound of Morax clapping loudly once before closing the distance between us, pure delight written all over his face.
He invades my space as he circles me. I work to keep my breathing normal, barring any twitches of revulsion from my limbs.
“Isn’t this so much better?” Morax asks. He looks to Medley and then Toreon, as if he expects one of them will answer him. “It doesn’t have to be painful,” he announces, his hand pressing against my cold skin and slowly caressing me from shoulder to shoulder. “If you just do as you’re told.”
My mind hammers with alarm as his hand drops lower, the tips of his fingers skimming the tops of my breasts and tracing the upper edge of my filthy bra.
Don’t cringe. Don’t react.
He wraps his other arm around me, his fingers fanning across my stomach as he pulls me back into him. Panic tries to take over my mind, but I fight it off. I can do this. I can stand here and let him do this without trying to stab him. This is a test, and if I can pass, we’ll be that much closer to getting out of here.
Chains clink together as Toreon moves, but I don’t dare flick my eyes in his direction. Medley is in the cell in front of me, and I can see the rage on her face.
“Bet you have to say that to all the girls,” she accuses between gritted teeth. “You have to order them to stay still while you touch things you’d never be given permission to touch otherwise.”
Morax stiffens behind me, and his hands go still against my icy skin. I suddenly feel so incredibly cold, and I don’t know if that’s something Morax is doing or if I’m in some kind of shock right now.
“Medley, face forward and don’t move,” Morax snaps, and her face goes blank as her hands drop lax to her side.
Morax’s hands skim my body once more before he steps away to go retrieve my sister from her cage, and my mind whirls with all the possibilities of what he’s going to do to us. I try to ignore my racing thoughts and the bile I can taste in the back of my throat.
We can do this.
We can survive whatever he throws at us...
I hope.
16
Morax orders Medley to stand next to me, and I do my best statue impersonation as her shoulder presses against mine. I wish feeling her next to me was some kind of comfort, but instead, it just feels like we’re both exposed to a ravenous lion who could maul one or both of us at any moment.
The Ophidian’s snakes move slowly and threateningly around his head, rubbing against one another and occasionally snapping and hissing at each other for reasons lost to me.
He walks slowly to Medley and pushes the long light purple hair off her shoulder as he looks down her body, reveling in the fact that there’s nothing she can do to stop him. Medley’s face is blank, and the visage is so effective that even I’m not sure if she’s using her ability or if Morax’s power actually took hold of her and she’s now trying to work her way out.
“Medley, pick a knife off the wall and stab your sister with it,” Morax orders, his voice dipped low as if he’s suggesting something seductive and not violent.
I have to force myself not to gasp or stiffen or widen my eyes. This is going to hurt.
Medley moves away from him past the table and picks the first knife within reach. Thankfully, it’s smaller, so it doesn’t appear like it’ll cause much damage, but a knife is a knife. Good thing we’ve been practicing.
I wrap my torso in a black layer of protective power, assuming that’s where she’ll inflict the wound, and hope it’ll help to dull the feel of the blade. Unfortunately, I can’t use too much power and dull the pain altogether, because if I misjudge it and use too much, I risk going completely paralyzed and unresponsive, and then Morax will know that something more than just his compulsion is at work.
An acrid burning smell tickles my nose as Medley stoically walks back toward me. Steam or smoke rises from where she’s gripping the knife, and it’s easy to see that the handle of the blade she’s holding onto is hurting her.
I try to hold my breath as she closes the distance between us, but quickly realize that might give me away. Adrenaline slams through me as firelight glints off the sharp blade. I keep telling myself that this isn’t the first time I’ve been cut and that I made it through all the other times. This will hurt, but then it will heal, and we’ll have proven ourselves to Morax.
Without a moment of hesitation, Medley plunges the knife into my side. I want to tell her good job, that she’s playing her part perfectly, but I’m still not sure if she is or not. Besides, I’m too busy with not screaming or flinching. As the piercing metal drives into my flesh, it takes enormous effort to slam down any reactions to the pain now flooding my system, and to keep my eyes and face blank.
The Ophidian takes a deep breath like he’s drinking in the bouquet of a fine wine as my blood spills past the blade and starts to leak down my lower abdomen and drip down past my thighs.
“Again, Medley,” Morax demands, and she pulls the small blade from me, just to shove it back in. Chains rattle, and I can practically feel the anger rippling out from Toreon’s cage. “Very good, Medley,” Morax praises. “Pull the knife out and let go.”
She does as she’s told, Morax plucking the knife from her hand. As soon as she lets go, I can see a nasty burn on her palm from where she gripped the handle of the warded weapon. She drops her hands to her sides, and Morax runs his finger over her shoulder and down her arm sensuously like the taunting bastard he is.
He steps past her, and I try to brace myself for whatever he might do next. “Sable, face me.”
I’m itching to press a hand to my wound, but I suppress the urge. I turn to him, my eyes fixed on the tan skin of his hard jaw. He’s clean-shaven, not a hint of stubble anywhere. I expect him to shove the blade into me for a third time, but I should know better by now. Morax is never predictable. “Kiss me, Sable,” he commands, and I don’t even give myself a chance to think about it, I just lean forward and kiss him.
My lips land just below the bottom corner of his mouth, and I’m pulling back before he can correct my trajectory. He never said where to kiss him or how, just that I should. But a feral snarl fills the room, and it’s all I can do not to look and see what’s going on.
The vicious growl calls gooseflesh to the surface of my arms, and Morax’s head snaps in the direction of Toreon’s cage.
“I’m going to rip you limb from limb for that,” Toreon bellows, his hands gripping the bars like he’s trying to crush them or will them to spread so he can escape and get his hands on the Ophidian. “She’s not yours to claim. You have no right to take what isn’t offered freely,” Toreon says, his hands coming away from the bars so he can pace like a caged beast just looking for some weakness to the enclosure that’s trapping him.
“She’s mine now,” Morax retorts
tauntingly, his snake eyes tracing Toreon’s every agitated and enraged move with curiosity.
I want to tell Toreon to calm down, that his getting upset isn’t going to help anything. That he’s just giving Morax more leverage to use against him, but I can’t do any of that. I’m stuck watching pain etch itself into Toreon’s features as impotent fury places him in a stranglehold.
Morax turns back to me and wraps his hand around the back of my neck. Toreon growls but doesn’t say anything as he continues to pace, the chains around his torso clinking as he moves.
“Let’s try this again, Sable. And this time, kiss my lips,” Morax says, and the order makes my skin crawl. The first time he commanded this, I didn’t see it coming. I could only react, otherwise risk giving myself away, but this time when Morax’s lips part and he pulls my mouth closer to his, my skin wants to shudder with revulsion and panic skitters up my spine.
I don’t want to do this. I don’t want my mouth on this monster. I don’t want to know what he tastes like or feels like. I want to rip his face off, not press my lips against it.
But I do it anyway, because what choice do I have?
“That is my mate, you fucking soulless abomination! You will not touch her,” Toreon screams out, his voice laced with all the fury and rage I wish I could purge in this moment. But it doesn’t stop Morax’s lips from crashing to mine, or his tongue forcing its way into my mouth to take what would never be his.
I don’t respond in any way. He can think that he can make me kiss him, but he can’t force me to do it passionately. He’ll get no faking from me. I’ll stand here like a dead fish, doing all I can to pull this off for the good of all of us, but Morax might as well be kissing a plastic doll for all the effort he’ll get from me.
But Toreon only sees red, and Morax’s mouth on mine pushes him over the edge.
He rages against the bars.
As Morax’s tongue slides like a snake into my mouth, Toreon screams threats upon threats of all the things he’ll do to him given the chance. He calls out the Ophidian’s entire bloodline, which gives Morax pause for a second before he pulls away from me, ending the half kiss.
He turns and narrows his eyes at Toreon, but Toreon is lost to his anger. It’s like everything he’d been bottling up the entire time he was here just exploded out of him, and it breaks my heart.
“If you’re not dead by the time I take over all the realms, I’ll be sure to make you watch while I fuck my progeny into your mate over and over again,” Morax says, his threat forcing chills down my spine. “I’ll have an army of Annuli by the time I’m done, and you won’t be able to blink without seeing your fated underneath me and hearing her beg for more.”
Morax’s words turn my stomach and haunt my mind, but I force myself to push back the repulsive picture and stare blankly past him as though he doesn’t exist to me at all.
“It would never be real. A piece of Hell-dreg shit like you could never earn someone like Sable. She’d never want something so tainted and foul!” Toreon barks ruthlessly.
“You shut your fucking mouth!” Morax shouts back, his snap reaction shocking me. Toreon clearly just hit a mark, and it’s all I can do not to shove my hands into his wound and see how much more I can rip it open. I want Morax to feel it, feel how he’s less than nothing and will never have anything more than what he forces people to give him.
I file the information away as I stand like a statue, waiting to see what will happen next. I get the distinct impression Morax is trying to keep himself from ripping Toreon out of his cage and making him hurt until he takes back every word.
But after another beat, Morax seems to regain his composure, and he turns to peck me on the lips, his eyes never leaving Toreon’s cell. Pulling back with a grin at Toreon’s mutinous face, Morax moves away from me to stand in front of Medley.
“It’s time to turn your duo into a trio,” he announces coolly, reaching out and snagging a strand of Medley’s hair and wrapping it around his hand.
“Medley, you will be escorted out of here, where you will be shifted to your sister Delta, and you will bring her back here at all costs. If her mates get in the way, you will end them with your scythe. If your mates get in the way, you will do the same.”
Nausea careens through me. If Medley is in control, she’s doing a damn good job of keeping it together, because his order makes even me sick, and they’re not my mates.
Morax keeps her pinned under his stare. “Your escort will shift you there and back. You will do nothing else other than go to your sister and bring her back here. You will tell whatever lies you need to in order to get her to come with you alone,” he demands, his voice laced with so much power, even I have to fight against the pressure of it as it pushes down on my shoulders and makes me want to crumble to my knees, and it’s not even directed at me.
Please, please let Medley be able to fight this.
The door to the dungeon opens slowly, and Vudu steps confidently into the room. His eyes flick around like he’s trying to assess the situation. “Pardon my interruption, my Liege, I was told that you needed an escort.”
Morax’s hand drops from Medley’s hair, and he steps back. “Yes, come with me,” Morax commands Vudu, and then he pats his leg to Medley like a dog he wants to heel to his side. “Come, Medley. Sable, back to your cell.”
I stride back into my cage, scythe still clutched in one hand, and Morax quickly seals me in before he hurries away. Worry courses through me as I watch Medley leave with the monster that I’m sure will feature in all the nightmares I have for the rest of my life, but just before the doors close, she reaches behind her, and I see her hand form an okay sign on the outside of her wing.
It’s gone just as fast as it appeared, and her arm is once again hanging by her side, but hope surges through me. She’s in control, and she’s about to be let out of here.
Part of me wonders if it wouldn’t just be better for her and Delta to run as far and as fast as they can from Morax and whatever he has planned for us. But as selfish as it is, I hope they come back for me, and I hope together, we can vanquish the monster.
17
As the door slams behind Vudu, Morax, and Medley, my fingers wrap around the metal bars of my cell so hard that my knuckles groan in protest.
Every second that passes feels like a year. But all I can hear is the occasional crackle of fire coming from the torches. I can’t help but think about everything that we need to go right so we can break out of here, like it’s some to-do list I’m checking off with hope alone. I bite my fingernails down to the nubs and pace in my cage back and forth, unable to keep still.
Warmth trickles down my front from my two stab wounds, but I barely pay them any attention, knowing they’ll knit themselves back together hopefully before Morax returns with my sisters, or my sisters return with an army to destroy him and save the day.
But there’s just so much that could go wrong, and despite my efforts to stay positive, I’m worried. Everything is riding on the hope that Medley and I—and Delta too—can use the darkness to be completely impervious to Morax’s control. But we’re so new at understanding how we can make it work. What if it fades? What if Medley hurts her mates or Delta’s? What if she doesn’t come back?
“Sable, sit down. You’re hurt, and pacing isn’t going to help anything.”
I shoot an exasperated look past my dark wings over to Toreon where he’s standing and clutching the bars, watching me.
“Funny advice coming from the guy who just went mental, screaming about me being your mate. What were you thinking?” I snap.
“I was thinking that fucker was forcing himself on my mate,” he whips right back.
“And what was that confession going to do for you? Did you think Morax was going to be like, my bad and then just hand me back to you? You gave him even more leverage to hurt me, to hurt you! It was stupid!” I whisper-yell at him.
“And what should I have done? Said nothing? Done nothing? Offered to ho
ld you down while he raped you in front of me?” he snarls.
I angrily grind my teeth. “No, you keep your mouth shut and play it smart. If I can endure it, you can too. I know you’ve given up hope and let yourself rot in here, but I want to live. I want to get out, and that means playing along! I can’t just sit in the corner until I die like you’ve been doing.”
He flinches at my vitriol, his lips pressing into a thin line, and regret immediately slaps me in the face. I stop walking to pinch the bridge of my nose and take a deep breath, and then my shoulders slump. “I’m sorry,” I say, dropping my hand to look at him, moisture a sheen over my eyes. “I’m just… I don’t know, pissed, panicked, worried. I’m still processing what just happened. I know you want out of here too. I didn’t mean that.”
He’s quiet for a second, and when I shove my finger into my mouth to try to bite more nail off that’s not there, I drop it in frustration and start twisting at my feathers.
“Come sit.”
I peer over at him as he pats the ground past the bars in invitation. With a sigh, I walk over and sit beside him as close as I can with the barrier between us. The wound at my side tugs slightly, but it’s already stopped bleeding.
“She’s going to be okay,” he tells me, and my shoulders tense up again. Just thinking about Medley’s task makes anxiety crowd me, pressing against my organs with suffocating presence.
“Anything could go wrong,” I argue. “Her darkness could slip, and his compulsion could take over. Or she could run into problems with finding Delta. Or heck, even if Medley does find her, what if Delta won’t come? What if their mates don’t let them come back? What if—”
“You can kill yourself with what ifs,” he interrupts, his voice a low, even timbre. “The dreaded possibilities are enough to drown anyone if you let yourself wade in them long enough. You have to hold your head above water. You have to keep your feet firmly planted on the here and now.”
My eyes fall to my lap. “I know,” I say quietly. “I know you’re right, but it’s hard. I just found her, and we have everything at stake. For the first time in my life, I can actually have a life. I want to learn what it is to be my real self, not just a demon hybrid, but me. Without the diagnoses and the labels and the fear. I want to get out of here, Toreon, so that I can really live,” I admit, my voice breaking slightly at the fear that this will all end before it even starts. “But I’m so scared. I want it so badly, and one monster stands in the way of it all.”
