by Amy Braun
The two guards hissed at me as I approached. I froze in place, but didn’t cringe away. It wasn’t the first time they snapped at me. It pained me to admit, but Davin was right. In a strange sort of way, I was getting used to it here.
The monsters kept baring their teeth, their bloody eyes fixed on the pulse in my throat. Their narrow nostrils flared as they smelled my fear. I balled my fists and looked at the door.
Davin snapped something at them in Hellion-tongue, and the guards turned away. They reached for black levers hidden by the shadows on the wall and pushed them down. After a thundering click that reminded me of a prison cell locking forever, the doors began to groan and swing inward. Davin put his hand on the small of my back, then slid it lower. I balled my fists and wished I were Gemma. My best friend would never have allowed any man but Nash to touch her this way. If they did, she would swing around and rocket a punch into their jaw. She would pounce on them and beat them until they cried. Depending on how angry she was, she might keep going.
I missed her terribly.
I stepped away from Davin’s hands rather than fight back. I knew it would be useless. I only had a month’s worth of combat training. I could defend myself enough to get away, but not to properly battle an enemy.
Even if I could achieve my current dream and knock the sinister lights from Davin’s eyes, it would be pointless. If the Hellion guards didn’t catch me, the Vesper would. He would do it himself, invading my mind and torturing me into submission.
Or he would send his puppet to do it for him.
An eternity seemed to pass before the doors were open enough for me to slip through. I couldn’t get away from Davin fast enough. I ignored his quiet laugh as I stepped into the throne room, the pinnacle of the Dark Spire.
Every level I’d seen on the Spire was big, but this room was enormous. The walls slanted up to a sharp peaked roof. Strung along the ceiling were drooping, spider-like chandeliers. Each dangling “leg” was tipped with a dim candle. Tattered red fabric hung below the base of each chandelier like flayed skin. I shuddered, and hoped that was just my morbid imagination talking.
Dropping my gaze, I walked along a silky, dark crimson carpet that stretched from the doors to the throne. Bony columns arched over my head, interweaving with the spider-chandeliers. At the farthest end of the hall was a seven foot tall dais made of shining black glass. A single high-backed chair sat on top of it, the edges of it stabbing up like dozens of sharp spikes. Though the throne room was mostly dark, all the candlelight above me seemed to fixate on the two beings waiting on the dais.
Seated on the cold throne was a slim Hellion in a heavy red cloak that looked like it had been soaked in blood before it covered his shoulders. Thick, immaculate black hair dripped down the sides of his face to his chest and cascaded the length of his torso until it nearly touched the ground. Hooked claws curled around the armrests of the throne. On his head was a crown of pale, broken bones. Eyes that were dark red from lid to lid fixed on me, the dilated pupils yawning like black holes intent on sucking the life from my body.
The Vesper, King of the Hellions, always sent a spear of terror into my heart when I saw him. I could never hold his unblinking gaze for long.
But he wasn’t as thin anymore. His skin wasn’t as withered. He didn’t look weak.
The reason was standing beside him.
My heart shouldn’t have ached at the sight of Riley, the former rigger of the Dauntless Wanderer and son of a Sky Guard soldier. My one time friend, until the moment he revealed his true nature. His purpose.
To act as a pawn to the Vesper, to get close to the Palisade and me.
It obviously worked.
I couldn’t even bring myself to narrow my eyes at him. He looked terrible. Once young and handsome with tousled blond hair and lively blue eyes, Riley had been there for me when no one else had. He’d suffered unfathomable torture at the hands of the Hellions for two years, until Sawyer and I rescued him.
But it was all a ruse. The Riley I knew was dead. He may never have existed. What was left of him was being slowly, and literally, drained away.
A tube stuck out of Riley’s neck, just above the high collar of his black tunic. Clear red blood flowed out of the tube, winding through the creases of the Vesper’s robe and lodging in his chest. A direct blood transfer that gave the Vesper life, and turned Riley into a rail-thin man with empty, glazed eyes.
I didn’t know how Riley was still alive. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. The Vesper was a dark, dangerous mystery that haunted me at every waking moment. I barely slept as it was.
“You have displeased me, Claire.”
I shivered at the sound of the Vesper’s voice, no longer a strained rasp, but a husky, formidable growl that reminded me of rocks crashing down a mountain in a landslide.
I concentrated all my efforts on maintaining eye contact with him. I tightened my hands into fists so they wouldn’t shake. I bit my tongue so I wouldn’t scream. My heart and brain weren’t so restrained. All I could think about was trying to run and escape, and hope for the best.
Only there was no “best” here.
“You have failed to progress with both machines,” the Vesper went on. If he noticed my anxiety, he didn’t let it show. Riley stood beside him, gazing blankly over my head.
I crushed my tongue between my teeth. Any harder and I would make myself bleed.
“Have you nothing to say?”
Oh, I have a million things to say. I immediately cursed myself for the thought. The Vesper had unfathomable powers, and I wouldn’t know about them until it was too late and he used them on me. He read my mind with ease.
“Then speak.”
“I… It’s not easy–”
Davin scoffed behind me. “If you’re not gonna speak up, you might as well move closer so he can actually hear you.”
His hand swatted my backside, hard. I stumbled forward, whirling around to give him a furious glare. Davin only crossed his arms over his chest and smiled.
Fabric rustled in front of me. I whirled around, and gasped as the Vesper stood just inches away from me. The Vesper towered over me, black hair curtaining the sides of his face as he bent to look at me. I shivered at the void-like darkness in his pupils, and gagged on the thick smell of blood emanating from him.
“You are the daughter of Deanna and Joel Abernathy,” the Vesper said. His breath smelled sour and rotten. Combined with the scent of blood from his clothes, he smelled like a freshly murdered body. “It would not have taken them so long to progress with my storm-maker and the Palisade.”
“There were two of them,” I pointed out, amazed I was able to speak at all. “I’m the only engineer you have.”
“And I have repeatedly explained that you can be assisted should you require it. My children make many trips to Westraven for you. As you can see by the clothes you wear now.”
He wasn’t looking at me with the lewd intent that Davin did, but I nonetheless felt uncomfortable and exposed in front of him.
“It would only take longer,” I insisted. “I would have to train them. They would need more tools, and even then, I don’t know if–”
“You are making excuses.”
I hesitated, realizing my mistake too late. “I don’t have enough materials for the Palisade, and I’m still trying to understand the storm-maker,” I reasoned. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The conducting towers are propelling the wind from the mountains, but there isn’t enough moisture in the air. Anything that is being made is getting lost in the tunnel leading out to–”
“The storm-maker will be placed under the control and monitoring of my children. Your focus shall now become the Palisade, and nothing more.”
That was the last thing I wanted to do. My agreement to make a Palisade for the Vesper meant that when I was finished, he would be able to use it to destroy what little was left of Westraven. Combined with the storm-maker, he would invade Aon again. He would capture anyone he or his Hellions could get
his claws into, and carry them to a fate worse than any death I could imagine.
With his storm-maker, he would keep Westraven under a constant black cloud, forever erasing our chances of closing the Breach and seeing the sunlight again. If anyone were bold enough to resist him, the Vesper would break him or her down piece by piece.
I glanced at Riley, and shuddered to think about Sawyer standing in his place.
He wouldn’t let that happen, I knew. He would rather die.
I cursed myself again.
“I will not tolerate delays, Claire,” the Vesper rasped. “I have waited ten long years to regain my strength, feeding off the stragglers brought to me by my children.”
He leaned in close. I tried to step back, but his hand curled around the small of my back. Dagger sharp claws poked through my thin shirt, taunting my skin.
“I have seen your mind, Claire,” continued the Vesper. He hadn’t blinked once since the start of our conversation. “You know what it is like to be weak. To be desperate. Imagine that weakness and desperation, combined with pain. Every second of your existence consumed with an ache that burns like acid in your stomach. Constant hunger, giving up your own blood to feed your own.”
The Vesper’s grip tightened. The fabric of the tunic ripped, but my skin remained intact. For now. He bent closer. I choked on bile and the smell of blood and rot as he swarmed me.
“You have endured hardships, Claire. But you know little of true pain.”
He didn’t give me any warning. I didn’t see his jaw open or his mouth move for my neck.
But I did feel dozens of sharp claws plunge into my throat. And I did scream.
The Vesper sucked hard on my neck, pulling my blood from the fresh wounds. Every one felt like a prodded, throbbing bruise. My eyes found Riley, begging for help.
He stared straight ahead, a statue focused on nothing.
I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut. My nails stabbed into my palms.
Then the Vesper increased the torture.
I felt him stab into my mind, and gasped at the spike of pain. No, no, no!
But the images were already flashing. Helping my mother and father as they worked. Always asking questions and studying what they were creating. Watching the parades and festivals in Westraven as a girl. Staring in wonder at my baby sister when she was born. Holding Abby close when she was scared and promising to protect her. Meeting the crew of the Dauntless Wanderer. The jokes and laughs with Gemma and Nash. Sawyer’s wry smile and stubborn attitude. Rescuing Abby. Destroying the Behemoth.
Feeling the wind on my skin as I flew on a ship for the first time in a decade. Watching my sister study the constellations. Returning home and finding my mother’s journal. Being held by Riley. Finding the Palisade. Arguing with Sawyer. Kissing him.
Abby’s primal scream as she attacked Nash. Gemma’s anger at my parents when she learned what they’d done. Riley’s terrifying story about the girl he killed on the Behemoth. Sawyer’s horrified eyes as I was taken away from him. He tried to tell me something, screamed it, but I couldn’t remember what it was–
The images spun and swirled through my head like a tornado. My vision blurred. The ache in my skull became a heavy weight. Each of my limbs sagged as weakness flooding my body.
The Vesper’s mouth was still on my neck, sharply tugging the blood from my veins.
My lips formed the words, but I couldn’t speak. I tried again, but it was useless.
Please… I whispered in my mind. Please stop.
I didn’t think he heard me. He was too invested in the taste of my blood and inflicting mental torture to break me. I begged again, over and over, my thoughts becoming a drunken haze. I struggled to find my mantra, the single ray of hope I had left.
Gentle smiles, smart mouths, blonde curls, tawny eyes. Gentle smiles, smart mouths, blonde curls, tawny eyes. Gentle smiles, smart mouths, blonde curls, tawny…
Darkness crept into the edges of my vision. The faces swimming in my head became incoherent smears of color. I slumped forward.
The Vesper stepped back, yanking his fangs from my throat with one more rough tug. I expected to smack hard onto the floor, but I was caught. I lifted my head, aggravating the wounds on my throat, and found myself looking at the blurry image of Riley’s face.
I waited for him to recognize me, to nod or wink and let me know he was still in there. The Riley I knew was strong, a survivor with a gentle heart who persevered against his past.
Blank eyes stared at me, stripped of the bright lights I’d adored. Replaced by the eyes of a dead man.
A puppet’s eyes.
Riley lowered me onto the floor. There was no need to physically damage my mind. Not until the Vesper decided on it.
My neck felt ravaged, my mind scrubbed raw. I was cold and weak. Broken. I wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come. The Vesper had taken even those from me.
“Take her back to her room,” the Vesper commanded.
“With pleasure,” I heard Davin sneer over my head. His boots clomped toward me.
Then he dropped to his knees and cried out in pain.
I turned my head just enough to see him hunched over with his hands on his head. His claws gripped his hair so tightly I saw them scrape the flesh off his scalp. His jaw was so tight it looked like he might shatter his teeth.
I felt a perverse sense of satisfaction knowing that Davin could suffer with me.
“You will not touch her,” commanded the Vesper. “She is not to be physically broken until her purpose has been served.”
So much for satisfaction, I thought quickly. The Vesper didn’t seem to have heard me. Or if he did, he didn’t care.
But his bloody, black eyes turned to me. “And once she has these materials she needs, she shall not delay.”
I cringed and looked away. Davin’s breathing relaxed. He grunted and grabbed my arm with bruising force. He yanked me to my feet so abruptly I stumbled. Davin didn’t look back or slow down as he dragged me to the stairs.
I risked a glance over my shoulder as we reached the door.
Riley’s vacant expression didn’t change. Tears pricked my eyes. I couldn’t save him. There was nothing left to save. Nothing left for him to lose.
For a split second, I envied him.
***
Davin’s fury hadn’t dissipated when he took me back to my room. The Vesper’s command forbid him from violating me the way he wanted, but it didn’t keep me safe.
Especially since Davin was the type of marauder who thrived on breaking the rules.
His fist collided with my jaw. I was still too weak to stand, so I landed on the floor in a heap. Two kicks to my ribs kept me there.
I curled on the icy floor, clinging to my mantra like the lifeline it was.
Gentle smiles, smart mouths, blonde curls, tawny eyes.
Davin knelt down and grabbed a fistful of my hair. I winced when he pulled my head up, but didn’t cry out. Hatred sparked in his bloody eyes.
“You’d better get to work, bitch,” he snarled. “We’re going back to your world soon. I might not be able to have you yet, but Sawyer’s brunette friend? Your sister? They’re fair game.”
My eyes widened in horror, and Davin didn’t take pleasure in it. That’s how furious he was.
He tightened his grip and jerked me closer until our noses almost touched.
