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He backhanded her so swiftly I screamed and pressed my bound hands to my mouth. She fell to the floor next to me.
“You’ll do as I say, Dalya, or I’ll feed you to the wights.”
Bile crawled up my throat. “Ferryn!” I cried.
He snapped his head toward me, violence written in every taut line.
“There’s something wrong”—I gentled my voice—“with you. I can see a darkness in your eyes. I canfeelit inside you. It’s not really you that wants this. Something is driving you to do these heinous things.”
He chuckled, his mouth tilting up on one side. “No. The darkness has freed me. The Voice has shown me the truth. It’s shown me visions of who I am to be, thetrueking of Northgall.” His eyes flared with menace. “Thegodof Northgall.”
Dalya pushed herself off the floor and shuffled on her knees to the stool. She uncorked the vial and smelled its contents, her sad gaze finding mine, a bruise already blooming on her cheek.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered shakily. She set the vial back down and opened her satchel, pulling a thick rag from her bag, the kind we used to absorb blood during our monthly bleeding time.
I pushed the rising panic aside. I had to get out of here. A flash of Goll smiling down at me from atop Windolek pierced me hard. Then it hit me.Drakmir.
While Dalya rummaged in her satchel, I closed my eyes, trying to calm myself as I reached out to Drak. We’d connected telepathically several times now. Almost instantly, I felt him in my mind, then I could see through his eyes, searching from the night sky. Searching for me.
There was a nudge on his end, a palpable yearning question, his gaze still sweeping the tops of trees in the still darkness.
Then I realized he wanted me to show him where I was. I had no idea. Showing him the interior of a cave would give himnothing, but I did anyway. I had to get out of here and show him the land where I was being held.
“Come lay down,” commanded Ferryn, now kneeling in front of me. As he said the words, he gripped me by the shoulders and maneuvered me flat on my back on the pallet. His touch amplified that nauseating energy inside him and spread through me.
“No.” I struggled and begged. “Please, no!”
“Calm down,” Ferryn said soothingly, now leaning his face close to mine, those haunting black eyes sending a shiver of dread down my spine. “All will be well shortly and as it should be.” He smiled again, his dark gaze dropping to my mouth. “You’ll see.”
Without warning, he pressed his lips to mine. I froze in shock till I felt the wetness of his tongue and jerked my head to the side, cutting my lip on a fang as I broke away from his appalling kiss.
He only chuckled against my ear. “You’ll see.” Then a sharp, “Hurry, Dalya.”
I couldn’t suppress the desperation speeding my heartbeat at an erratic pace. All the same, there was a well of fury swirling through my veins. It wasn’t mine, though. It was Drak’s…and Goll’s. Of course. While he was connected to Drak, he could also see whatever I showed his dragon. His fury rolled like thunder through my body.
A squeak drew my attention to the ceiling again.
The bats.
Instantly, I snapped my eyes shut and severed the connection to Drak. A fierce roar vibrated through my mind, but I had to break the chain so I could connect with another.
I reached upward to the tiny creatures, trying to find one who’d let me in. Their energy was restless, high-intensity, and hard to grab hold of. Every time I tried to grip the tether of oneof them, it slipped free. Then I realized my mistake. They were a hive mind. I couldn’t grasp onto one. It had to be all of them. Even better.
I spread my magick outward like a net, feeling it pulse and build, seeking with a hundred tiny threads toward the squeaking and crawling creatures. It was almost instantaneous. The connection to dozens of them at once made me gasp, their thoughts a busy mess of movement and erratic energy.
I’d only ever opened myself up to other winged creatures and let them show me what they wanted. But I was as sure as I was of Lumera’s guiding light that this new magick wasn’t given to me for nothing. So rather than coast through the connection, I commanded them to act and do what I showed them.
Dalya lifted my head, which had me opening my eyes, my connection still strong, buzzing with all the tiny living heartbeats tethered to me, skittering in my mind. Not to get away, but to hear my purpose. They felt me speaking through the tether.
Ferryn held me down by my shoulders.
“Open, Mizrah.” Tears trekked down Dalya’s bruised face. “It will be over soon.”
“No,” I told her, my gaze flicking to the ceiling.Now!I shouted in my mind.
In one fell swoop, the bats dove from the ceiling with the high-pitched scream they were named for. It was enough to make both Ferryn and Dalya startle back. Dalya spilled half the vial, and Ferryn loosened his hold, turning his head to look up at the bats now diving straight for him.
I didn’t hesitate. Bending my leg, I pressed it to Ferryn’s chest and shoved with all my might. He went sprawling backwards onto the cave floor with a snarl right as the bats swarmed in a giant wave of wings and screeches around his head. He swatted the air with a snarling growl. Not evenglancing at Dalya, I rolled up onto my knees and staggered to my feet, my hands still bound, then ran for the cave opening.
