Page 168 of Bedeviled

“You better not take me down from here,” I say, even as my shoulders scream in protest. “Or I will use every vile, violent thing I have learned from war to kill you as painfully as possible.”

Her lips actually curve up at that. “I think I rather enjoy your threats. I cannot wait to use you, Memnon.”

With that she steps into my space again and rips open my shirt.

I hear her intake of breath, see how her eyes linger on my body in a covetous way. Her hand smooths over the skin of my chest, then down my abdomen, and now I’m vividly imagining how I will lop off her fingers joint by joint and shove them down her throat until she chokes on them.

“I will let you down—in a moment,” Eislyn says. “The wine was only a prelude.”

Her eyes drift to the wall behind me, and without another word, she walks over to it. I hear a door open and close, and the room falls painfully silent.

A shudder courses through my body, and my jaw clenches so hard it hurts. My shoulders are screaming, and that potion Eislyn gave me is still sparking in my blood like a dozen small fires. It makes my magic restless, and my power courses through my limbs faster and faster, as though looking for an exit.

I cannot let my mind linger too long on Eislyn. Whatever she intends, I will undoubtedly hate. But even as old and powerful as she is, she is bound to make a mistake. The moment she does, I will act.

My eyes move over the furniture in the room, which has all been angled to face where I am hanging. Eislyn, it seems, has made a spectacle of stringing people up.

Beyond the room, the city glitters in the darkness. Still nighttime.

My mind, as ever, drifts back to Selene. Another shiver slides down my spine when I think of what would’ve happened had Eislyn taken her as well.

And then, the most haunting thought yet: Did she take Selene?

The thought has me fighting my shackles anew.

Selene! I shout down our bond, uncaring that, in addition to our broken connection, these cuffs have likely cut off all potential communication between us. Selene! Are you safe?

Silence. Horrible, unending silence.

I shout then, let loose my rage and my fear.

I yank at my hands, willing them to break. My agitated magic rushes to my fingers, but it will not act on my behalf.

Panic floods my system. I bellow again, just to release something.

Behind me, I hear the door open and the sound of several footsteps entering the room.

Before I see anyone’s face, I see their power. Deep, vivid shades of green and violet. Crimson and teal. The plumes of it brush my skin as the individuals encircle me. Most of them are older, their skin wrinkled and mottled, their muscles softened with age and disuse.

Their magic, however, makes them plenty formidable, and their eyes are almost as pitiless as mine.

Last among them is Eislyn.

I realize then how deeply, deeply fucked I am. There is only one reason a group of wretched supernaturals gather around a captive in the middle of the night like this.

I’m about to be bonded against my will.

I jerk on my hands again and again, as hard as I can, the agony of it nothing, absolutely nothing, compared to the alarm I feel.

I bellow as I feel something crunch near my wrist and my palm slides closer to the cuff.

My vision darkens as the pain fills my senses.

Another crunch.

Eislyn’s eyes widen a fraction. “Someone, put our captive to sleep.”

I jerk against my bindings as hard as I can, grinding my teeth against the agony. My cuffs slide up to the knuckles of my left hand. If I can get it free, I’ll have one hand available.