Page 10 of Secrets of Ruin

“Brokk. Brokk, can you hear me?”

Kaylia’s whispered words barely pierced through the haze of agony that kept him locked within its brutal depths. Fire licked over his skin as he tried to slip back into the oblivion of unconsciousness.

“Brokk.”

The distress in her voice finally penetrated his pain, and he turned his head toward the sound of it. His lashes felt like something was coating them as he tried to open his eyes.

He knew his eyes finally opened because light filtered through the darkness, but he couldn’t make out anything more than that brief flare. Every part of him hurt. His back was wet, what remained of his clothes cleaved to him, and every beat of his heart shot pain through him.

“Brokk.” The relief that came from Kaylia with that one word tugged at his heart.

He lay on his stomach with the earth against his cheek. He’d hated sleeping on dirt, but now its coolness was a welcome reprieve from the burning of his back.

What happened?

“Brokk, are you okay?”

He was as far from okay as it got. He was so weak he was pretty sure a newborn could take him out right now.

“You need blood,” Kaylia whispered.

The mention of blood caused his fangs to lengthen so fast that they sliced into his bottom lip. For the first time, something replaced his pain as starvation consumed him.

“Come closer to the bars… if you can,” Kaylia whispered.

Brokk’s fingers twitched against the dirt floor. He shifted a little toward the sound of her voice. The second he moved, a fiery blaze raced across his back.

It screamed through his temples as his head exploded into fragments that scattered across the ground. Blackness rose to engulf him before releasing him again.

He didn’t know how long he was out, but he didn’t think it was too much time as Kaylia breathed, “Oh, Brokk. I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

Dim memories of what happened filtered across his mind. She hadn’t done this; he was sure of it. They hadn’t been able to do more than hold hands for weeks… months… years?

How long have we been here?

His mind spun from one detail to another as he tried to focus on what happened and why she’d apologized. And then, he saw the emperor standing before Kaylia’s cell, telling his brainless followers to “Take her out.”

This could have been her. He could have been in his cell watching while they tortured Kaylia. That would have been far worse than what he’d gone through and continued to endure.

He’d rather go through it all a thousand more times before ever witnessing her experience it. He couldn’t do much for her here, but he could and would do this.

“Brokk, if you can get to me, you can have my blood. It will help you heal, but you have to come closer.”

It took some doing, but he finally dragged his battered and burning body closer to her voice. His vision remained little more than pinpricks of light as she urged him on.

“Stop,” she whispered.

He collapsed on the ground, his breath coming in small wheezes as his heart raced faster than it ever had before. The light left his vision, his head spun, and everything faded.

CHAPTER TEN

When he came to again, it was to the gentle brush of Kaylia’s fingers against his cheek. And he knew it was her as her tender touch eased the worst of his agony.

Even in this place of melancholy, dirt, blood, and excrement, her inherent scent of earth and newly forming leaves pierced through. A rush of emotion flooded him as she brushed back his hair while whispering soothing words.

“Brokk.”

He heard her tears and wanted to tell her not to cry for him. He didn’t regret anything, but the words wouldn’t come. He was too weak to speak.