Page 42 of Dark Night of the Soul

Don’t what? Don’t fight?

It was already too late for that.

I understood the choice in front of me in a single, cold beat.

I closed my eyes and drew in a steady breath.

They would not break me.

Chapter 16 | Kincade

The cell door scraped open. A slash of light pierced the darkness. The thump of feet.

And then she was dumped onto the floor at my boots—boneless, breathless.

They hadn’t brought her to me. They’d thrown her down.

“You have five minutes,” the guard said, then slammed the door.

Anna huddled on the floor wearing nothing but a flimsy hospital gown. Bare legs. Bare feet. A curtain of white hair hiding her face as she braced herself on trembling arms. Her skin pebbled with gooseflesh.

Attuned to her, I heard her ragged breathing.

She was shaking.

And I wanted to murder everyone who’d laid a hand on her.

There wasn’t a damn thing I could do. I was chained to the wall. Arms pulled taut. Muscles straining. Wrists bloody.

“Look at me.” My voice came out rough. Raw.

“No.” Hers, quiet. Defiant.

She didn’t want to lift her head. She didn’t want me to see what they’d done to her.

“Look at me, dammit.”

“I can’t. I won’t.” Her voice warbled.

Because she knew if I saw—

“You were right. About everything.” Her arms shook as she said it. She fought to keep herself upright.

This wasn’t about being right. This was about what they were turning her into.

“What did they do to you?” The words came out a controlled growl.

Her breath hitched. She choked back a sob. Then she lifted her head, letting her hair fall away.

In the faint light, it was unmistakable. Her ruined cheek. Blood caked to her skin. Face streaked with sweat. Eyes shiny with defiance.

Fuck.

They’d beat her.

Because she resisted.

I cataloged the damage without meaning to. The way one eye was already swelling shut. The slight tremor in her hands that had nothing to do with cold. The way she held her jaw too carefully, like any movement sent pain spiking through her skull.