Page 34 of By the Flames of Her Fury

“I’ll just have to give you some of my nuts next time, Swift,” she remarked, her voice muffled as she crunched on a peanut.

I shook my head with a smirk. “You’re ridiculous.”

But then a clanging sound came from her cell, and her eye quickly disappeared from the hole.

“Songbird,” I hissed. No reply. Then a different voice echoed off the stone.

“Hello, little bird,” Mortep purred at her. Dismay crashed through me. He hadn’t come to her cell since the breakout attempt. He’d taken me back to his labs several times, but never her. I hoped maybe she’d be spared.

“Mortep,” she said, voice sharp. I pressed my ear to the hole to hear better. “What are you doing here? Where’s my mother? I swear to the Fates, if you hurt her⁠—”

“Me? My dear, I believe it was your mother who mutilated our men,” he said, tutting. “Her actions warranted the ultimate price.”

Songbird choked through her words. “Is she—did he⁠—”

“However, Lord Scarven has pardoned her actions, as a birthday present to you. She has been banished from Drakorum and allowed to keep her life.”

“He did what?” she barked. “Where did she go? I have to see her, please. I have to make sure⁠—”

“You should be thanking Lord Scarven for sparing her,” Mortep said coolly. “Now, no more questions. Come here.”

I looked through the small opening again, but all I could see was the back of her head. There was a scuffle, and then she snarled, “Get away from me!”

“I’m simply unlocking your handcuffs, unless you’d like to keep them on?”

A pause. “Are—are you letting me go?” And then, in a small, hopeful voice, she added, “Can I go with her?”

Mortep chuckled, and my lips curled in disgust. I hated that sound. “Not quite,” he said. Chains rattled when he took her cuffs off. A bright flash of light made me rear back from the hole in surprise.

Then Mortep said, “Good try, but your magic won’t work on me, little bird. I’ve placed a protective charm around myself.”

I shouldn’t have been surprised that the second she got her cuffs off, she attacked him. A smirk crept up my lips. She was such a fighter.

Songbird growled, and I heard feet slapping on stone before—bang. Her body shot back into my line of sight and slouched against the wall with a groan. I wished I could see clearly what was happening. All the sounds with no visuals made the suspense much worse.

Mortep tsked. “That won’t work either. You’re stuck in here, I’m afraid.”

“What do you want?” she asked, more pained this time. “What else can you possibly take from me?”

“I just need to run a little test. Your magic is unprecedented. Lord Scarven and I want to see how strong it’s still measuring after a month in the containment cuffs.”

“Why don’t you take your little charm off, and we can test it right here,” she bit out.

“I admire your spirit,” Mortep crooned. “But this will be unpleasant.”

A sharp crack echoed through the cell, followed by her cry. I jerked away from the wall like I’d been burned, fingers clenched in a ball so tight, my jagged nails cut through skin. There was another crack, and Songbird groaned.

“Three and a half seconds. Very impressive,” Mortep said. “Your healing abilities are quick, but I believe I retrieved enough of a sample. Your blood will be very useful to our analysis.”

He always did this. It was as if he was so fascinated by his own Alchemy and hypotheses that he couldn’t help but share it out loud, talking us through his process like we were nothing but property or an interesting piece of rock he was studying.

“Does that mean it’s over?” she croaked.

“Almost.” The cell bars clanged again, and Mortep said, “Give it to her.”

More wrestling. I switched to press my other eye against the hole. There was a dark outline of three figures on the opposite side of her cell.

“What do you mean?” she asked frantically. “What are you giving me?”