Page 135 of Of Shadows and Blood

Rolan laughs and claps his hands like a child. “Yes! Very astute, as always. When I was approached with this information –” his foot lands on the paper and he twists it further into the wet ground – “you must understand how riveting it was. The power already felt like mine.”

“What information?” Tears prick but I stifle them.

“You’ll get your mind back soon then, trust me, this will be easier. This was a mistake. I told him to find you, take you down and bring you to me. Two long years I have waited to bring you to heel.”

My mind replays every moment since I have awoken. Every interaction with Sawyer, his duplicity, his withdrawn state, Killian’s presence at Orvynn. Tyn tried to warn Sawyer in Veda about this and Sawyer knew his name. The questions raised over everything regarding my ailment could have been answered by him.

And we walked right into Rolan’s castle, into his hands, unaware. Sawyer let us.

I turn and vomit again, slightly coughing from the position I’m forced into.

Rolan leans down next to me again and wipes my mouth with an embroidered handkerchief. “Seeing you like this is hard. Believe me, I take no pleasure from this. If history would have behaved, things would be different, Elivienne. It can all be ours. What was promised and with Father thankfully gone, and you here, I might just get it all.”

Rolan apparates to the entrance and pockets the fabric.

“Do not leave me here!” I scream. “He will find me, Rolan. You know that. Your days are numbered.”

“On the contrary. They will be infinite.” He claps his hands again and disappears.

Chapter 38

Sanity is fleeting but permanence lasts forever. We are permanent here. The Gods are permanent. The vampyr are permanent. This deceit was permanent.

Water drips.

Each droplet takes about three seconds to land on the metal before me, though they’re light enough to cause no harm.

In two weeks, they still haven’t broken my will. Rolan’s forces have worked their way along Duresden’s border with Lux, based on the conversations I’ve overheard from his guards.

In the moments following my torture, I remind myself to stay composed. To stay lucid enough to gather anything that can help me escape or help Cedric if I could just find the bond.

That familiar sensation, the gentle caressing hum has disappeared. Through will and will alone, I spend hours down here focusing on any connection I can conjure.

Nothing.

It’s been nearly three weeks since I left Lux. Three weeks since he told me he loved me. Two weeks since we called for his aid. Two weeks since I saw anyone from my past.

Deep regret rolls through me.

Through the pain, I try to feel for the bond again. Knowing very little about this connection to him has put me at a severe disadvantage. There are many variables that control our powers, even with the powerful Bloodrite. With my lack of feeding, the obvious distance and emotional turmoil, it doesn’t surprise me that I can’t get through.

But still, I try.

The stone slab I am bound to is now soaked from the rain above. I can hear the distant talking of townspeople, their voices tunnel down to me every day. I can’t help but wonder if they’re human or vampyr. Cess? Are they happy? Do they know the horrors beneath them?

Rolan’s cronies lifted the spiked vice a few inches this morning as “an act of kindness from His Majesty”. I spat in their faces before being backhanded and rendered unconscious. From the looks of it, they didn’t actually raise it that much. I earned it, though, and am pretty godsdamned happy about it.

A few coins land on the vice and I can hear the metal shift slightly down. Four hundred and twenty-seven coins have been tossed down since I was brought here. Keeping track seems dark but it gives me a number of how many things I have survived.

Fifty-one beatings, eight blood lettings and six torture sessions with the Carver.

I call him that because he works with knives and only knives. Though, I suspect he is on strict orders to only make marks that can be hidden. Last night he ripped a nail from my pinkie and it has yet to heal.

Well, most of my body isn’t healing.

Rolan has been down here a few times. Sometimes he sits and stares at me. Other times, he strokes my hair, much to my abhorrence. The awkward admiration I saw in him when we visited the first time months ago is still there, but also a tinge of sadness mixed with anger. It’s no secret where that stems from.

“Elivienne, this is avoidable. Don’t you see? Lux is no longer the powerful kingdom it once was.” He smiled, cocking his head to the side.