What Lurks Between the Fates (Of Flesh & Bone, #3)(39)

“I am many things, but I am not foolish enough to let you free until you and I come to an understanding,” she said, smiling sadly as she returned to her chair. “Prove yourself to me. Prove that the mate you love so dearly will be enough motivation to keep you contained, and I will allow you to heal yourself. You will no longer suffer in irons, so long as you prove that my threat to him will suffice.”

She clenched her hand into a fist. Caldris groaned in his chair, his head bowing forward. I could feel the way his heart convulsed, feel the slowing of its beat within me. Mine seemed to slow along with it, the echo of his life beating within my chest.

“What do you want?” I asked.

My lungs heaved with relief as she relaxed her hand. Her grip on his heart eased, allowing him to draw in a full breath finally. My own heart paused for a moment before it beat strongly, resuming a normal pace as if it too had been released.

“What is your name, Little Mouse? What am I to call the creature who perplexes us all?” she asked.

Imelda’s words rang in my head, and I knew that she’d known. I didn’t know how much time she’d spent in the Court of Shadows before coming to Nothrek, but she was no stranger to Mab’s ways.

She’d known it would always lead to this.

I gritted my teeth, clenching my eyes closed as I forced myself to remain quiet. I didn’t allow myself to look back at Caldris, not wanting to risk putting the idea into her head that he should suffer for my insolence. He was the one thing she could use to make me cooperate; the only force that would make me behave.

“I thought as much,” Mab said, waving her hand until a web of shadows appeared within it.

They were sharp, spiky things as they writhed upon her hand, looking like the thorny vines of a rose but crafted from the inky black shadows of night itself. They spread, growing until they were too large to be contained by her palm. They climbed down to the ground, creeping along the stone until they wrapped themselves around the base of the chair. I watched in horror as they split into five pieces each, crawling up until they positioned themselves at the tip of each of my fingers.

“I will ask you again. What is your name?”

I sank my teeth into my tongue, the coppery, bitter taste of blood filling my mouth. The pointed ends of the thorns were as sharp as the needles I’d used to repair my own dresses, a weapon in their own right. I let my eyes close once more, not wanting to watch as they moved—not able to stomach seeing them disappear into my flesh.

Mab sighed. “Very well.”

I flinched back as much as I could the moment the tip of the thorns touched my finger, sliding forward painfully slowly. The anticipation of the pain was as much a part of the torture as the pain itself. The thorns moved as if in slow motion as they slid beneath the curve of my nail. They found the tiny space between my nail and my flesh, slipping beneath like a wooden splinter.

A scream tore up my throat as they kept pressing forward, the hot, white pain of it sinking all the way down my nail bed. I sobbed as they withdrew, opening my eyes slowly to stare down at them. They glistened, the black too dark to show the color, but blood trickled down the tips of my fingers as I turned my glare up to Mab once more.

“What. Is. Your. Name?” she asked, gritting her teeth as I glared at her.

I forced myself to lift my head, holding her stare as I kept my lips clamped shut. I would not be my own downfall. I would not give her power over me by offering her my name.

She waved her hand, turning to look at Caldris in frustration. I followed her gaze, finding him shoving to his feet. “That’s enough.”

“Sit down, darling. The fun has only just begun,” she said, smiling broadly as she turned to me.

Caldris fell into his seat, the command she’d issued leaving him no choice but to obey. The vines crept forward once again while I stared at him, sliding into the place beside the last intrusion they’d created. They lit a new path of fire inside of me, and I struggled through the urge to scream as I held his eyes.

His brow furrowed, his nostrils flaring as he tried to fight against Mab’s command. His hand rose to his heart, his talons digging into the fabric of his black tunic and shredding it as if he would tear his heart from his chest. I tore my eyes away, bowing my head forward as the vines slid farther still.

I couldn’t feel how far they went, had no knowledge beyond the pure agony lighting me in two as I screamed at the top of my lungs, giving Mab the satisfaction she wanted as she pulled them back.

My hands trembled. My fingers curled in on themselves as if they could find shelter from the vines that would come back for a third assault if I didn’t give their master what she wanted. I raised my eyes to her once again, my chin bowed as a whimper escaped my throat.

“Give me your name, Little Mouse, and all the pain ends. I will allow you to heal your wounds and put you out of your misery,” she said, her voice almost soft in spite of the fact that she was the one who would cause me pain.

I swallowed, gritting my teeth as I forced my fingers to flatten against the arm of the chair in a moment of defiance. Hiding the tremble in my lip, knowing what pain would follow, I bit out the words that would solidify my place as Mab’s favorite victim.

“Fuck you,” I growled.

The smile fled her face instantly, and her brow furrowed in surprise. She held out her hand, drawing her fingers in slowly, one by one. Her pinky curled in first, the vines that had assaulted my pinky fingers fleeing to return to their maker. Her ring finger came next, then her middle, and so on, until each of the vines returned to her and vanished within her grasp.