Blood Lands (Savage Lands #5)(78)

Don’t react. Don’t react.

His demeanor suddenly shifted, yanking himself up to the bars. “I know what is there, Brexley. What you are hiding.” He hissed between his lips. “It will only be a matter of time until I break through the spells and retrieve the nectar. And be sure I will; it will be mine.”

Flinching at his crazed voice, I took in shuddered breaths.

“Thank you for making this so easy. Even if you have been nothing but a thorn in my side, you ended up giving me the best gift ever.”

He cleared his throat, standing up straight and tugging at his jacket, heavy with awards. He twisted his head, flicking it as if calling someone.

Footsteps pinged the metal, my stomach knotting when Boyd stepped behind him. His eyes glinted with revenge and hate, smugness on his lips.

“Make sure the prisoner is ready for the Games tomorrow night,” Istvan spoke in his formal tone.

“What condition does it need to be in, sir?” Boyd stared at me with glee. “I mean, if she steps out of line?”

“She needs to at least be standing and able to put on a good show. I have guests to entertain and persuade tomorrow.”

Boyd’s lips twisted. “Of course.”

Bile flared in the back of my throat. Istvan had left a substantial gray area. Permission to push the boundaries for the guards. Istvan was waiting to punish me, to teach me a brutal lesson for what I did. He used to do that a lot with Caden and me, to the point we caused ourselves more torture waiting for it to happen.

I had no doubt I’d pay for what I did to his lab, for the experiments he lost, and most of all for the disappointment of not giving him the results he wanted. Because of the embarrassment I caused him with the other leaders, he would make me feel every wrong I did to him.

“Same with her fae lover,” Istvan snarled. “He turned out ineffective as well. I care even less about his well-being.”

That meant Caden hadn’t become the legendary warrior Istvan was hoping for.

“Even better, sir.” Boyd’s grin widened.

Istvan dipped his head, signaling an end to their conversation, starting to walk away.

“Oh, and Brexley, your companions with you earlier?” His upper half twisted toward me. “They were severely wounded before they crossed the border. Be assured, they are now dead.”

When Boyd and Markos were out of sight, my vertebrae hit the wall, and I slid down, my head pressing into my knees. The stabbing pain from imagining Zander and Eliza dead was a rope around my heart, but I couldn’t feel more. Death happened so much now it made me numb. Another thing to brush under the rug and deal with later.

There were two things that did have me paralyzed with terror. One, no one was coming for us. Without Tad or Mykel’s help, we had no way out of here. I was never one to believe in fairytales. I never thought someone would come in and save me in the end. Life wasn’t that way. It didn’t care if the bad person won. Though I guess deep down, there was always that part, like a hopeful child listening to her father read stories of good triumphing in the end, you wanted to believe.

The second thing, which was the most devastating, Istvan knew where the nectar was. It was a matter of time before he got his hands on it. Tad and the necromancers were powerful, but I had no doubt Istvan would get his prize. He had no line he wouldn’t cross, no low he wouldn’t go to. And the only thing blocking Istvan’s thousand-man army once he broke through the spells were seven necromancers, a little boy, and an old man.

A shrill alarm rang through the air, triggering my breath to quicken, anxiety kicking in. The cell doors rolled open, the clank juddering through my bones. Climbing to my feet like a conditioned dog, I stepped out onto the walkway, trudging to the restroom with the others in my row. I was two levels above where I had been before, the number of prisoners multiplying daily.

Walking into the bathroom, with the inmates doing their business, I struggled with the feeling like I’d never left to being in denial I was back. Warwick and I knew we might need to get on the inside, but it would have been planned with Tad. This time we were just more inmates in the system, about to be used as animals, pitted against each other to survive. The odds would be stacked highly against us.

“Little lamb?”

My head jolted to the side, my eyes already filling at hearing such a familiar voice. Seeing her signature blue braid trailing over one shoulder, contrasting with the red uniform, I moved without thinking.

“Kek!” My arms flew around her. Kek was always small, but now I could feel her bones. They were starving fae of food and their magic, which might have helped keep their strength up. The more I peered around, the more I noticed how gaunt the inmates were here, no matter what color uniform they wore.

“Hey! No talking or interaction of any kind.” A young soldier I didn’t know barked from his position against the wall.

She squeezed me tight before we both pulled away, her gaze going to my black uniform and back up with wide eyes. “Uniform change?”

I snorted.

“Fuck, little lamb, I didn’t know if you were alive or dead. What happened?” she whispered, jerking her head for me to follow her to the open toilets.

“Long, long story.” And we’re truly fucked. I left the last part out. “What about in here?”

We both sat, looking outward, talking low to each other.