Rise of Fire (Reign of Shadows #2)(67)

“So this is the princess.” Cullan’s white teeth flashed in a smile as he dismounted to stand before Luna, where she dangled between two soldiers. “She is the spitting image of her mother, but I’m sure Tebald told you that already. He was rather obsessed with the woman. Pathetic man. Weak, losing his head over any female.” He tapped his temple. “That’s the difference between us. I use my head. That old fool thinks with other parts.” Cullan laughed and the rest of his men joined in.

I struggled against the hands that held me back. In the distance a dweller cried out—not surprisingly, given the noise we were making—but the sound hardly alarmed me. Right now I faced a far greater menace.

“Don’t touch her,” I warned, glaring at my father, staring at green eyes so similar to my own and yet not. These eyes were dead inside. Impossible to breach. They felt nothing for no one.

Cullan laughed. “Speaking of weak men, you, my son, always did pick the worst girls to attach yourself to.” He shook his head with a tsking sound.

His words made me think of Bethan and what he did to her. And that had not been personal to him. That had been about me. Luna was personal to him. She was a threat to everything he held important.

My father continued, “I blame your mother and that nurse of yours. They made you soft.” His voice turned hard and accusing. “Such a disappointment. I should have taken you in hand from the start and made a man of you.”

The dweller that had cried out moments ago called out again. It was close. I scanned the horizon, spotting it, visible now. Its pale body shuffled toward our group. It was only one. It didn’t concern anyone. My father’s men would dispatch it quickly.

Cullan followed my gaze to the lone dweller. A slow smile eased over his features. “Ah. What do we have here? A friend come to join us?”

An icy finger of dread scraped down my spine as my father turned to face the creature. Cullan studied it as it shuffled closer and then looked back to me. He turned his gaze to Luna, arching an eyebrow in consideration.

She hung between two burly soldiers, shaking, her face pale. I wondered what was going through her mind. She’d heard about this man all her life. Cullan had taken everything from her. Her parents. Her home. Her very identity was something she’d had to hide for fear of him.

A soldier started toward the dweller, sword drawn.

“Wait,” my father called, holding up a hand to halt him. “Why don’t we give it what it wants?”

The statement, the casual expression on my father’s face, was so reminiscent of when he had taken Bethan that a black wave of rage swept over me. I swung and struck the guard on my left, catching him by surprise. He fell to the ground.

I turned on the other one, attacking him viciously with an elbow to his nose and a fist to his throat. He went down with a groan. I lunged toward Luna, but didn’t make it two feet before other soldiers were on me, pinning me to the ground.

My father’s voice fell hard with command, fast as an arrow. “The girl,” he snapped. “Take her. Give her to the dweller.”

I watched as they dragged Luna toward the approaching dweller. She struggled, digging in her heels, landing a few blows, but it was useless. They overpowered her.

I screamed, spitting up dirt and saliva. I screamed until I was hoarse, my throat shredded.

I screamed even when I was struck repeatedly in the head and shoulders and cursed to stop. The dweller’s movements became anxious, rapid and jerky as it smelled the humans approaching.

My father’s voice sounded in my ear, breaking through my screams. “What do you think is going to happen? It’s always interesting to guess, isn’t it? Will it stop and eat her right here, right now? Or will it take her below and save her for later?”

I bowed my head, salty tears scalding my throat and rolling down my face. A sob choked me, shaking my shoulders as I gazed up at the man who’d given me life. “Father,” I choked out, addressing him as I had done when I was a child. “Please . . . don’t.”

“Oh.” Cullan squatted before me. “You really care for her?”

I had survived this before, but this time I wouldn’t. I couldn’t. He might as well feed me to that dweller, too.

“Such weakness. How are you my blood?” My father fisted his hand in my hair, yanking hard on the strands, forcing my head back up. “Watch this. You don’t want to miss it.”

The soldiers stopped a yard in front of the creature and tossed Luna to the ground at its feet. In seconds it was on her, its taloned hands wrapping around her.

Her scream shattered the air, shattering me.

Broken, I sobbed, calling her name as the creature turned and headed in the opposite direction, dragging her with it. I watched as together they faded into the darkness. I watched until I could see nothing anymore.





THIRTY-FOUR


Luna


I WAS BELOWGROUND again, trembling in the wet cold. Except this time I wasn’t here to rescue anyone. I was the victim and no one would be rescuing me.

Fear coated my mouth in a wash of copper, and bleakness rolled over me. My muddy hair dangled in my eyes and I swiped at the bothersome strands with my free hand. My other arm was held in a death grip.

It was only Fowler up there, and he couldn’t do anything for me. The sound of his screams and cries echoed inside my skull and the bleakness faded to a hollowness inside my chest. I had never heard him like that. The sound of him hurting . . . hurting for me . . .