Sebastian (Bowen Boys, #5)(53)
“You say so? I hadn’t realized that I’d given you that authority.” He moved from the wall and walked toward the cat. “Not that it matters, but he’s been given permission to leave here. It was the only way I could save my son.”
Son? She stood there thinking about what that meant. If Wanera was his son, that meant she’d tried to kill…. “I had no idea. Master, you must forgive me in…”
“Take her.” The cat lunged and she felt his claws rake across her face as soon as Master spoke. Even as her sight was blurred from her eye being torn from her, she could feel him tearing at her soft belly and her arms. Pain poured over her. She screamed over and over until she could no longer do so with the fangs tearing at her throat. Her body was torn up, shredded from claws and teeth, but still he attacked. When she heard the softly spoken, “Stop,” she nearly wept, would have if she could have remembered how to do it from the pain pounding in her mind.
She must have blurred out, because as she opened her eye her name was being said. Master was standing over her, as was the panther. He was covered in her blood…it dripped from his mouth and fur. And when he snarled at her, she could see it on his teeth—they were stained with it.
“Darkness, look at me.” She tried to turn to do as Master commanded, but she couldn’t. “You should see what he’s done. I do believe you’ve really made an enemy of him. Oh, and by the way, I lied to you. You understand that concept, don’t you? It’s where you don’t tell the truth.”
“Please,” she begged him. She wanted it done, wanted this over with. Master shook his head at her and smiled. It didn’t reach his eyes and she shivered, her body aching from the action.
“My new friend here is not the one you harmed, but his brother. He is here on behalf of Wanera and his family. Have you ever known a panther male with such control? I would have killed you outright, but he has decided to give that pleasure to me.” He chuckled at her. “Not that I plan to kill you, but you’ll understand shortly.”
Power surged through her, and she could feel her body responding to it. The master was healing her, and she knew that while it would feel much better, she wasn’t going to enjoy what came next. He handed her a mirror as he sat her up, and she held it before her face as he instructed her to.
“As you can see, I won’t make you whole, but I will give you life.” Her face was ravaged. Long streaks of scars, still wide open, marred her face worse than the one he’d given her. Her left eye was gone, and in its place an empty socket that seemed to be as dark as her name. Looking down at her throat, it was the same: long teeth marks now pink with healing, but no less ugly. The rest of her body was as bad. Her belly was scarred deeply. Long gaps of skin seemed to have healed over each other, and she had thick places that seemed like furrows in a garden. Her left leg had healed but at an odd angle, and she knew when she walked it would make her gait sloppy and give her the appearance of a drunkard swagger. She looked up at her master.
“I beg of you to kill me.” He shook his head and stood up. “Please, I beg of you. I don’t wish for others to see me this way.”
“I’m sorry, did I give you the impression that I give a shit what you want? I do sincerely hope not.” He lifted her up, and she staggered slightly. She thought that he’d help her, but he took a step back and glared at her. “You’ll not touch me, you hideous creature.”
She looked for the male cat, wondering if she attacked him again if he’d finish the job, but he was gone. Darkness looked at the Master as he moved to the wall again. She knew that this was where she’d find out her sentence.
“You’ll spend all of eternity serving the men and women who work the pits. You’ll give them new equipment when needed, and you’ll be their entertainment as well as an example of what happens when I’m pissed off.” She shook her head and started to beg, but realized that she could no longer speak. “The only words that will ever spill from your lips again will be ‘yes, Master,’ ‘no Master,’ and ‘thank you, Master.’ You’ll never lie to anyone again. I give you leave to say one thing, the last thing you’ll ever say.”
She thought about what she’d done and what she now had to endure for more years, she had no doubt, than she’d been living. And she was nearing her third millennium. Darkness also knew that begging wouldn’t help her. If anything it would piss him off more. She lowered her head and decided that begging might be her only recourse.
“Will I ever be able to redeem myself?” She felt the floor shift, and her body was suddenly thrown forward. Before she could catch herself, she was falling. When she landed, she knew where she was. She knew that she was never getting out of there, no matter how long she served him. The voice that thundered through her mind made her fall again, and she lay there for several minutes as the heat from the pits singed her skin.
He’d told her no. He’d said simply “No” as he’d thrown her away to the fiery pits that served him. Standing up, she noticed that her clothing had changed, too. She was no longer in the sexy little dress and heels she’d put on before leaving the underworld, but a shirt that was cropped at her waist to show her scars, shorts that showed her legs, and no shoes. Darkness turned to look at the fires before her and thought about throwing herself into them as so many had before.