Page 40 of Kissed By the Sun
I wished desperately that I could follow him, escape this wretched cell and the fate that surely awaited me if I wasn’t able to escape. But as Echo had explained, the tunnels were enchanted, only permitting passage to those of the High Lord's bloodline. If I tried to enter, I would find myself frozen in place, unable to move until the High Lord or Lady came to release me. And the chances of that with the current High Lord were about as likely as the Moon Court accepting my bond with Senara.
With a sigh, I settled myself in the center of the cell, trying to appear as if I hadn't moved. I arranged my hands in my lap, the now-dormant cuffs draped over my wrists. Without the glow of the active runes, I could only hope that the guard wouldn't look too closely and would simply assume I was still bound.
My changed eye was the real risk though. Shaking my hair forward, I tried to obscure it behind a veil of unkempt locks. The dagger Echo had given me was tucked just under my thigh, hidden from view but easily within reach for whatever happened next.
My heart pounded in my ears as I waited, muscles coiled tight with tension. I didn't know what to expect, but I did know one thing - I would do whatever it took to get out of here and find Senara. To keep her safe. No matter the cost.
The footsteps grew louder, closer. I schooled my features into a mask of defeat and despair, the very picture of a broken prisoner. The deception had to be flawless. Everything depended on it.
The cell door clanged open. "Well, well, if it isn't the great fire fae," the guard sneered as he sauntered in. "Not looking so powerful now, are we?"
I kept my eyes closed, head bowed, refusing to acknowledge his taunts. Going so far as to bite my tongue so I didn’t correct him. There were no such thing as fire fae after all. I was a member of the sun court. One of my skills happened to be fire,that was all, though I’d happily demonstrate it for him as soon as he came close enough.
"You should've heard your pretty little fae screaming earlier," he continued, cruel amusement dripping from every word. "Bet you didn't know she could make those kinds of sounds. Music to my ears."
Bile rose in my throat. I clenched my jaw so hard my teeth ached, fighting the urge to lunge at him. Not yet. Not until he was close enough.
"They're having another go at her right now. Thought you might want to watch, see what a real male can do to a female?"
White-hot rage seared through my veins. I pictured Senara, broken and bleeding, violated in the worst ways imaginable. Because of me. Because I hadn't protected her.
The guard took a step closer. Then another. "What's the matter, filth? Nothing to say? No more arrogance or-"
I exploded into motion. In one fluid movement, I yanked the dagger from under my thigh and surged to my feet. The guard's eyes widened in shock, but before he could even cry out, I drove the blade up under his chin with all my strength.
It punctured through his jaw and into his skull, an instant kill. He crumpled to the ground in a boneless heap, dead before he hit the floor.
I stood over his corpse, chest heaving, blood roaring in my ears. One down. But there would be more. Many more.
I didn't care. I would slaughter anyone who dared stand in my way. I had made a promise, not just to Echo, but to myself. To Senara.
And I would keep that promise...or die trying.
Without wasting another moment I was out of the cell and darted through the shadowed corridors, leaving a trail of bodies in my wake. The rage that had ignited in my cell now burned through me like wildfire, consuming any shred of mercy orrestraint. They had brought this upon themselves. Occasionally I questioned one of them to make sure I was going in the right direction but that was it. They all fell to my blade.
At last, I reached the women's wing of the prison. The stench hit me first-a foul miasma of sweat, blood, and despair. Then I saw the cells, the elven women were being held there like little more than cattle waiting for slaughter, and my heart seized in my chest.
I scanned each one looking for Senara, but she was nowhere. She should be here, or at least that’s what the bond was telling me, though it was still somewhat faint. I’d thought that was just because she was injured or something, but now I was thoroughly confused.
“Go and check with the other filth. Fae and demis are below even us criminals,” one of the women near the edge of the cage murmured. She clearly realized that I was fae, not elven, probably the ears that gave it away.
I hoped I would have time to find a key to these cells as well but at that moment I could only focus on one thing.
Senara.
I followed the cryptic directions the woman had given and found another staircase heading down. If I thought the smell had been bad before it had nothing on the stench coming from the room ahead of me.
As soon as I opened the door I understood why.
The room had been converted into a cell, so the bars made up a little entryway that kept the prisoners away from the door itself.
This time the bond was strong and my gaze locked on to her form. She lay crumpled on the filthy floor, her once vibrant hair now matted with grime, her porcelain skin mottled with bruises. Rage and anguish warred within me at the sight of her, so broken and abused.
But she was not alone.
Huddled around her in a protective semicircle were a handful of demihumans - wolf woman, rabbit woman, and something I’d never even thought existed, a spider woman. Their haunted eyes met mine through the bars, filled with defiance and yet pleading all at once.
“We won’t let you take her again,” the wolf woman snarled, her long canine teeth on full display.
