Again, the chains were silver. Obviously. They were silver so that I couldn’t get out.
When the first round of torture was done, I was cut free and dropped straight into the fire. The agony that took me then was indescribable. My skin, already blistering, charred and burned in the flames. I leapt out as fast as my weakened muscles would let me.
I was doused by a bucket of… not water, but piss.
I still shudder at the memory.
With that ordeal over, the guards grabbed my arms again and hauled me away. I had not the energy to fight. Even though I was unchained, I was exhausted, so my feet dragged against the floor all the way up to the open-roofed tower cell.
That’s where I lie now. Stinking of piss and trapped on a little island jutting out from the earth.
I have to admit, in my depravity, that this type of torture cell is brilliant. It’s a single round pillar poking out from the ground. It’s surrounded by a moat—a moat filled with molten silver.
The heat that keeps the metal liquefied is immense. I feel it even now. It combines with the waves given off by the silver and coalesces into a double-whammy of agony. Above me, high above me, a long, long vertical slit is cut into the ceiling. When the sun rises in the day…
The rays will shine straight down upon me.
The anticipation of that happening? It’s the worst. Worse than the molten silver, worse than the heat, worse than being doused with that foul, despicable, stinking yellow excreta.
I curl up into myself in the middle of the tiny space I have been allocated. I try not to shake.
James, I think. How far you have fallen.
Chapter Forty-One
RAUL
Mother and I stop outside of the room Victoria is being held in.
She looks at me. “Hold your tongue,” she warns. “I know you’re angry. But you have to let me take care of this.”
Oh, you have no idea how angry I am, I think.
The only reason I left Eleira is because Phillip agreed to watch over her while I joined Mother in this confrontation.
The Queen opens the door. Victoria—short, tanned, blonde—raises her head and blinks at us, almost lazily.
Hatred such as I have never known it rages inside me.
“You.” I snarl. “You nearly killed—”
“Hush.” Mother cuts me off. She places a hand on my arm. “I said I would deal with this. Remember?”
I grunt and grudgingly step back.
“Trouble in the Soren family?” Victoria offers sweetly. “I wonder what ever could be the cause?”
She gives a little smile.
“All right, witch,” Mother says. “Time to test your true loyalty.”
“Oh, how boring,” Victoria sighs. “Is that what you’re here for? I would have thought after all these days of keeping me locked up you would have come with something more… interesting.”
“Close the door,” Mother tells me. I move to comply.
“Now,” she says, seating herself across from Victoria. “I’m going to ask you a question. You’ll give me an answer. If I think you’re lying…” casually, Mother lets a silver whip drop from her sleeve, “…well, we’ll find out just how resilient you are to the effects of the metal once your powers have been stripped away, hmm?”
That’s my cue. I fly across the room and jab a syringe into Victoria’s neck. I press down and deliver the serum before she screams and throws me off.
I push myself upright. Victoria hasn’t moved. Her mouth works, but no words come out. She presses a hand to her neck, takes it away, looks at it, and cries out in shock. “You’ve poisoned me!”
“No, no, no,” Morgan says. I join her across from Victoria. “The effects of the serum are temporary. They will wear off in a matter of hours. But, as I’ve warned you before… I know ways of making them permanent.”
Victoria scowls at us with undisguised hatred. I feel her vampire strength ebb away. Bit by bit, it drains out of her like water from a leaky hose.
Mother adjusts her skirts. “Now we wait,” she informs Victoria, “for you to lose the power you’ve stolen from The Ancient.”
“They were given to me by right!” Victoria hisses. She bares her fangs and suddenly extends her claws.
“Nuh-uh,” Mother warns, all too casually. “Fight us now, and you would not like the outcome. That, I promise you.”
Victoria glares at me, then at the Queen. I feel her sizing us up in her mind.
I also feel her growing weaker and weaker as the serum spreads.
Her body sags with resignation. “Fine,” she says. “Ask me what you want to know.”
“You have a connection with Eleira,” Mother says. “I felt it before, so don’t deny it.”