She snatched my throat with her arm and pressed down, suffocating me. “Nice try,” she whispered, sending chills down my spine. “I gotta hand it to you, frost wolf. You don’t quit. But see, you’re not dealing with those stupid orcs, goblins, and fae. You’re in the house of the dragons, and in here, there is no escape.”
The blade pierced my skin, my body seized with pain. My involuntary muscle spasms made her purr into my ear while her knife ran under my collar bone. I bit down at the bottom of my lip as she continued to carve all the way down my chest. I kept my lips shut and tolerated it, refusing to give her the satisfaction of hearing me scream.
“I like seeing your skin peel back… I can’t get enough of it. I wonder how much skin I can take off and feed to the hounds?”
Holding back was so hard, but I had to persevere. Matissa continued her work like an artist on a canvas, not stopping until my entire body was a maze of wounds and scars. I didn’t beg for mercy, and I didn’t scream. Either way, she relished in her power over me, making me bleed until I fell unconscious.
My body couldn’t take it anymore…
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
From one cell to another. This was the first time I was moved to a new side of town. Matissa was fed up with my resilience and had her henchman carry me out. I was passing in and out, barely there, barely hanging onto a thread, but after the seconds of being carried like a sandbag in a hooded stranger’s arms, I was tossed into my new home. And this time, I had fae for company…
“You now here,” the oaf said in broken articulation as he linked my chain to the wall, making me think that he wasn’t the smartest out of the bunch. When he slammed the bars shut, I cradled myself, trying to give my body some warmth as my guts continued to leak on the cold ground.
I shivered, my body swimming in sweats. My eyes picked up at the dancing torch flames along the walls, and my ears at the distinct sobbing a few cells down from me. This place wasn’t as bad as the first area I was in, I said inwardly, trying to distract my attention from the pain as my body repaired itself. Until I heard shuffling, the guy in the corner moving in close.
I could feel his nosy eyes hovering over me.
Doubting he was food, I didn’t fret. By now, Matissa knew when my body needed to eat. I had a few regens in me before I broke into a primal beast, so this guy must have been my temporary cell mate.
“Hey, are you all right?” the guy said in a slight Exhavian accent, and I curled my body up even tighter. I wasn’t in the mood to talk! Being beaten within an inch of your life does that to you. Unfortunately for me this guy was annoyingly persistent, to the point where he brought his hand on my shoulder as my back faced him. “Hey!”
“Take a hint. Leave me alone.” I hissed, my voice hoarse and barely audible. The guy backed off with his hands raised, surrendering. I could tell he was taken aback by my ferocity, but I didn't care. I had no interest in making friends with anyone in this fleshpit.
“Just trying to make small talk,” he admitted timidly. “It’s the only thing that keeps me from ripping my eyes out.”
The silence that followed was thick, broken only by the occasional maddening scream. I let out a low growl, feeling the hunger gnaw at my insides. But it was a different kind of hunger. I was famished, begging for a hot meal or something sweet and sugary to munch on.
It’d felt like forever since I had real food.
“Hey, you’re bleeding!” the guy shouted, probably realizing the blood pooling from underneath me.
I growled, the guy not taking a hint. “I'm sorry,” he said, his voice trembling. “I didn't mean to upset you. I was just worried. You look like you are in a lot of pain.”
My eyes narrowed at him as I pivoted around and snapped. The man recoiled, stumbling back as I bared my teeth. “Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone?!”
He shrieked, noticing my innards spilling on the ground. I bet it looked like something out of a horror flick, but I didn’t care much for his terrified reactions, until I noticed something strange.
That face on him, I could have sworn I’d seen him before…
And then it clicked. “Redfeur?”
“Oh god!” he begged. “How are you not dead?!” he wailed, and then all of that panicking stopped once he realized I knew his name. “Wait, have we met?”
The same man from the picture Gavori gave Silas—shoulder-length brown hair, square jaw, puppy blue eyes, and an innocent face that made you want to punch him…
Silas called him a pretty boy, I called him dragon food.
He looked like the type of guy who was too nice for his own good.
With a grunt, I staggered to my feet, feeling a wave of dizziness wash over me. I stumbled forward, my legs giving away beneath me and I nearly fell on the ground. I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen and I knew that I was trying too hard too soon. The man reached out to steady me, but I couldn’t keep myself on my feet. He brought me back down again, and as he helped me sit, he realized my abnormal features.
Like my furry ears.
To be honest, I found it funny how that distracted him from my massive wounds. I guess doggo ears beat chords of intestines hanging from my stomach.
“Thanks,” I said, glancing at him from the corner of my eyes. “I’ll be fine.”
“I fail to believe that is an accurate representation of your condition right now.”
“As you can tell, I’m not a normal fae.”
“To be fair, I wasn’t exactly sure what you were. Maybe a hybrid or something. Or maybe…” The look in his eyes when he put two and two together was priceless. “Are you Jezzabell?”
“Just Jezz.”
“The ice wolf.”
“I go by many aliases but, yeah. In the flesh! Although most of it is in a pile on the ground right now,” I said cradling my stomach. “But as you can tell, I am slowly repairing.”
“By the mystical gods…”
I huffed at him. “Please don’t call those councilmen gods. It makes me nauseous.”
He chuckled skittishly. “Pardon me. I am just amazed that I am meeting you in person! While not the best of circumstances, I do appreciate the company!”
“I’m glad you’ve heard so much about me and even then, still consider it to be an honor.”
