Other than an awkward sit-up, I didn’t manage a whole lot of movement. My muscles were toast. Completely useless pieces of shit that couldn’t carry my weight. I dropped my head back on the pillow, with that wet towel now underneath my head.

“Regar?” I asked back. He didn’t sound like himself. All the laughter and joy were drawn out of his voice, leaving behind an echo of who he was. My own voice didn’t sound much better now coming out in a raw croak.

“Yeah,” he replied hoarsely. “You okay, man?”

“Been better,” I murmured back. “How long was I out?”

“Hard to tell. At least a few hours. Hiko brought cold water when you started burning up.”

That explained the towel under my head. I rolled my head and was surprised to see him on a similar bed, but in another cell. He’d have to push his hands through the bars to get that fabric on my forehead, all the while pressed against the iron that worked to weaken him the moment he touched it.

I have no clue how often he had replaced the cooling towel over my head, but being regularly exposed to the bars was not good for either of us.

If we were to rescue Isay, we needed our strength.

Not all metal hurt us, and not even all iron. We’d learned to work it into a safer and less reactive substance. The cells, however, had not gone through any treatment. The bars were meant to keep us in.

I searched the dungeon for Hiko but didn’t see him. “Where’s he now?” I asked.

“Fuck if I know. He was livid and wouldn’t tell me a thing. He comes and goes regularly, though. Brooding and avoiding all conversation.”

“What about Isay?” I’d tried to connect to her but could only catch flashes of what was done to her.

I had no idea how to work the bond to my advantage. I’d done everything I could, but she was impossible to find, or maybe our bond wasn’t fully matured yet. Likely the latter.

He sighed, “You have more deets on her than any of us put together. Except for Ferro, perhaps.”

I cursed. “Let me get this straight. We’ve been rotting here for hours, and nobody has done shit to find out where my mate is?”

“Sounds ‘bout right.”

Frustration made my blood boil in a completely different way than it had before. I was able to push myself to a sitting position, my back against a stone wall and slumped while my muscles continued their throbbing. Whatever damage I’d taken was drawing on my ecos to fix the ache faster, but I wasn’t physically hurt.

The ecos streamed through my body, searching for wounds to heal without finding any. With so many disturbing sensations all at once, I felt like I was going to puke.

“We need to get her out.” I meant to have more force behind my words, but it came out as a plea. “She won’t last if they’ll keep this up.”

“What did they do to her?” Regar asked just as defeatedly.

Closing my eyes, I tried to not think about it. “What didn’t they do? I know that they never fed on any of the anguish they created. Although, they never made it stop.”

“But that defeats the whole point of torture,” Regar’s response was instantaneous, filled with disbelief.

“Yeah.”

Okay. I thought I’d be angrier at the situation. My inner turmoil did push me to be fucking furious, but I had no energy left to express it.

While I was boiling up, I was also incredibly defeated. I wanted to scream and shout. Hit something, better yet somebody, preferably Ferro. Or the king. Although, the latter wouldn’t work out to my advantage.

All I could do was pull the still-wet towel, now from under my ass, and throw it at Regar through the bars.

He didn’t see it coming and yelped. “Hey, watch it.”

It was slightly funny, but I didn’t manage to express the amusement either. Perhaps what they said about a fae without their mate was all true. They were just a shell of their former self.

“I didn’t know it could feel like this,” I mumbled, while Regar discarded the towel with a wet slop. “Losing a mate.”

“Ah, so you’ve stopped dismissing the fact?”

I shrugged. I’d felt her, clear as day. Not only a sense of something terrible, but all of her. Not only her fear, but all of her. All of her. All of her. “She’s not going to be pleased when she finds out.”

He shook his head with a tut. “You’re likely wrong about that.”

“Why’d you say that?” I stared at Regar. He’d gotten a decent night's sleep while I’d stayed awake for Isay, and he hadn’t gone through the second-hand torture yet still he looked as exhausted as I felt.

“A mate bond is never born from only one-sided affection. A bond as strong as yours? Definitely requires deep emotions, especially since your bond was formed within weeks. Some fae work for years to build their mate bond into what you’ve presented. It is uncommon at best.”

“You’re saying she loves me too?” My poor heart started racing despite itself.

It wasn’t up to Regar to declare what Isay might or might not feel for me. I was in no position to worry about something as insignificant as her emotions toward me while it was still unclear if I’d be seeing her again.

“She didn’t say it back, if you were wondering,” I muttered sullenly.

Regar barked a laugh. “I didn’t take you for someone who needed vocal confirmation. Never looked for it with Sela.”

“Sela didn’t mean anything to me.” I shook my head. The rough stone behind my head rubbed against a bump at the back that sparked a jolt of pain. When did I hit my head? “Did you carry me here?”

“Teleportation is still only a fantasy. Yeah, we carried you. Why? Are you trying to change the topic?”

“I could do without the headache.”

He knew what I was talking about as his lips tugged upwards slightly. “You are fucking heavy, Kar.”

“You dropped me!” My mouth fell open, aghast.

“Just once. In our defence, you were thrashing like a coke addict.”

I rolled my eyes. “Decent excuse.”

“Yeah?”

“Fuck off.”

I closed my eyes to not see the depressing sight of the prison around us. Isay’s gentle face teased my mind. The way her hair spread around on the pillow, her lips parted and that delicious blush on her cheeks.

I preferred that image to the one I’d gotten during her torture session. Not that I’d seen her, more like experienced it through her. None of it was pretty.

“Regar?”