Chapter 116 Pyre
☽ Bastian ☽
I’d pounded the iron bars of the cell to the point of healing my arms a couple dozen times.
My lips were chapped with thirst, my chest tight with bubbling emotions. Mostly rage.
Weakened from the exertion of escape attempts and mental strain, I sat with my back to the damp stone wall.
Within the few days Nikolai had deposited me here, I was soon defeated.
The worst part, the thing that was meant to motivate and encourage my survival, served to torture me even more.
My mate’s scent.
Maeve.
It was confirmed she was here, probably a couple floors above me. She could be slaving away this instant—and there was nothing I could do.
Only wait. And starve.
The strength to rage and shout had left me.
Something skittered over my feet, the sound echoing in the large space. Even rats were freer than I—the Lycan prince of IronWolf.
Had Nikolai left me here to die?
“I don’t know what she sees in you.”
I jumped, startled.
When I opened my eyes, they took a couple of moments to adjust to the perpetual darkness.
It was him. The leech.
Nikolai.
“Let me out of here,” I grated. My voice sounded weak even to my own ears, roughened from bellowing.
Not once had I heard my mate yell back.
How deep was this dungeon?
“I won’t,” Nikolai replied. “I wish I could.”
My brows tightened with confusion.
But then he added, “I would take you out just to spill your blood over the white of the snow. To end your miserable existence.”
“Do it then. Come in here and settle it.”
The vampire’s red eyes glowed. “She doesn’t want you hurt,” he said with mirth.
“What?”
It was surprising to me that he’d spare my life just because my mate asked him to.
The suspicion in my gut rose once more.
“Where is she?”
“Busy.”
“I need to see her. I can bargain.”
“You have nothing I seek.” Nikolai sounded bored.
“My life. Bring her to me, and you can have my very soul if you please. She’s my mate… I need to see her.”
“No can do.” Surprisingly, he sounded weary. “If she finds out you’re so close, she’ll release you. Dress you up and parade you around court—”
My feverish mind seized on the word. “Court?”
The vampire went silent.
He made it sound like she had power here. But how? Did their relationship really transcend the vampires’ base desire to kill me?
Seeing an opening, I milked it.
“So what is your plan? Keep me here to rot?” I goaded. “She’s smart. She’ll find me one way or the other.”
“So she is,” he mumbled. “So she is.”
I forced my knees to bend off the ground, to carry my weight.
I lurched to the steel bars.
This close, I could see the bastard’s face. We were nose to nose. Gazes locked.
“Let me speak to her. Even if for a minute.”
His lips curled in distaste. “You wouldn’t even want her once you see what she’s become.”
My chest tightened. “What have you done to her?”
“More like done for her. Yet she does not see it. She demands what I cannot deliver. Permission to want you, alongside me.”
What was the madman rambling about?
Maeve wants him?
My heart shrank. No, just the ramblings of a sick man. A dead man obsessed with my mate, keeping her to torture me…
My claws slashed out. Too slow.
The vampire caught it. Then he snapped it right off my shoulder joint.
I didn’t even have the energy to shout.
The sound choked in my throat, burning like coal. The pain in my shoulder rivaled it, blood pouring to the ground in a steady stream.
I staggered back with a grunt.
Weak, demoralized, I was no match for the healthy Crimson bloodsucker.
My jaw gritted.
“Make no mistake,” Nikolai calmly said, “I did not come here to make conversation.”
A loud click echoed in the cell.
The cell door swung open.
Nikolai walked in.
Now was my chance. For my mate. For our future.
With a roar, I unleashed my beast with my last energy reserves. My wolf flickered over my skin, muscles swelling, bones snapping larger.
Fangs dripping, I lunged for the vampire.
He sidestepped, but not before I caught him with my claws.
Fabric and flesh ripped. But before I could snarl with victory, something sank into my chest with a wet slice.
A sword.
Blinded by desperation, I hadn’t noticed the vampire’s dirty weapon—
I grabbed hold of it and bent. The steel broke off in my chest, the other half clenched in my fist.
One swing to his neck and this would be over…
Then I could go get my mate. Leaving the burning ruins of this anthill in our wake.
Her shining platinum hair. Fair smile and fiery manner.
Her scent would wash over me on our flight, my fingers sinking deep into her supple flesh.
I wouldn’t make the same mistake as last time.
Taking her neck in a marking frenzy would be the first order, then I would never let her go.
I would tell her how much I loved her. Always protect her—
Pain seared my feet. With a hiss, I jerked back into consciousness.
Weakness had made me faint during the fight.
“Ahh!”
With a hiss, I looked down.
I was chained to some kind of pyre. Charred high walls surrounded me in a circle.
Nikolai stood off ahead, illuminated by the flames.
The devil was burning me alive.