Page 128 of Reaper's Quest

Healed me? How is such a thing possible?

Winter gawked at Raven, even as his thoughts snapped to little Myla. Could Raven truly heal the afflicted?

She stared at their joined hands, showing little reaction to the conversation, but mumbled, “No. He wasn’t like that. He wasn’t like Earl.”

“Ride.” Earl shuffled into the room and pointed to Winter. “Ride. Here.”

Aoes smirked and straightened his back. “Guess your family got the message.”

Winter furrowed his brow at the share of incomplete information.

“I sent word for the healer as soon as Raven showed up with you in tow. No doubt they sent a carriage, or more, to collect you.”

Several heavy footsteps climbed the stairs and moved down the passageway, heading for his location. He glanced from the door to Raven, his chest heaving with a sigh. No doubt, the truth he had kept from her would be exposed in the next couple of minutes.

He squeezed her fingers. “I’m sorry, Raven. This isn’t how I intended you to find out.”

32

Ahard shove at my back sent me stumbling into the prison cell.

Weak with exhaustion and malnutrition, and short of breath, I fell to my knees. Wiped the blood from my nose with the base of my thumb.

I gave no fight to the male at my back because…weak. And the chain remained locked in place around my ankles, the door to my cage sealed, holding me inside the cell…until the next time the bastard wished to experiment or torture.

My situation reminded me of Ubel’s laboratory and the many tests he had performed on hissubjects. The old reaper never spoke of what he did in that room behind closed doors, but I knew. Now I had become one of thosesubjects, only one forced to submit to another playing God.

As if testing my pain limits, the past couple of days had been more torture than anything else. I had a hard timeunderstanding how the things done to me could be used for any larger purpose other than to make me miserable. But the sadist clearly searched for something.

He’d taken and taken. Taken hair and nails and blood. Taken flesh and muscle. Taken every possible bodily fluid. He’d even, through some magical device, taken a sample of my reaper verve. Captured it in a jar so that the power sparked and splintered, looking much like silver lightning trapped in a container.

Bent over my knees on the cold stone floor, with my hands fisted tightly, I studied the veins running the lengths of my arms. Yesterday…or maybe it was the day before that…my veins had run black. Today’s experiments had restored my natural color.

At least, that’s how my fuzzy brain recalled the sequence of events.

The little girl had also seen the color distortion, so…not a figment of my imagination.

A young girl in a place like this.

Who was she, and why had she been standing outside my prison cell in the dark dungeon?

What does he want with you?she had asked, to which I had no answer. And her other comment,The other prisoner never did that.

I wanted to explore that topic further, but my throat and tongue had denied me a voice.

What prisoner? Was that prisoner still around? In need of release, be it from a cage or a tortured life?

The child had quickly dismissed herself after those comments, saying she needed to run beforehearrived, and she also wanted to check onher—whoeverherwas.

The child’s name had not appeared upon my flesh as a soul to be reaped, so I knew not who she was. The same held true of my jailer. I currently lacked knowledge about a lot of things, and that fact made me uncomfortable. I preferred devils and traps of known origin.

My jailer’s retreating footfalls faded down the darkened tunnel, and I inched my body over to the water bowl. I practiced conservation even though the water got refilled during each torture session.

I scooped two sips to my lips, then wet my hands to pat the blood from my face and neck. After one more sip, I lumbered to the wooden platform doubling as my bed. There, I collapsed.

Unmoving, I closed my eyes and willed the silence to devour my pain, turn my body and mind numb.

The soft clunk and shift of the lock broke the silence. How much time had passed? Had they returned for me so soon? The passage of minutes (hours?) hadn’t felt like nearly enough. I hadn’t even begun to recoup.