Page 125 of These Fractured Bonds

The doorknob turned, and in walked the subject of both her nightmares and murder fantasies—First General Tuom of the Earth Court. He sported a smug smile, his eyes narrowed in satisfaction. Her heart raced. She had devised a plan, somethingcrazy, but she had been playing it safe for far too long, and there was no more room for sanity—not if she wanted to live.

“Alas, my vermin has returned to me.” Tuom walked past her, chuckling.

His euphoria was out of character. Metal wheels rattled on smooth ground, and her stomach dropped. She didn’t have to see to know it was his special cart filled with all sorts of knives, saws, and whatever else tools suited his fancy.No panicking, she admonished herself.Focus.

“Where’s Bri?” she demanded.

“Take a look,” he replied.

The chair screeched as he swung it around, revealing an unconscious Bri slumped over her knees, the chains on her wrists holding her up. Her knotted hair fell around her face, hiding it from view. Yareli’s heart clenched. She shut her eyes, fighting back the tears that threatened to spill. She swore she would free them both.

“Have you learned your lesson?” Tuom said, leaning close to her ear. “You cannot escape me.” He smacked her lightly as though she were a misbehaving pet. She took a chance on his good mood.

“I know about the enslavement curse,” she said. “Why didn’t you use it? Why attack the Fire Court?”

He undid her physical chains, but kept the chain on her life force activated, forcing her body limp.

“There is no victory sweeter than when hope is crushed.”

“And the coup?”

“All necessary,” he answered, which was more than she had expected.

He lifted her, dumping her onto the freezing metal table. She knew this routine—the leather straps came next, tightened until they dug into her skin. Her wrath was losing the battle againstthe trembling in her limbs, fear leaking through the iron cage she had trapped it in.

“Let Bri go,” she pleaded.

His eyes took on the lunatic gleam of joy as he sliced open Yareli’s jacket, spreading it away from her skin. Her nudity should have embarrassed her, but she had been in this exact scenario many times before, and it no longer fazed her. It was a small mercy that Tuom had no desire for human flesh, but her nudity reminded her of her vulnerability—her weakness. Her utter, damning humanness.

“Let’s start, shall we?” He turned to his tool cart. “Now, which tool shall I use?”

Her chest rose and fell at a quick tempo. She had to do it now, before it was too late. She closed her eyes, falling into her inner realm, where her life force resided. She floated to her magic core, magic flowing out of the crevice in its otherwise solid wall. She drew from it, its power filling her veins, but before she could cast any spell, it stuttered and drifted away from her like mist. Alarm blared through her. Magic was the only upper hand she had, the only card that Tuom didn’t know about, and it wasn’tworking.

Break it.Weni’s voice whispered in her ears.All you have to do is break it.

But she had tried that already with Augrys and failed. The risk was too great.

Don’t do it alone, he had warned her, and the last time she had ignored his advice, it had gone terribly wrong. Her only plan going awry left her paralyzed in the crossroads of decision-making. Her hesitation cost her.

Tuom stabbed her gut, pain exploded, and she screamed.

“Riveting,” he said, his voice loud and excited.

He withdrew the blade only to bring it down once more. The feeling was nauseating, and Yareli held back her bile. The gleam of metal arced through the air over and over. The pain consumedher, drowning her thoughts of escape until she became a singular organism bent on enduring, because shewouldlive; Tuom would not allow her to die, not until he had his fill. It made her sick. Whenever he slowed her bleeding or healed her punctured organs, she’d puke. She’d forgotten. She had forgotten what it meant to be under his control, and although a part of her raged against it, a bigger part of her grieved the violence she was forced to endure at no fault of her own except for being born different than him.

When he forced his way into her mind and looked at her most intimate memories, she broke. She’d been a fool to think she had overcome him when Izmari had been a constant reminder of her “otherness.”

She retreated into the outermost corners of her mind, watching her torture through her eyes like they were a cinema screen. Fleeting thoughts blitz by her—her family, Leo, Bri, Erick, Vanessa, Erbert, Dre, andAugrys. Thinking of him hurt the most because she had failed to listen once more. Because their friendship had suffered blow after blow, and she realized that she had failed to understand him. She had slammed the door in his face and refused to see him.

Tuom said something to her, his words muddled, as if water was in her ears. When she didn’t react, he slapped her. It jolted her from her stupor. She gasped, spitting out blood.

“Did you believe you were safe?” he asked. “Did you believe you could defeat me because you stole an ounce of magic?”

She glared at him but didn’t answer. Heknewabout her magic. Had the curse told him somehow, or was it something else? It was unthinkable, but doubt took root in her brain. Had someonebetrayedher?

“Why me after all this time? Do you hate Augrys that much?” she asked, her voice hoarse. It pained her to speak, but she had to know.

He cracked his knuckles, looking down at her with scorn. “Those fools think you are the key to victory, but I know the truth. You arenothing, and I’ll make sure you return what you stole before I kill you.”