A crash of metal on metal made Seiren jump and snap out of her fatigue-induced daze. The bars threw open and hands shot in, grabbing her by her wrist ties and her hair. She yelped, struggling, and someone struck her across the face. Stars exploded across her eyes.
Hannan guards, drowning in heavy armour, dragged her across the stone floor and threw her into a nearby empty room, lit by candles on the walls. Seiren landed on her shoulder and cried out, pain shooting across the joint and jarring up her neck. She curled in a heal and struggled to right herself. Light footsteps entered the room and the barred doors clanged shut. A tall, slender woman with smooth mahogany skin and huge, light brown eyes smiled at her from across the room. She wore a form-fitting dark blue robe, the long sleeves rolled up to show delicate bangles over her wrists and long, thick, dark brown hair tumbled down her back. A Daemonium member. She was about Maura's age, with similar doll-like features.
Seiren tensed, bending her knees up to scuttle back.
"Aw, don't be scared!" Her voice was light, cheerful. She strode across and knelt before Seiren, brushing her matted and dirty hair out of her eyes. "I'm just here to talk!"
Seiren said nothing, keeping a steady gaze on those glamorous curls and elaborate makeup. Her demeanour and appearance reminded Seiren of someone that sent shivers down her spine.
The woman smiled, revealing even, white teeth.
"My name is Cazadia. What's yours?"
Seiren said nothing.
"You're Karman. You and your pasty white skin and that yellow hair... what are you doing in Hanna? You do realise your ilk aren't welcome on our holy lands?"
She pursed her lips when Seiren continued to ignore her by studying the ground instead.
"I gave you a chance to speak. I don't like making people scream â well, that's a lie. It's fun to make people scream and beg for mercy. But Oerse thinks this is a better way, letting people spill the secrets themselves. Won't work, I keep telling her, but no, Oerse makes the rules." Cazadia snorted, shifting her weight so she sat cross-legged opposite Seiren. "Are you a spy for Karma? Or are you one of those wretched rebellion's foot soldiers?"
Cazadia studied her long fingers and elegant nails before glancing up at Seiren through thick, black lashes.
"Ravin said you're the one who brought the bomb in to attack His Holiness... to try and kill him and for a distraction so that little traitor boy could bring his friends in for a second attempt. But I don't buy it." She propped her head on her hand, elbow resting on her knee, studying Seiren through those sharp eyes. "Who sent you? One of those Karman king's mages? We exchanged mail not that long ago and we were perfectly clear about what would happen if one of you scum dare dirty our lands."
"Cazadia..." A small voice came from the door. Seiren recognised the anxious face of the boy who'd hung upside-down in the dining chamber, now peering through the bars. "Soleus said he'd get to interrogating these two..."
"Shut it, Ravin," Cazadia snapped, snapping round to throw him a look Seiren couldn't see. Ravin flinched, dropping his gaze to the ground. "Soleus will get his turn. He didn't say I couldn't speak to them before he's done with that traitor. Now, piss off."
The boy slunk away. Cazadia turned back to Seiren with a radiant smile.
Karis Bonneville. That was who Cazadia reminded Seiren of. Sadistic, emotionally labile, and deadly dangerous. The woman who was obsessed with comparing herself with Seiren in Kristen's eyes and would have done anything to seek Kristen's favour.
"Bring the cripple," she said suddenly. The sound of metal plates clinking together accompanied the soldier's footsteps marching away and back again. The barred door squeaked open and the other girl sharing Seiren's cell was thrown in, landing with a gasp on her bound hands and knees. "Your little friend can watch," Cazadia added with spite. "I find it's quite the motivation to talk when you hear people's screams."
Seiren locked eyes with the terrified younger girl. Hynn, Kaim had called her. She was so frail and deaf, with a bad leg. There was no way she could survive whatever Cazadia had in mind for them.
Cazadia went to the barred door and returned with a long, thin, yellow stick the length of her leg. Seiren watched her warily as Cazadia circled her, rolling the stick in her hand. Without a word, she swung it at Seiren. The stick whistled through the air and struck her back with a crack. Seiren screamed and arched her body. Agony exploded over her spine, shooting all over her back and knocking her breath away. Tears sprang to her eyes as she gasped.
She tried to swallow any more sounds but the next one caught directly on top of the first one and a scream burst from her throat. The flesh split. Sweat drenched her body. Something sticky and wet oozed out of her burning wounds and soaked the ripped and torn gown Ileida, the kind woman from Leitholm, had given her. Hynn winced and stared with teary eyes. Cazadia's face turned gleefully from Seiren to Hynn and then back again.
"Well?" she said with excitement, like a child waiting for approval for her art sculpture. "Are you going to talk now? Give me some names?"
Squeezing her eyes shut, Seiren tried to suppress the pain spasming across her back and piercing through her body.
"Go to hell," she croaked, eyes opening.
Cazadia appeared not in the least bit disappointed. Spinning her stick, she turned to face Hynn, who shied away from her.
"What about you, cripple?" Cazadia said. Seiren gulped, her body trembling all over. "Will you talk?"
"Like hell, she can tell you anything!" Seiren said loudly. She wasn't a fighter â but Hynn was even less of one. "She's deaâ"
It was subtle, but Seiren caught it. Hynn's eyes widened at her and she shook her head, once.
Seiren swallowed the remainder of her word.
"You should finish that sentence." Cazadia's attention was drawn back to Seiren. "She's what?"
"She's..." Seiren swallowed. Cazadia drew the stick slowly from Seiren's sternum up her neck and paused at the tip of her chin. Seiren shuddered and inhaled. "She's definitely going to tell you to suck it, too!"
She spat on the ground.
Cazadia flushed. Her stick whistled. Seiren turned her head away. Pain erupted across the front of her chest, tearing the fabric of her robe. She screamed. The world spun. She crashed onto the floor and curled into a foetal position as Cazadia rained blow upon blow on her back. Seiren's back numbed before exploding with renewed pain after each lash, which deepened the wounds and flicked blood onto the walls. The air was heavy with the stink of sweat and the metallic scent of her blood, which soaked through her robe and pooled on the floor. She clenched her teeth together so hard she drew blood â or was she just tasting blood in the air? Her back scorched like the fury of a thousand orange runes. It was unbearable, but the blows kept coming.
Just when she lost count, Cazadia stopped.
The room was quiet, punctuated by Seiren's shallow gasps and Cazadia's heavy breaths. The room swam in and out of focus. All Seiren could feel was the fire across her back and the stickiness beneath her body. A steady hum reverberated in her ears. Her body tingled all over as if magic was trying to escape from her wounds.
"Not talking, huh?" Cazadia said, breathless. She turned to Hynn, whose face was shiny with tears. "How about you? Want me to do the same to you?"
Hynn shook her head.
"What's the matter? Can't talk? Cripple and dumb? That traitor sure surrounds himself with the most useless pieces of rot." Cazadia spat on Hynn, laughing when she flinched, before reaching out and pulling her up by the scruff of her robe. "I guess you can't scream, but it won't make the bamboo hurt any less. Shall we give it a try?"
"Cazadia."
Seiren recognised the calm and collected voice. Gulmore, another Daemonium member, whose creature annihilated Kaim's group. Her eyes were too bleary to make out any details beyond a dark blue outline behind the barred doors.
"I remember asking you not to touch our captives."
"I didn't touch them," Cazadia replied snidely, tapping her stick in her palm. "The guards took them here and only the clapper hit them."
"You knew perfectly well what I meant." Gulmore's voice was quiet but the air chilled. Seiren coughed and winced, a spasm of pain shooting like lightning across her back. The agony seeped deep within, aching all the way through her body. "How is Soleus going to get information out of them when they're in that state? One's half-dead and the other is hysterical with fear. They're not here for your enjoyment."
"They're trespassing on holy property," Cazadia snapped. "This is exactly the same punishment you gave to the last group of rebels, Oerse!"
"After we extracted information from them."
"Which is what I'm doing!"
"And what have you gained?"
Cazadia didn't speak. Oerse Gulmore surveyed Seiren and Hynn. Seiren couldn't see her expression.
"Put them back in their cells," Gulmore said at last. "Be careful with the injured one. I don't want her dying before Soleus gets to question her. Cazadia is not to step foot in any part of the prison until I explicitly state otherwise."
"You're not my leader, Oerse," Cazadia snarled. "I contribute every bit as youâ"
"The Delnargin family have a lot of talented summoners, Cazadia. I need not remind you of that. I'm sure your father would not object if I were to suggest one of your siblings or cousins as a better fit and contributor to the Daemonium than you."
"I..." Cazadia stammered. The door squeaked open. With an irritable grunt, Cazadia swept out of the room. Two guards came in and, with surprisingly gentle hands, dragged Seiren back to the cell. Her back screamed with every jostle and she whimpered, unable to swallow the pitiful noises. They pulled in Hynn after her and slammed the door, leaving them in the darkness again.
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