Queen of Fire (A Light-Bringer Prequel)

Fifteen

She ran down the hall and up the stairs to her parents' room. She burst through the door and caught sight of their emaciated corpses. Bile rose in her throat at the sight of all the blood—

Emberly's eyes snapped open and she barely managed to make it to the bucket in the corner in time to vomit.

"Good, you're awake," Miles said from where he leaned against the sandstone wall on the other side of the bars. "Now we can be productive."

Emberly looked over at him. "You're going to torture me now, aren't you?" she asked, her voice raspy.

The grin Miles gave in response made the blood in her veins run cold. His hair was disheveled, there were lilac half-moons under his eyes and he looked up at her from under his eyebrows; he looked insane. "You bet I am."

"What would Marilyn think of you if she were here? What would she think if she was to see what has become of her best friend?" She stood up and slowly walked to the bars. "This isn't the person Marilyn befriended. This is the madman that Her Majesty wants."

Emberly could've sworn she saw the ice in his eyes melt—if only for a second—before it returned. She sank to her knees, feeling dizzy.

"Get her ready," Miles snapped, and two Hunters opened her cell.

The Hunters lifted her up and dragged her out of her cell to the end of the cell block where Miles stood, waiting.

Iron shackles were clamped onto one of her wrists, the chain fastened over an iron bar fixed to the ceiling, before the other end clamped onto her free wrist. Her wrists were in agony as she hung from the ceiling, her toes inches off the floor.

"Let's get to know each other first," Miles said. "What's your name and age?"

"Emberly Feu. I am twenty-years-old."

"Where are you from?"

She hesitated. "Urbs Flumen in Lucis."

"Interesting. Why are you here in Friedens—do you have family here?"

"My family is dead; they have been for the past five years. I ran here because I was afraid that the witch who killed them was going to come for me next if I stayed."

"Enough small talk. Where is she?"

"Who?" she asked dumbly.

"You know who."

She shook her head. "No, I don't."

Emberly felt a sharp jab in her arm and cried out as her arm started to burn.

"I will ask you again—where is she?"

"I don't know who you're talking about!"

There was another jab in her arm, and Emberly screamed in agony.

"Marilyn Pyro! Where is Marilyn Pyro, Gods be damned?"

Blood dripped onto the floor from Emberly's bloody nose as she wailed, "I don't know! I don't know where she is!"

Another jab and Emberly felt blood begin to leak out of her ears. Her body felt like it had been trampled by a dozen horses, submerged in acid and lit on fire.

"Miles, stop, please, make it stop!" she shrieked, thrashing against the chains. "Miles, please, stop! I don't know where Marilyn is, I swear it to the Gods!"

She looked at Miles, her heart sinking. The man she saw in the bazaar was gone; there was only madness.

"Knock her out," Miles ordered. "We execute her tomorrow."

Emberly struggled as the Hunters took one last needle, stuck it into her arm, and Emberly's breath hitched as she struggled to breathe before she eventually lost consciousness.