"He refused to let me see you."
The rough voice had me stilling mid-step. My eyes that moved to meet Rowan's as I asked the question widened as my jaw grew slack. Although it sounded coarse and harsh, as though the words had been spoken after his vocal cords had been polished with gritty sandpaper, I still recognized the voice with ease.
"Silas." His name left my lips on a desperate breath as I rushed to turn toward the source of the voice
"Wait, May-"
I dodged Rowan's hand as I rushed into the alcove where I heard it coming from. Inside the small lit space, an iron door was pushed open to reveal the darkness it contained. Only it and the bloodied footprints that were trampled across the ground were visible a few steps inside. I squinted into the darkness as I drew closer, trying to force my eyes to adjust.
The rattle of chains sounded from the nothing. It echoed in my head, sending me to a place I was far too familiar with. Suddenly, I wasn't walking into a dark cell under a castle filled with cruelty and fear, I was stepping foot into the dark and musky basement that housed the boy that I was afraid I would never see again. Alive.
Expect, when my eyes adjusted to take in the form slumped on the ground with his hands held up by his hand by chains, they didn't see deathly pale skin stretched over muscles that struggled to give the bones underneath form. As Rowan stepped in after me, carrying a glowing stone that chased away the darkness, my eyes landed on tanned skin and green eyes framed by dark locks that held a warmth that Ash's icy blue eyes, black hair, and nearly snow-white skin lacked. Though their frames were similar in height, the man before me wasn't emasculated. He looked fit and healthy...
Until you took more than a glance.
"Silas..." This time, when his name left my lips, it was in horror that had me raise a hand to cover my mouth as tears sprung to my eyes.
Suddenly, all I could smell was blood. Blood that was drying on his skin, coating the rags that clung to him, and soaking the dirt floor and brick walls. His blood.
Silas's lips stretched into a grin that reopened his split lip as his eyes trailed up my body to meet mine which were wide in alarm. "How's the Autumn Prince been treating you, little Dryad?"
"Better than most men in my life have." It was sad how true those words rang. But nothing compared to the sight of his bloodied form that had the beating mass in my chest constricting painfully.
Instead of chuckling at the irony of me finding decency in a man holding us captive, his smile began to fade. "Probably better than I did."
"Maybe. But, I do prefer being ignored by you over his constant watch."
That earned me the chuckle I had been hoping for more than expecting. "I had Ma to do that part."
His laughter did nothing to ease the lump stuck in my throat. In fact, the wet cough that it ended in had it growing. It didn't stop as my eyes roamed to take in the skin his torn clothes revealed. He was littered with scars, some old, more new, and too many in the process of forming. I felt an echo of each wound I discovered mirrored on my body as my eyes continued to find more. Split skin was either scabbed over, drying, or still leaking blood. A few healing cuts had re-split. Fresh blood dripped down his chin from his lip.
There weren't nearly as many scars marking his flesh the last time I had gotten a glimpse of it.
I took another step forward, trying to stop myself from acting on the desperate need clawing at me to launch myself at him and never let go. I reigned it in, the sight of his blood helping me. If I didn't, I would only add to the pain he was experiencing and struggling to not show. I wouldn't have a lazy smile on my lips if I was in even half the state he was in. Not unless I had a serious blow to the head.
