Dance of Fate

Chapter Sixty Two

-Hybern-

Pain erupted down my back as a whip cracked. A strangled scream escaped through my lips, my voice sore and broken from screaming. 

I didn't want to know what my back looked like. I had lost count of how many times the whip had crashed against my skin, each time with more force. The spikes along the whip ripped into my skin with each lash, coated in Faebane and ash. 

"Again," the King of Hybern commanded. I listened to the sound of Orion pulling the whip back, clenching my teeth as I braced myself for another strike of agony. 

I looked into Hybern's hateful eyes as Orion whipped at my back again. Forced myself to meet his gaze as I held back another scream, keeping my chin held high. 

The chains wrapped around my wrists clanked as I swayed. But I did not dare fall forward, even though the chains would keep me in place if I did. I would not allow them to break me. Not for a while, at least. 

"Defiant as ever," Hybern said with a smile, eyes shining with rage. I forced myself to grin, to muster up any shred of  irreverence I could.

"And you're as oblivious as ever." I rasped with a laugh. 

Hybern's face faltered, and I braced myself once more. In the same instant, the whip crashed onto my back, and the king's fist crashed into my face.

I swayed, the sound of chains clinking against each other almost as loud as the relentless pounding in my ears. Blood trickled from my mouth and down my chin. I took a breath, taking advantage of the fact that my hair covered my face. And then I whipped my head to the side, facing the king once more. 

I clicked my tongue, tasting iron in my mouth. "You're much weaker than you look." I taunted. 

Before I could so much as blink, a booted foot hit me in the stomach. I was thrown back as far as the chains would allow, until they yanked me forward again. Hybern's hand slapped across my face, and then his other hand was in my hair, pulling my head back. I cried out at the sharp pain as the king brought his mouth to my ear. 

"How long do you think it will be until they come for you?" He whispered. I stilled, fear coursing through me. 

No. They wouldn't come for me. They couldn't be that reckless. 

Hybern chuckled, the sound raking invisible talons down my brutalized back. He yanked my head back again, forcing me to look at him. "Oh, they'll come for you. I can't wait to see the shadowsinger again."

"Fuck you," I snarled. Hybern smiled slowly. 

"I'll make you watch as I kill them. And then, I'll kill you too."

Before I could snap a retort, the whip snapped against my back. I tried and failed to hold back a cry.

"They'll die because of you." 

Horror and dread rippled through me, pain worse than a thousand lashings coursing through me as I realized he was right.

...

-Adriata-

Azriel couldn't think. The only thing he knew was that he had to save her. The only reason he had not yet flown to Hybern was because he knew he couldn't rescue her alone. He would only get them both killed. 

"We have to go after her." Azriel said for the hundredth time. Less than an hour had passed since Asteria had misted the remainder of Hybern's army. Since the building had collapsed atop them, and she had vanished.