"Where. Are. The. WrydKeys?" Maeve snapped, "If you do not tell me, I will have you whipped worse than you have had before." Aelin looked calm on the outside, but internally, she was completely panicked. Thousands of thoughts raced in her mind at once. Worse than the beach? Will Cairn be using all his aggression he felt from the shattered nose?, Aelin didn't know what to do.
She was obviously not going to sell anyone out. She would NEVER sell anyone out. Aelin remained silent. "Last chance, Heir of Brannon." Maeve drawled. Aelin swallowed, but still said nothing. "Varik, Donsel, hold her arms, keep her in the glass," Maeve instructed.
The two males walked over to her, blank expressions on their faces, and gripped her arms hard enough to bruise. "Cairn, you may begin, unless, she has something to say to me..." Upon hearing Aelin's continued silence, she nodded at the brown-haired male.
Cairn sucked in a breath. And even bracing herself, even clamping down hard, there was nothing to prepare her for the crack, the sting, the pain. She did not cry out, but only hissed through her teeth. A whip wielded by an overseer at Endovier was one thing, one wielded by a full-blooded Fae Male with rage and revenge...
Blood slid down her back, spilt skin screaming. Her legs were on fire too. "Where are the WrydKeys, Aelin?"
She would not. She would never tell that rutting bitch. "Again, Cairn." A breathy laugh, and then it continued.
~
Crack.
Over and over again, the Queen had her whipped. This time it was worse than ever. And the blood. There was so much blood. The coppery scent attacked Fenrys' sensitive nose, and he wished that he could help her. But the invisible chains held strong. Fenrys was just growling, but he was roaring intensely inside. Roaring with unending rage and fury.
"One more time. Where. Are. The. Godsdamned. Wyrd. Keys?"
Maeve was growing more impatient by the second.
Aelin still remained silent, and it drove Maeve into a silent tantrum. "Last whip strike, Cairn. Make it count." She snapped. Fenrys was feeling immense worry. The words rattled around in his brain. Make it count. The sadistic male with the whip surely would.
And all the wrath Cairn felt, was put into that one whip strike.
~
Agony. It was all she felt in that very moment. Pure, undiluted agony. Her screams echoed off of the water and rocks. "Enough, Cairn, I am growing bored of her screams," Maeve muttered. "Varik, Donsel, let her go." and the pressure on her arms vanished.
But as Cairn hauled her up, she struck. Two blows. She plunged a shard of glass into the side of his neck. He staggered back, cursing as blood sprayed. Aelin whirled, glass ripping the soles of her feet apart, and hurled the shard in the other hand.
Right at Maeve.
It struck her in her bare shoulder, making blood spill. Rough hands gripped her, Cairn shouting, raging shrieks of You little bitch, but she didn't hear them. Not as the blood that welled from Maeve's wound dripped onto the throne. Black blood. As dark as night. As dark as the eyes that the queen fixed on her.
Aelin's legs slackened, and she didn't fight the guards that gripped her, to prevent further damage. A blink, and the blood flowed red. Its scent as coppery as her own. A trick of the light. A hallucination, another dream.
Maeve peered at the crimson stain coating her pale fingers. And fury shone on her face as she cried out, "Seize her and bring her to the dungeon enclosure." Cairn couldn't believe what he hearing. "Your Majesty, what abo-" "SILENCE! I said take her to the dungeon!"
Cairn didn't bother arguing further. He dragged Aelin to the wretched iron trunk and tossed her in. He then carried the box to the dungeon cell and hissed, "One day, Aelin Galathynius, you will shatter, and you shall answer Maeve's every command."
The door slammed, trapping Aelin and the portal inside.
