Page 87 of Consumed By Fire
No!
My heart sinks, and dread fills me.
27
Octane
“Bring me something to drink.” The general is breathing heavily. I guess beating a person is tiring work.
“Yes, General, Sire.” The guard bows awkwardly and leaves the chamber.
I’m strapped to an iron chair and bleeding from numerous places. A cut on my forehead, my nose, several slashes across my chest, and my right cheek, which is still pouring blood. My face feels bruised. My lip is busted. Three fingers on my right hand are broken.
And yet, I am happy.
Fucking ecstatic!
“Why the stupid grin?” the general demands as he backhands me. My head snaps to the side, and blood sprays from my mouth. It stings, but I laugh anyway.
“Is that all you’ve got?” I spit out more blood, hitting his boots, which makes me laugh harder.
Yep, I’m happy as a clam. If they’re torturing me, it means that Trinity hasn’t said anything of value, which is good. She needs to hang in there. It might take days, even weeks, but after a while, they will have to believe us, at which point they’ll probably put me to death. At least Trinity will be safe. That is my only goal in all of this. I need her to be safe. If she says so much as a word, all bets are off.
Coming back to Mistveil was irresponsible and fucking selfish. I should never have done it. I’m to blame for this. I should never have kept her prisoner. I should have left well alone.
“Why did you come to Mistveil?” the general asks.
“I wanted to see where the tunnel went. It happened to be this island.”
“You’re lying,” he growls. “Haven’t you had enough yet?” He rolls his shoulders. “Surely you want this to end?”
“What do you want me to say?” I shrug.
“I want the truth.”
“No, you want me to say what it is that you want to hear, and you won’t be happy until I do it. You want to hear that we finished digging out the tunnel. That it was the Draig dragons who did it. Is that right?
“Let’s get something straight. I know you’re lying through your teeth. I think that you came to Mistveil to garner information that you plan on using against us. I want to know what your people are planning, Draiger.”
“My people want to keep Draig safe. We want to live in peace. We don’t want to harm the Reds. We don’t want trouble with the Mainland. That’s all we want. It’s simple.”
“Again, you’re lying.” He punches me in the jaw, and my head snaps back, hitting the metal chair I am shackled to.
I move my jaw to check that it isn’t broken. It’s not. The back of my head throbs but I’ll get over it.
“There may be those on Draig who want something else. I can’t speak for them. I can only speak for the majority. We want peace. We crave it, but it isn’t going to happen if males from Mistveil keep coming onto our soil uninvited.”
“Yet, here you are, Draiger. It is you who is on our soil. Something I have pointed out numerous times,” he says, sounding bored.
“I explained why that is, but you won’t believe me,” I say with a hint of frustration in my voice.
He narrows his eyes at me and asks, “And what about all that cash you were carrying? What were your plans?”
I shrug. “I never leave home without it.”
In one swift movement, he draws a bloodied knife from a sheath on his thigh. It stings as the blade slices across my flesh, drawing a thin line of red to add to the others on my chest.
I hiss, gritting my teeth against the pain.