Page 43 of Crimson Shifter

“Which,” she continued, “is going to make this all the much harder. Quite honestly, I never thought you and I would be able to reconnect on common ground, but these last few months you have truly proven yourself to be every inch the daughter your father and I hoped you would be. But you allowed your panther to commit a heinous crime within this household, and the Wrights have demanded retribution.”

Icy terror sluiced through my veins, freezing me from the inside out.

“Oh, darling, don't look so scared. It makes you look weak,” my mother said, flashing me a pitiful look as she snapped her fingers. Joffrey appeared right behind me, throwing a thin chain of iron around my chest and hauling me against him.

I hissed, the sensation of fire and sickness wrapping around my body from the effects of the iron. My fangs punched out, and I reached up to try to rid myself of the wretched material, but her talem held strong. He wore thick black leather gloves, covering his hands and protecting himself as he tightened the chain and dragged me out of my chair.

I fought, my body remembering every single thing Talon had taught me, and I dropped my entire body weight to the floor, slipping out of the chain as I gripped Joffrey’s leg and yanked, sending him flying to the floor.

I tried to use my vampiric speed, but the iron had dulled it—my senses, my body, my muscles. Everything felt sluggish and weak.

“Now who taught you that little trick, darling?” my mother asked with a level of calm that was borderline eerie. She snapped her fingers again, and Joffrey was on me, doubling the chain around my neck and hauling me hard to the ground.

Every second the iron touched my skin, the strength drained out of me. My stomach rolled, threatening to spill everything I’d consumed before. Tears leaked from the corners of my eyes, my heart slowing to a dull thud the longer he held me there. I felt the blackness tickle the edge of my consciousness, the effects almost a welcome retreat from the pain.

My mother bent over me, clucking her tongue at me as she shook her head. “Now, now, darling,” she said. “You will take your punishment with honor, like any Zorin would. Be grateful that I talked the Wrights down from demanding your heart on asilver platter. They were agreeable to you spending an evening in my special little closet I had made for you.”

More tears streamed down my cheeks, and I tried to shake my head but the iron chain around my throat was too tight.

“Mother,” I managed to say. “Please.” I tried to appeal to whatever connection she thought we’d formed in the last three months. “Help me.”

“Help you? What do you think I'm doing? That family wanted to murder you and your panther, but this was the negotiation. Honestly, you act as if I'm about to drive a stake through your heart.” She rolled her eyes and waved at Joffrey. I could barely even kick my legs in an attempt to fight as he dragged me by my neck, that chain searing my skin and melting my flesh through the dining room, down the hallway, right to the double-door closet that in a human estate might be used for linen storage or extra kitchen appliances.

But not here.

Joffrey threw open the doors and mercilessly deposited me inside, leaving the chain around my neck like some macabre necklace. My skin sizzled and seared as it touched the wall, the Night Thistle-laced paint sucking the power right out of me.

“Please,” I said again, but the talem didn't even look at me as he closed and locked the doors.

I managed enough strength to sit up, to rip myself away from the poisonous wall, but being surrounded in it, breathing in the subtle hints of the very thing that could kill me made me feel like death was embracing me in a cruel, cold hug.

I tried to lift my arms to remove the iron chain, but the motion only made me fly backward. My face pressed against the wall, and the smell of my own searing flesh made me vomit up all the blood I’d drank prior.

Every beat of my heart made my body hurt, a searing sort of pain that made my bones feel brittle and my muscles liquid.

I tried to move but couldn't.

I tried to breathe, tried to scream, but couldn't.

Nothing.

I was nothing.

I was nothing more than that little vampire, scared and confused as her mother threw her in this closet over and over again any time she messed up.

I was worthless. Useless to my family. Useless to the king.

Untrustworthy to Talon.

I was worthless.

I was nothing.

I’d failed this mission. Three months and no useful information on the whereabouts of my brother. I had nothing to offer the king, Talon, or myself.

She’d won. Shealwayswon.

The darkness at the edge of my vision increased, vibrating and pulsing until it kicked me between the eyes, sending me spiraling backward into an abyss that had no end.