Page 75 of Renegade Queen
“If we have a chance to get everyone out, then we’re taking it. Whoever is down there could be an ally, and we need to get them the hell out of this place alive,” I pointed out.
“Or they could be a plant,” Dean told me.
He was right; I knew he was. But I’d turned my back on these people before and wasn’t about to do it again.
“Let’s just get this done,” Maddox mumbled, moving between us before we could get into it. I didn’t care, though, because it essentially meant I was getting my way.
Maddox grabbed the handle, bracing one foot against the wall before he glanced across at Dean. With the confirmation from his friend to proceed, Maddox put all his strength into yanking the door free. At the last second, I summoned as much water as I could from the air around us and coated the hinges to try to muffle the sound.
It worked to a degree. If someone was in the cells, they’d probably heard the screech of the hinges breaking free. But there was no getting away from it. We needed to move quickly, in and out, before anyone came to investigate the noise.
Dean and Maddox were already moving, methodically working their way to the first door and then moving on to the next. The corridor was at least abandoned for now, and we all moved as fast as we could. By the time we were halfway down, I could feel the doubt starting to creep in as the guys became more erratic.
These cells weren’t fit to keep animals in, let alone people. The stench that flowed through the small window at the top of each door stole the breath from my lungs and made my eyes water. Water seeped in from the walls, and thick black mould coated the surface. No one would be able to survive a stay in this place. I just hoped we’d reached Damon in time.
“Here.” Maddox’s harsh whisper reached me and snapped me away from my disgust for long enough to take stock of our situation.
There were about five cells left to search, and so far, no one had come to investigate the noise of us breaking through.
“Free him,” I told Dean, not waiting for him to argue. “I’m going to check the last few cells.”
He took one step in my direction like he was about to stop me, but quickly turned and went to help Maddox.
The quicker we did this, the quicker we could get out of this place. And so far, things were actually working in our favour.
The third cell I checked had a shapeless form chained to the wall. I was reaching for the door handle before I realised it hung lifeless, just bones and the remnants of the clothes it had once worn.
Even though the sadness of this person’s fate hit me hard, it also gave me the smallest piece of hope. Could it be a sign that this place was barely used? Maybe someone wouldn’t have heard us forcing our way inside?
Either way, slowing down now wasn’t an option. Not when we were so close to getting out of here.
Turning away from the miserable sight before me, I checked the last remaining cells before returning to the guys.
They were already inside by the time I reached them, working on the locks for the chains that shackled Damon to the rear wall of the cell. This one was different. It wasn’t quite as dank; it looked like it had seen some use recently.
Damon was hunched on the ground, seemingly unseeing of the men around him as he curled in on himself. What had he been through since he’d been brought here? Dressed in fitted black leather trousers and a black tunic, you could see the evidence of his treatment creeping up from the neckline.
The bruising wasn’t significant, but someone had wrapped something around his throat recently.
My gaze travelled over his form as I searched for any other signs that he’d been tortured while he was here, but I had to assume his clothes hid the worst of it.
As the chains fell free, hitting the stone floor, he finally looked up, his piercing blue gaze meeting mine. There was an absence there. It would take a long time before he overcame whatever happened in this place.
“Can you walk?” I asked him.
It was only then that he looked around himself in surprise. Almost like he’d assumed we were nothing but an illusion before.
“Mads?” His voice cracked as he took in the visage of his brother before him. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
His voice had Maddox flying at his brother, wrapping his arms around him in relief.
But Damon sounded so sad, like he’d given up already. And I knew the others had heard it in his voice too.
His arms raised slowly as he wrapped them around Maddox, unbelieving that he was really there. The moment it seemed to register with him though, he clung to him fiercely, burying his face in his neck.
“Oh, I don’t know. I’ve been looking forward to their visit for days now,” Arik’s voice came from behind me.
My heart stopped. Terror flooded my body as I realised it was over. But I wouldn’t let him see the fear in my eyes. This was the man who’d haunted my nightmares since that day. The man who’d spilt so much of my family’s blood that our line was nearly extinct. And he wouldn’t be satisfied until he’d succeeded in his final goal.