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  “For Quesborth, this isn’t good,” I mumbled to myself, and Harvey laughed. He was a weak warlock now, but he was aware of my little secret. Moments later, Baxley stood in front of my cell, smiling. He was damn handsome, but he wore casual clothes today. The other Dark One unlocked my cell door with his magic, and then he was gone. I couldn’t move, my feet were rooted to the spot.

  “It’s time, warden, time for you to tell me all your secrets. Do you want me to go easy on you, or do you want to make this hard? It’s up to you,” he said, tilting his head to the right. I clenched my teeth, trying to breathe in steadily. Fear, deep and penetrating, slipped inside my bones. I couldn’t show him that I was scared.

  “What the hell do you want from me?” I asked, playing dumb. He cocked his head to the left and stared at me with a mixture of admiration and pity.

  “We need your dragon creature. You stole her—the egg, and we all know it. The dragon never belonged to you. Tell me where she is, and I will spare you the torture,” he said, brushing the dust from his sweater. “We will send you straight back to Draconia, without any charges.”

  “So, if I tell you where the dragon is, you’re going to let me go?” I asked, making sure that this was exactly what he meant. He smiled again, then shoved his hands inside his pockets and walked inside my cell. He was lying. It was just a game that he was playing with me. Harvey was listening in, and I suspected he was beginning to understand that I was the reason he had been locked up in the first place.

  “You will be free in Draconia, but you would have to report to the Dark Ones once a week, to make sure you were being a good girl,” he said, still bargaining with me. I wanted to laugh. This deal was complete bullshit, and he and I both knew it. There was no way I could go back to Draconia and live my life like I had before I’d taken the egg. It wasn’t a life, and I would have to go back on the streets.

  “Too bad, because I have no idea where the dragon you’re talking about is. We were separated when we walked through the crack,” I explained. There was that deep gut-wrenching feeling inside me—hope. I had to believe I was going to be all right.

  “I see, so you want to make this difficult for yourself—too bad. I thought you were smart,” Baxley whispered, leaning close to my ear. A cold shiver of fear raced down my spine and, a second later, the other Dark One who I thought had left, barged inside the cell. A black bag was shoved over my head, and then I was dragged out. I tried to fight, using my energy, but my magic wasn’t strong enough. They were mages after all.

  The kicking, the cursing, wasn’t doing me any favours. I couldn’t see where I was going. Someone, probably one of Baxley’s men, kicked me so hard in the shin, that I thought he might have broken my bone. I screamed, so they punched me in the back of my head. Blackness began to obscure my vision, and I crashed on the ground. I heard that voice inside my head, the same one I had been missing for a long time.

  Fran, be strong; they aren’t going to break you. Idris will be with you the entire time, and we are going to be reunited.

  Someone splashed freezing-cold water over my face, and I took a long deep breath, flinching. I looked around, disoriented. The water was dripping down my face as I regained consciousness. My legs and arms were chained to the wall. I tried to pull my hands to relieve the pressure in my wrist, but every movement was restricted. The bright lights were blinding me, but after some time, I saw Baxley standing in front of me. He was alone, and we were in some kind of torture room encased in glass. Idris stood on the other side, staring at me with a stone-cold expression on his face. My heart started pounding loudly in my chest, and blood rushed to my ears. If he was on the other side, that meant he hadn’t figured out how to help me.

  This was it. Crap. Baxley wasn’t joking when he said he was planning to force me to talk. My head hurt; it was a dull, pulsating pain that slowly spread down my whole body. I knew Idris couldn’t do anything right now to help, and if he did, then we were both going to be fucked.

  “It looks like you want to do this the hard way, warden,” Baxley said, walking up to me with his sleeves rolled up. I could literally see the hatred sparking in his eyes. That sick bastard was ready to kill me, and it seemed he was going to enjoy it. Instead, he pulled something from the back of the platform I was chained to, and then a moment later, I was lying flat on some kind of table. My clothes were intact, which meant they hadn’t tried to undress me while I was passed out. This was a positive thing, I guessed.

  I had an odd moment of déjà vu. I sensed that I had been here before, maybe in the past, but the tortures in Dimond city were much less painful. There, they mostly starved me, or forced me into labour work.

  Baxley leaned over me with a smile and sighed.

  “So, tell me where the dragon creature is, the one that hatched out a few weeks ago?” he asked. The silence stretched for a moment while I considered my answer.

  “I told you before, I don’t know. We got separated when we crossed the crack,” I told him. This was technically the truth, because I had no idea where she was right now. I was really worried about her, hoping she ended up with Rhian or at least Nicolas. She wouldn’t be able to survive in London on her own.

  “Who else knows about her? And who has been helping you this entire time?” He continued to question me. Moments later, I felt pain in my right foot, and it quickly escalated everywhere. I refused to scream, refused to show any kind of weakness, but my breathing sped up. This felt like someone was piercing my skin with thousands of small needles. I arched my back, and then screamed as the pain increased with every heartbeat. I couldn’t hold out any longer.

  Everything eased seconds later; a sheen of sweat gathered on my forehead. My chest was rising and falling in rapid movements.

  “Fuck you!” I shouted at Baxley who then came into view once again. This was simple; I concentrated on my magic, the energy inside my core that Avianna had given me. Then his hands were around my neck, squeezing it tightly, and I was losing oxygen quickly. I hated that he was so close to me, that I could smell his disgusting cologne.

  “We will be here as long as it is necessary. Who has been helping you? Was it that other warden who escaped from Dimond city, or another warlock?” He kept asking. He wasn’t strangling me anymore. His hands were gone, or maybe it was only my imagination. Then it felt like he was ripping the rest of my energy away from me. This wasn’t possible because my cells were injected with it the moment I was conceived. Avianna told me my energy was muted, broken, and she fixed me.

  “Give me the name, or your magic will vanish forever. I can make it happen; I’m making this happen right now,” he screamed into my face. It was the worst pain that I could have ever imagined, because I felt my energy, my magic slowly fading away from me. This wasn’t possible. He couldn’t do that, he didn’t have that kind of strength. I roared at the top of my lungs, cursing him off.

  After some time, the pain finally eased off. For a long time, I just laid there, taking long whizzed breaths. My skin was shimmering when I opened my eyes, knowing that this was impossible. The tiny particles of magic were leaving my body. Baxley was removing it from me slowly.

  The pain returned, and he mumbled spells under his breath. More magic was being ripped away from me, and I couldn’t stand it. I cried out, screaming with agony again and again. I pulled my hands, but the metal chains dug into my skin, causing more pain. Idris was there, and he was watching me.

  I needed him and Arianna. My magic was fading, and no one was doing anything to stop it. Every part of my body, every cell felt like it was burning with raw fire. I couldn’t take this anymore. I wanted to die. I needed him to end this, or even Idris. For Quesborth.

  Sometime later, sometime after, it felt like hours, everything eased, but my skin continued to burn, and my whole body was a giant wound. My magic was gone, and I couldn’t feel it anymore. Tears were spilling down my face. There was no way I could stop this, stop the sobbing, and I felt pathetic. Baxley leaned over my face, and then I saw that the lights in the room were flashing, and there was this horrible noise of the alarm going off.

  Idris, where was he? Either way, I couldn’t be broken now, even if the pain was so bad.

  “What the hell is going on? Why is the alarm going off? I was just getting started.” Baxley was saying to someone. When the pain eased, I saw him standing there and staring at me with fire in his eyes.

  “No idea, but she can’t stay here. Maybe there is a possible breach or something,” Idris said with what looked like desperation in his eyes. He couldn’t lose it now; this wasn’t right or fair. We had gone so far together.

  Baxley dragged his hand through his shiny hair, tightening his jaw. The alarm was getting louder and louder; my whole body was shaking. I felt like I had a fever.

  “Fine, I’ll take her back to her cell, and you can check to see what is going on,” Baxley barked.

  “It’s better if—”

  “No, Idris, you have done enough. I need to make sure she will be able to talk. We have wasted too much time as it is. That dragon is mine, and the sooner I get it, the better,” he snarled, then waved his hands, and the chains dropped from my wrists. Seconds later, Baxley was dragging me toward the exit, taking me away from Idris once again.

  Chapter Three

  Pulse

  Baxley threw me back inside the cell, this time without the Dark One’s help. I just laid there, unable to move. My skin and eyes still burned. Everything hurt, and I didn’t feel my magic. I couldn’t get better without it. Was it possible that Baxley truly took it all away? He couldn’t have made me a normal human. He didn’t have that kind of power.

  For a moment, I thought he was gone, and I was all alone, but then he pulled my hair, bringing my face close to his. Pain exploded d
own my spine, and I panted. I wanted him dead.

  “You were lucky this time, but tomorrow morning we will start this all over again. Remember, I own you and your magic,” Baxley whispered, and then he let go of me. He kicked me, once, twice, and then I just lost count of how many times; he had to have shattered my ribs.

  He eventually stopped beating the shit out of me. Sometime later, the door to my cell shut, and everything went quiet. I just laid there on the dirty floor, trying to deal with the agonising pain, and the fact I didn’t have magic to heal myself. My breath was shallow, the alarm was still going off, so I closed my eyes, wanting to pass out.

  I couldn’t move, and every time I tried, it felt like my bones were crushed to pieces. Baxley wasn’t a normal being. He was a demon—worse than a Dark One.

  “I told you it was going to be painful, and now your magic has faded. The Dark One will keep coming back to you until you give him what he wants. It looks like he was after you, not me. Interesting.” The voice was saying. Harvey was here again, but I needed to sleep. I wanted him to place a spell on me, so I couldn’t feel anything. His magic was still working, at least I was hoping this was the case.

  “It doesn’t matter, I didn’t say anything. He doesn’t know what is going on, and he will never find out what’s happened to Avianna,” I told him, dragging myself toward the mattress. This wasn’t going to be easy at all, and I was forcing myself to talk.

  I was taking long pulls of air, then rested, and tried again. It took a really long time for me to get to the mattress. Harvey was still talking, telling me I had to make a decision soon enough. He could go to hell.

  “Fine, I’ll get you out, but let me sleep. This pain is bad, and I can’t take it anymore, please,” I practically yelled at him.

  “Good girl, the sleep might heal you a little, but they will come for you again. The torture won’t stop until the half Dark One gets us out of here. You owe me this, warden girl, and we both know it.” Harvey kept talking. If only he would shut the fuck up.

  My head started spinning away, but I finally began experiencing some warmth. It was all for the better, at least I was drifting away slowly. The pain was still present, a dull ache everywhere, pulsating, and aggravating me until I drifted away to a better world.

  I had no idea how long I slept, but sometime later, a voice stirred me back to the living world. Someone was banging on the bars, and I didn’t want to open my eyes yet. Everything hurt, my entire body felt like I was burning, on fire from the inside out. My skin was raw and hypersensitive. I took several long breaths, as memories started floating inside my head.

  “Hey, little one, how are you feeling?” someone asked; it was a nice voice. Then, the same person touched my face, and I felt better. The Dark Ones were bad, but one of them was healing me.

  Then I realised that it was Idris; his dark eyes were piercing through me, and there was worry in them.

  “What’s going on?” I whispered and attempted to lift myself up, then moaned loudly. The pain was excruciating. My ribs were shattered, and I knew Baxley was going to pay for what he had done to me.

  Harvey could have him, but if I ever had a chance, I was going to deal with him first.

  “I brought you a healing potion, but I can’t stay too long,” Idris said, pressing something to my lips. The potion was warm, and it tasted nasty. Either way, I was no use to him if I couldn’t move, so I drunk it. The liquid was moving down my throat, and after a few seconds, it started giving me much-needed relief. My injuries, and the cuts all over my body were pretty horrendous. I stunk of blood and sweat. I hadn’t bathed or showered since we’d been at Rhian’s place. That felt like it was days ago, not hours. “Good girl, can you sit up now?”

  I wanted to say no, but Idris started to lift me up, and pain soared through me, but I gritted my teeth and just went with it.

  “How long am I going to stay here? Have you figured out what to do?” I asked him, dreaming about a bed and a good meal. These were the things I had taken for granted in the past.

  “Until tonight, and then I’m getting you out. I was there when he was torturing you, when he was taking your magic away. It killed me that I couldn’t help you, but he’s getting suspicious. I think he knows I’ve been lying, and that’s the reason we have to act fast, little one.” His warm fingers caressed my cheek. “Stay focused, and I will get you out.”

  I wanted to tell him so much, but not in front of Harvey. The warlock was listening in, and he already knew enough. Not even a second later, we both heard some noise outside, and Idris got up quickly. He glanced at me, and then he was gone. I couldn’t let him get caught.

  “What are you doing in here? The prisoner isn’t supposed to be disturbed.” Someone had said. It was the same guard who brought me here. The one who dragged me out of the cell.

  “Baxley sent me over to see if she’s going to be ready for the second round of interrogation,” Idris said, but then there were more voices. I sensed maybe one or two more Dark Ones. Their magic shook me to the core, and I wanted to crawl closer to the door. The potion Idris had given me must have healed the broken or bruised ribs, but I was far from being all right.

  “Leave us, Stewart. We need to talk to Idris,” a voice said that I didn’t recognise at all. It wasn’t Baxley, it couldn’t have been Baxley. What the hell was going on out there?

  “What do you want, Samuel?” Idris asked, sounding nervous. They were close, close enough for me to hear them.

  “Your father has been found wandering around the Wasteland. He’s in bad shape,” someone said. There was a long moment of silence; my heart started to beat faster. I didn’t understand why these mages were here, standing outside my cell.

  “That’s too bad, but the question is—why are you here telling me this? I thought the council had other people to deliver messages to Dark Ones.” Idris said. He sounded tense. In a way, he was right. What were council members doing here? In London especially.

  “The Dark Ones are getting nervous. There aren’t enough eggs, and the population of wardens is growing rapidly. The council is passive. We have a proposition for you, Idris, and we hope you will get on board.”

  I wanted to move closer to the door, but I was too afraid that these strangers might sense me, although Baxley had cleared me of all my magic. There was more silence, and the tension was parallel, along with the dread in the pit of my stomach.

  “What is it that you need from me, Willcock?” Idris asked with a deep tone of voice that sent chills down my spine.

  “The elders want to spread Dragon Fever up to the north part of Draconia. Wardens there are already weakened by poverty and other deadly infections, but we need to increase the mortality rate. Your father was asked to take part, but now he is indisposed. The elders want you to take his place. No one needs to know about our plans, but it’s the right course of action. We decided to take matters into our own hands before it’s too late,” the same Dark One explained, and I felt like I was going to throw up.

  He couldn’t be fucking serious. They were willing to infect half of the city because they were scared that there was too many of us? What had this world come to? I couldn’t even believe what I was hearing. Before I stole Avianna, I had no idea what was going on around me, but I had come a long way since then.

  These bastards had been killing us for years. They were in charge, and they were petrified that, at some point, we might stop being passive, and start acting. Well, I wasn’t planning to just stand by and watch when they were going to kill innocent wardens. I couldn’t let them do that. They had no idea Idris was on my side.

  “And why would I agree to something like that?” Idris asked. “It’s barbaric; besides, we are in control of wardens. They won’t be a problem.”

  “It’s a preventable matter. There are more and more cracks in the city. The magic is trying to come back to them, and we aren’t controlling them as well as we did in the past. The elders want to make sure that their population continues to decrease.” The same man continued saying, and I wished I could stab him in the face.