Chapter 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.

"Try again," he says.

"My answer hasn't changed," I grunt. "You can slice and dice me all you want."

"I see we're going to have to get serious. Call the prince. His services are needed," the general tells the guard who has just entered with a bottle of water that makes my mouth feel dry just looking at it.

The guard hands the bottle to the general. "Yes, Sire." He bows again in the same awkward fashion and leaves.

"The prince won't go easy on you. He'll have you talking in no time. He will saw off your limbs. Peel off your skin. He'll make you beg for mercy…for death."

"He sounds like a great guy," I deadpan.

"My brother has called me a weakling on more than one occasion. You'll find that I went easy on you compared to him. This is your last chance to ‘fess up."

"Brother?" I lift my brows. "That would make you a prince, too."

I suppose it makes sense of all the bowing and them calling him "Sire."

"I ask the questions, Draiger." He returns to his chair. "Not you."

Fair enough.

We wait in silence for a few minutes. The door opens, and I expect to see this "prince" they're talking about. I'm intrigued to see who my tormenter is and what he looks like.

The same guard enters, his eyes cast to the floor. "Sire…I beg your pardon." He lifts his eyes for a second before lowering them. "It worked." He gives the hint of a smile. "The female has agreed to talk if we stop the torture here."

Fuck!

My heart sinks.

Trinity

Tears. I'm sick of them. I can't seem to stop them from falling, no matter how hard I try.

I watch on the large screen as the general continues to beat Octane. I watch when he breaks his fingers…one at a time. The loud cracks reverberate around my cell.

I cry out each time and try to look away. I can't take it anymore. I've never seen anything so cruel.

"Eyes on the screen, Trinity, or the general will break a fourth finger, and it will be on you," the male nearby snarls at me.

I cry harder, but look back at the terrible images, my vision blurred.

"This can all go away if you'd only tell us the truth." The male slaps his hand on the table. "Are you listening?"

I nod once.

"Why did the Draiger come here? Was the money for you?" he snarls.

I don't answer, watching as Octane is asked similar questions over and over again. He is punched and slashed and punched again.

He laughs, though, even though I can see that he is in pain. He is so strong and courageous. He's everything, and they're breaking him. He's a good male, but they are going to kill him. I know it.

It's all my fault.

I cry harder, which pisses me off.

His chest is covered in blood. His lip is split, his one eye is starting to close. His nose looks broken…and I'm the one who is crying.

Enough!

"I can tell that you know this male. That you care about him," he sneers. The black mask is right in my face, his brown eyes staring down at me. "Who is he to you, female? Tell me!"

Octane hisses, drawing my eyes back to the screen in front of me. There is another slice across his chest. It leaks fresh blood.

The general is holding his bloody knife.

The bastard!

"Try again," the general growls the words, throwing them into Octane's face.

"My answer hasn't changed. You can slice and dice me all you want." Octane grins. His teeth are stained red.

I need to do something. I can't sit by and watch this.

"I see we're going to have to get serious. Call the prince. His services are needed," the general tells the guard who has just entered.

"Yes, Sire." He bows and leaves.

"The prince won't go easy on you. He'll have you talking in no time. He will saw off your limbs. Peel back your skin. He'll make you beg for mercy…for death."

The prince.

I've heard all about him. My blood turns to ice.

No! I can't let this go on. I refuse. No more damned tears. I need to help Octane.

"Get the general. I'm ready to talk now, but only if you leave Octane alone. No more torture. I want him to get medical attention, as well as food and water. Then I'll tell you anything you want to know."

"You are doing the right thing, female," the male says; his voice is muffled against the mask.

He leaves the room.

I sit there for an hour…it could be more.

Finally, a guard comes to fetch me.

"I need to use the bathroom," I tell him as he is about to shackle my hands behind my back.

"You can go after you answer our questions," he snaps.

"I hope the general likes the smell of urine, then, because I'm pregnant, and there is a baby leaning against my bladder. I can't hold it."

Asshole.

"Fine," he gripes. "I'll shackle your hands at the front so that you can use them."

"That's really nice of you."

Not!

Asshole!

He closes the shackles as tight as they will go, making me wince yet again, and then I am being escorted back to my cell.

"Make it quick," he growls, locking the cell door and turning away from me. There is a second guard in the cell with me. He leers at me.

I guess he has fewer qualms about watching me pee. I glare at him until he turns around as well with a bored sigh.

There are six guards outside the cell, but none of them pay me any attention.

I do my business as quickly as I can, washing my hands afterward. Then I wash my face. I can do this. I can. I suck in a deep breath and walk back to where the guards are waiting.

"I want to see him," I tell him.

"I'm taking you to the general right now," the guard says.

"No! I want to see the Draiger," I insist.

The guard laughs. "That isn't going to happen, female." He grabs my arm just above the elbow and marches me out into the hallway.

"I have to insist," I tell him. "I'm not saying so much as a word until I see that he is okay. That you have done as I requested."

"I can't. I—"

"Then you can put me back in my cell." I turn my head away, looking into the drab area in question.

The guard sighs. "You're full of shit," he says. He pulls a cellphone from his pocket and swipes at the screen. "Yes, Sire. Apologies for disturbing you."

Someone yells on the other end of the phone, but I don't pay attention to what they are saying. I can guess well enough.

"The female is insisting on seeing the Draiger." The guard glares at me.

There's more shouting.

"It's to ensure that her demands are being met. She says she won't talk otherwise." He gives me a look that is dripping with annoyance. I couldn't care less.

"Yes, Sire." There's more talking on the other end. "Yes, I understand." He swipes the screen and pockets the phone. "This way," he mutters to me.

They lead me down a hallway. There are more cells on one side and doors on the other. We turn right and then left.

"Octane!" I yell when I see him. He's sitting in a cell, on the floor, with his back to the wall. He is in plain black pants and a black shirt.

He jumps up as soon as he sees me, moving to clasp the bars of the cell with both his hands. "Don't say anything. Don't do it."

"Be quiet, Draiger!" one of the guards says.

"I can't watch them hurting you," I tell him.

"I can take it. Please, listen to me—" His eyes are filled with anguish, and his voice with urgency.

"Shut up!" the guard snarls. He grabs my arm and starts pulling me away. "You've seen that he's fine."

He is clean and in fresh clothes. His wounds have been tended to. I see a tray of food on the floor and an empty bottle of water.

They have honored their part of the deal.

"I can take the pain!" Octane shouts. "My limbs will grow back. My skin, too. My bones will knit. Don't do it!"

"I'm sorry," I call over my shoulder.

"Don't do it!" he yells again, then I hear him growl like a caged lion. I suspect that someone has done something to keep him quiet.

"No!" I yell. "Don't hurt him, or I won't say a goddamned word, you bastards!"

"This way, female," the general says as he steps out of a room, his hand still on the door handle. "Your Draig friend is fine. I merely administered an electric shock to his bars when he wouldn't stop yelling like that. It just won't do." He shakes his head.

The general removes his mask. He straightens his hair. It's golden blond. His eyes are a bright blue. I have seen him before numerous times.

"Sire." I incline my head, but that's all. I refuse to bow to the asshole.

"‘General will do just fine. I am not working in my capacity as Crown Prince right this minute."

"Very well, General."

"Will you take a seat, Trinity?" He gestures to a chair. I look around the room, which is devoid of any comforts. There's a chair on one side. A table and two more chairs on the other, with a big mirror on one of the walls.

I do as instructed.

"Are you ready to talk?" he asks me. "To tell me everything…and I mean everything?"

"Only if you promise not to hurt Octane. No more torture." I shake my head.

"No more torture as long as you keep your end of the bargain." He scratches his clean-shaven chin.

"And my baby is not to be harmed, either," I add.

"We're not in the business of harming children, even those still in utero." He wrinkles his nose in distaste.

"Okay, then. I'm ready to talk." I pray that I am making the right decision. I can't see another way forward. I only hope that Octane can forgive me. I hope that he knows I'm doing this to help him.