Chapter 33

33

When she became conscious, the first thing Arya noticed was the unnatural silence. Then there was the air. It was too still, too…wrong.

There were bindings on her wrists, stretching her arms out and up. There were more fastenings around her ankles, pulling her legs out and down. There was no room to wiggle, no space to move. Someone had extended her limbs to the point of pain. Her head hung forward, causing an awful crimp in her neck.

She fought against the rising panic. Her heart beat wildly, blood rushing like ice in her veins. She kept her breathing even and remained listless, even when her body and mind demanded the opposite. That was when she became aware of being watched. She could feel their gaze. Maybe it was more than one. She couldn’t be sure, and until she knew more, she needed to keep her eyes closed. More than anything, she had to remain calm.

Dain’s words from her early training days filled her mind.

“ Every agent needs to expect to be taken prisoner at least once. Your survival depends on how you handle the situation.”

Like all trainees, she stated that she never intended to get caught.

Dain hadn’t laughed. He hadn’t berated her. Instead , he waited nearly four months during a training exercise to show her how wrong she was when he and other CCD agents took her prisoner. It had all happened so quickly she hadn’t had time to react. They released her immediately, but Dain had made his point. And it had been a life lesson—one that kept her alive. She had been in some tight spots, but nothing like this.

Was Jai nearby? Had he been caught, too?

More importantly, how had she been captured?

She remembered gathering the shadows around her after the kitchen incident. She remembered Jai being against her, his arm holding her tight. What she didn’t recall was getting back to the others. That meant she was either missing time or something had gone horribly wrong.

Arya hung outstretched with aching limbs and counted out five minutes, ten, then thirty. When she reached an hour without any sound or movement, she cracked open one eye a slit. There was a light focused on her. She couldn’t tell what direction it came from. She caught sight of the bindings holding her ankles. They looked to be a ropy texture, but it didn’t look like any rope she had seen before.

She extended her gaze past her legs but couldn’t see through the darkness. It sent a chill of foreboding through her. Even without seeing the rest of the room, she knew she was in a world of shite. Her only hope was that Jai hadn’t been captured. He and the others would find a way to save her.

Moving as slowly and carefully as possible, Arya began to turn her wrist. She had just started the movement when dozens of barbs sank deep into her skin through her shirt. It was all she could do to hold back the gasp of pain. Blood ran down her arm, soaking into her shirt and pooling at her neck before running down her chest. The spikes didn’t retract. If movement caused that, then she wouldn’t be shifting again. Which would make escape challenging.

Finally , she slit open her second eye, but it was more of the same. Arya had two choices. She could remain as she was, or she could let her captors know she was awake. She opted for the latter because she was tired of others getting the jump on her. She wanted to know who she was up against and just how dire the situation was.

She opened her eyes fully and slowly scanned the area around her legs. Never in her life had she been afraid of the dark, but she was now. The blackness consumed any light as if it were a being devouring it. And waiting for a taste of her.

Arya got a better look at her bindings. They stretched from her ankles deep into the obscurity. How far down was anyone’s guess.

When she lifted her head, her neck protested loudly. She ignored the sharp pain running along her shoulders and down her spine. More darkness awaited. And more silence. She dropped her head back to get a look above her and found more of the same darkness. The room felt huge—as if hundreds of feet surrounded her. She saw no walls, no floor, and no ceiling. Nor could she determine where the light focused on her originated from. Maybe if she could, she would be able to locate whoever scrutinized her.

Her magic hummed within her. She focused on the ropes at her ankles and then sent out a small blast.

Nothing happened. Her magic was there. She felt it. Why , then, wouldn’t it respond?

She looked at the bindings on her wrists. It could be that or even the room. She hadn’t been able to sense her magic when she wore the gold necklace. Whatever this was, it was something completely different.

When it came, the voice was distorted, purposefully hiding whether it was male or female. “ You are not what we expected.”

We . So , more than one person was watching her. “ You aren’t the first to say that.”

“ Did you really think you could enter our domain and not get caught?”

Arya peered above her to stretch her aching neck and look closer at the bindings. She swallowed hard when she saw that the spikes that’d sunk into her left wrist didn’t look as if they would be removed easily. “ What can I say? I’m always up for a challenge.”

“ You think this is some kind of joke?”

“ Far from it.” She had to think fast. If they’d caught her, there was a good chance they had caught Jai and possibly the others. She had to assume they knew who she was. She could use that to her advantage. Her only objective was to free herself.

In any way possible.

“ Where are the others you came with?”

Arya scanned the area again, looking for Jai . They hadn’t mentioned him, but that could be a tactic on their part. Or they might not know. She wouldn’t be a good agent if she didn’t consider that Jai might have betrayed them, but she quickly dismissed the thought. She trusted him.

She could almost hear Dain’s snort of derision, as clearly as if he were standing beside her. Arya knew he would think her foolish for believing in Jai , but she did. And she was staking her life on it. If she was wrong, she would pay. But she wasn’t wrong.

Arya drew in a long breath and then released it. “ I can’t help you.”

“ Can’t or won’t?”

“ Why the secrecy? Why hide from me? You caught me. It isn’t as if I can get away.”

There was a long stretch of silence. “ Tell us where the rest of your companions are.”

“ As I said, I can’t help you. Who are you?”

“ We will find them.”

They were getting nowhere fast. Arya could gamble that Dain knew she was missing and would move the group, as was his procedure in such instances, and give the faceless elves what they wanted.

But Dain might not know, and she could lead the enemy straight to her friends.

There was another way out of her situation. It was tricky, though. She had tried to use it once before, and it had backfired badly. Her life and those of her friends hadn’t been at stake then. She could remain as she was and wait for a slow, painful death because she knew it was coming.

Or she could take a chance.

“ You’re asking the wrong questions,” Arya stated.

“ Excuse me?” the voice demanded in a haughty tone similar to what her mother used on occasion.

Could it be that Arya knew this elf? Is that why they’d disguised their voice? She drew in a breath and focused on getting free to find Jai and the others. “ You should be asking why I’m here.”

“ We know why you’re here.”

She laughed. “ Nay , you don’t. I’ve been waiting for one of you to notice me. It’s taken you long enough. Though I’d hoped our first meeting would be more…civilized,” she said and looked at the bindings on her wrists again.

The silence was deafening.

But Arya wasn’t bothered. Because in that second, an idea took root, one that no one would see coming. She mentally rubbed her hands together. “ Ask Priya . We’ve been talking about my joining for some time. It was her idea for me to be a double agent. She told me I needed to get your attention. What better way than to continue working with the CCD and feed her intel.”

“ Priya ?”

Arya bit back a smile and set the hook. “ Priya thought bringing me in would be a big triumph for her. You know who I am. Once I join your ranks, it won’t take much to turn my parents and get them to join. Ask Priya . She’ll tell you everything.”

“ That isn’t possible,” the disembodied voice said hesitantly.

Arya twisted her lips, continuing her role. “ I’m not supposed to tell you, but since I’m hanging in this place, and she can’t vouch for me, you should know that she lost the slaves. I wasn’t around to help her recapture them as they fled.”

“ She informed us that she had captured you to be sold. Because of our bounty.”

“ Hard to apprehend me when I walked freely onto the boat.” Lying had always come easily to Arya . Maybe too easily. Though it came in handy at times. Like now.

“ You expect us to believe that?”

Arya stopped herself from shrugging just in time. She didn’t want any more barbs in her arm. “ I’ve been looking for her since I got to the fort, but she wasn’t at the meeting location. Again , I think it might have something to do with losing the slaves as well as killing Jai .”

“ Killing Jai ?”

There was no denying the shock she heard from the disembodied voice. “ I really wasn’t supposed to tell you that.”

“ Explain ,” the voice demanded crisply.

Arya didn’t stop herself from moving in time and couldn’t help the spasm of agony from showing as the spikes went into her right wrist and the top of her hand. Blood flowed freely and easily. How many of those things had penetrated her skin? “ Perhaps it would be better for Priya to do that.”

She might be trying to sell it a bit too hard, but the pain made thinking difficult.

“ Priya isn’t here. You are. Explain .”

There was no getting around it. She had gotten their attention. Now , she needed to win them over and influence them so they believed she wished to work for them. “ Priya and Jai had a bit of a falling out. When he wouldn’t become her lover, she…well, she became jealous and turned the crew against him.”

Arya waited for the voice’s owner to speak again, but they remained silent. Had she overdone it? Did they find Priya , and were they hearing her side of the story even now? There were two facts Priya couldn’t talk her way around. She had lost the slaves, and Jai wasn’t here. Both could aid Arya in proving she told the truth.

She wondered what Dain would do. It seemed her mentor always had a way out of everything. Even when things looked grim, he was clearheaded. But he wasn’t here. She was on her own with no idea how the others fared. She wished she knew how she had gotten there and if Jai was all right. She wasn’t too worried about Dain , Yasmin , or Ravi . The three of them were more than competent enough to get out if they had to.

But would they? She wouldn’t if she were in their position. They were closer than ever to taking down the slave trade—or at least a big part of it. No one else had gotten this far. But getting close and actually being triumphant were two different things.

Arya’s limbs were suddenly pulled in all directions. There was a loud snap as one of her shoulders popped out of its socket. The skin at her hips stretched painfully. She clenched her teeth instead of crying out. The barbs in her wrists dug in deeper and twisted over her skin. More sank into her ankles through her boots.

Her long shot had failed. Again . The other arm slipped out of the joint with a loud pop. Arya couldn’t hold back the cry of pain. She had never imagined she would die by being pulled apart. She thought of her parents.

She should’ve seen them and let them know she was all right. Instead , she had rushed off after Jai and Reva , telling herself she would see her parents soon. She had known it for the lie it was. The kidnapping had clarified the dangers of her position. The guilt of not divulging her career choice weighed heavily until she got free. Then , all thoughts of reassuring her mum and dad that she was alive and safe were forgotten, disregarded as if their feelings didn’t matter.

Arya wasn’t just an insensitive daughter, she was thoughtless and unkind. Her parents were worried sick. It would have taken but a few moments to write them a note and have it delivered. Maybe they were part of the problems with Shaldorn . Maybe they weren’t. Now , she would never know.

There wouldn’t be any more arguments about her settling down and marrying, no big row about her career choice and keeping it a secret. No nagging about moving to a safer neighborhood or at least one her father approved of.

She thought about Dain and all the things she had never told him. She should’ve let him know what a good teacher he was. She shouldn’t have hesitated to call him a friend to his face. Because he was. Whether he wanted to be or not.

Ravi and Yasmin were forces to be reckoned with. They would find a way to accomplish their mission and get out. And they just might be the ones to shut down the fort as they had with Shaldorn . But Arya wouldn’t be part of this one.

Jai . She let her head fall forward. Where was he? She hoped he was safe. The memory of his kiss filled her mind. She pressed her lips together as she recalled how soft and pliant his mouth had been. Perhaps they were destined to only ever kiss. It seemed fate was conspiring against them.

Maybe fate would be kinder in their next life.

The bindings twisted, sliding the barbs around her wrists and causing more pain as blood ran thickly down her arms. Then the spikes vanished. One moment, she was hanging. The next, she fell. She brought her arms against her chest to help with the pain, but she didn’t try to stop herself from falling.