Chapter 31

The same warning still applies as the last chapter.

''Liar'' He hissed slamming truthteller into my thigh. I wanted to scream to say anything to him. That whatever he thought I had done, it wasn't right. He kept taking me apart, slicing at those painful spots. None of the cuts were deep enough to kill on their own, but together they would if not stopped in time. A scratch here, a slap there, Azriel only stopped to hiss in my ear. Calling me a liar, a traitor and even rejecting our bond. I couldn't do anything or say anything, I had locked myself in my mind as I used to do after the first 300 years of torture. He cut out the scars where my marks used to be before turning to my face. Truthteller raised to strike, as I bolted up or tried to at least with a silent scream in my throat.

My arms were bound above my head, I tugged on the restraints but couldn't get lost. I was still strung up on a pole meant for lashings. ''Don't you just love my niece and nephew?'' The king called from his throne. I was in the throne room, I was to be the spectacle for the filled space. ''They can really do wonders with the mind, where did they take you this time. Or should I say when? You know, I heard from the Attor that you could scream so deliciously when you were with Amarantha.'' He taunted me, nodding to someone in the shadows. ''Turn her around Dagdan, I don't want to look at that face'' The king ordered, the male came and turned me around ripping off the last shreds of my coverings. I heard someone approach as a familiar voice drawled ''Miss me''. No, please no, Blake.

The twins cackled somewhere in the crowd, they knew I had recognized the voice. He couldn't be here, please tell me its an illusion. I was calling out NO in my head, my thoughts racing. How was Blake here, he should be far away from this horrible place? ''Get a move on'' The king ordered getting bored shaking me from my thoughts before the first strike hit my back. With each lash, he told me I was a traitor to my people, that I had left them to be hunted down. I didn't know what he was talking about, and something in my mind kept telling me to scream, to respond to his hisses. ''You left us to be slaughtered, you traitor'' Blake almost screamed at me. I was full-on sobbing by that point, I had lost count of how many lashes he had dosed out.

The pain overwhelming, my back had been shredded to ribbons several times before, the scars healed to cause the same amount of pain every time. When Blake finally stepped away, the king began taunting me. ''You know he's right, we hunted down every last one of your tribes.'' He circled the dais, prowling as if he was some predator and I the prey. ''This is the reality so know this to be accurate, Emmaline, your beloved captain, died at Brennagh's hands. Each of my commanders killed one of your higher ranking soldiers each and every one of them hunted until the very last of them, your captains were brave until the end. Once we were finished with your soldiers, we chased every tribe, every troupe and every group the Unclaimed are all but extinct now, all because you left them.'' No, it can't be right I couldn't make sense of the flurry of thoughts that followed as it dawned on me how little of us were still left. Sure, I had met with a few small groups, but I just thought they were scattered and maybe hiding, never this. ''Drag her out, I am tired of her'' the king ordered, eyes gleaming with the pleasure he found in revealing this information to me.

When I woke up, it felt as if I was back in my old camp standing in the middle of it all. People crowded all around me. My captains all grown up, my childhood friends, parents and even the Inner circle. All circling me, yelling at me that I was a traitor, a liar, that I had left them. They were gone because of me. Feyre was back in spring because of me, I should have known. I begged them to stop that I tried, I was captured I never left because I wanted to. I didn't betray anyone, begging them to believe me. It wasn't until Azriel stepped forward saying ''I don't want to be your mate, I deserve so much better than you. I will prefer to be alone than with you, I reject the bond. You're worthless''. He kept going, repeating the words over and over again. Even as the darkness set in, they kept echoing through my head.

The twins had realized that the illusions with Azriel had the most considerable impact, even as I tried to keep it hidden. They even stared to tag team Cassian and Azriel disguising the torturers in my mind, fusing the actual real pain with mental torture. ''You know we leave soon, uncle has us going to inspect the wall. We should leave her with something to remember us by, right brother'' Brennagh said, as she and Dagdan circled me slowly. I had been chained to a chair, two of their favourite tortures had moved into the room as well. ''Who should we chose today, We already had the captains take turns yesterday.'' Brannagh thought out loud before they communicated through their minds. As the tortures moved from the shadows, the silhouettes of Cassian and Azriel loomed over me. I had to keep reminding myself it wasn't real, but what if it was. As Azriel made slow and calculated cuts, whereas Cassian made deliberate bruises all over my body, spelling out traitor, liar and whore. Whispering in my ear, that I was a traitor before his booming voice rumbled through the room, laughing at me. Even Azriel snickered, his cold, quiet demeanour making it even worse he agreed with Cassian rather than defending me, his mate. When I finally blacked out, I was sure to have a few broken bones, bruised ribs and words all over me. The twin's laughter never leaving my head, they ordered Azriel and Cassian to leave some ash in me as they left my cell.

I once again woke up, was it all a dream—some illusion Amarantha had made Rhysand spin in my head again. Was it all some big joke, Velaris, the Inner Circle, the past months? Did anything happen really, Clare Beddor's screams ripped through the throne room. I was strung up above the place. My blood for the recent slashes to my legs dripping down into the crowd. Currently, they were torturing Clare, burning her flesh, large long angry red welts adorned most of her skin. I was forced to watch, Amarantha had ordered Rhysand to hold my mind, not allowing me to look away, to see what would happen if I made any movement to rebel to break out. Not that I could escape anyway, with the wounds ever-present, or the weakness due to the lack of food. As Clare passed out, I was allowed to hang my head eyes closed, darkness soon claimed me as well.

''Not so brave now huh, now that you know they are all gone because of you'' The king taunted as he had me hauled out of the room. I was groggy still shaking off the darkness that came with all the physical and mental torture. Pain an always present constant, just like my hollow stomach. How long has it been since I was captured, when had I eaten last. He walked in front of us, ''You know Brannagh and Dagdan miss you, they left for the spring court yesterday. They asked me if you could be moved with them.'' We walked through the halls to the familiar wing of the nobles, ''I might just send you to them tomorrow, I have tired of you'' he said pointing to the door in front of us. The guards opened the door, hauling me into the noble's room. At the edge of the bed a wooden cross, they strapped me on spreading me like a seastar. ''She's yours for tonight, do return her in one piece'' The king drawled not really meaning it. A male somewhere in between a high fae and attor stepped out, exuding darkness and malice.

Licking his lips at the sight of me, the armour I had worn that night long gone, even my underwear had been replaced by some Hybern made ones. He stood there stroking himself, before wasting no time to rip of the remaining fabric. He trusted in me in one fell sweep, locking myself in my mind was the only way to keep me from yelling out in pain. His hands touched all over, reopening scabbed over cuts and making more bruises as he kept trusting in. Whispering what he thought were turn-ons, all that he had wanted to do to me after seeing me up on the dais a few days ago. How much he had paid the king for a night with me. He sat a brutal pace, and once again, even after so many parallel sessions, I was left bleeding. It was the only lubricant, it kept me from further harm. I wanted to sob, make him stop but I couldn't. He kept going until he had cum several times in me before he turned around the cross and fucking my mouth nearly choking me to death as I couldn't breathe.

When he was wholly spent, he left the cross upside down while he laid back on his bed, enjoying the view of my naked body. Blood rushed to my head, and I passed out soon after. My last thought being, Finally. I was whisked once again in a flurry of memories. I was being tortured under the mountain by Rhysand and his Illusions, though Brannagh and Dagdan's illusions took the crown. The Inner Circle tortured me, just like my past torturers had done. The same things were whispered in my ear as those torturers once did. So many horrible memories, I couldn't distinguish between reality and illusion. Or even what was an accurate memory and which ones were changed.

The next time I woke up I was somewhere warmer, new almost, I didn't see those bone-white walls or feel stones almost freezingly cold. ''Bri'' Someone whispered, but I was too weak to move my head. I couldn't even recognize the voice in the haze. ''Bri, please wink once if you can hear me'' the voice pleaded. I tried to blink, and I heard a gasp of relief my sight still blurry and dark around the edges. ''You're in spring, Bri, I promise I will get you out'' the voice said as my head lolled to the side. I was in a stone cellar, two eyes behind a grate in an iron door. ''Please, hold on a bit longer'' the voice pleaded as my eyes closed and darkness claimed me once again.