Forced To Watch
His grunt of pain was like a knife in my heart, my body wincing at each sound of their fist impacting his face. My wrists twisted painfully in the ropes that bound them behind my back.
"Tell us!" The blond Moroi leant in close to me, a sneer on his face.
Again I kept my mouth shut, my only response was a glare, anger burning in my eyes.
The Moroi chuckled. "Fine, don't talk," He turned and signalled to the others standing beside Dimitri. "Keep going."
I gritted my teeth as they started throwing punches at Dimitri again, he was unable to fend them off with his wrist also tied behind his back. One of the Moroi's beating him was an air user, using his control over it to make the impact of the hits harder.
Normally, a Moroi hitting a guardian had little effect on us, but this had been going on for at least an hour and Dimitri was waning. His eyes would meet mine and each time I could see the strength in them. The warning to not give in to their demands.
They wanted to know where the hidden entrances to the Palace were, planning an assassination against Lissa. As both Lissa's and Christian's main guardians, we were the most likely to know the entrance. Only a few people had access to those passages, and I was one of them.
It would be easier to not give in to them if it was me their fists were aimed at. But they knew my weakness—Dimitri.
A hand gripped the back of my hair, angling my head up. "Tell me."
I screwed up my face, my anger at what they were doing becoming harder to ignore, "Fuck off." His grip didn't loosen, instead, he used it to make me face Dimitri again.
"Do it."
I inhaled sharply as another Moroi approached Dimitri with a pipe. We were trained to fight through compulsion, even how to withstand magic, none of it worked on Dimitri. Physical pain was their last resort and I didn't know how much more I could watch.
I could see Dimitri steeling himself, eyes becoming unfocused as he tried to distance himself from what was to come. I gasped as the pipe was brought down into his ribs, the groan of pain making my heart clench painfully. Again and again, they kept hitting him but still, neither one of us gave in.
I was forcing myself to breathe and not say anything else that could anger them. Tears had welled up in my eyes, I blinked them away, refusing to let them fall in front of them.
After what felt like an eternity, they stopped, stepping out of the room and closing the door behind them. I leant forward as much as I could, wishing I could go to his side. Dimitri was slumped over, breathing laboured, spitting blood onto the concrete between us.
"Dimitri? Are you okay?" I knew he wasn't, but I was worried about how much damage the pipe had caused. Dhampirs can survive a lot but internal bleeding will kill us, just like everyone else. "Please, comrade, talk to me."
Slowly, his eyes found mine, pain obvious in them, but so was determination. "I'm okay." He winced as he spoke, carefully sitting up in his chair. "I can take it."
I grimaced, "For how long? We don't know what they are going to do next." I kept pulling at the ropes, they were thick and tight, I was sure that my skin was raw and bleeding from rubbing against it constantly.
"It'll be okay. I'm just glad they aren't doing anything to you." His eyes closed as he took slow shallow breaths. They must have cracked or broken his ribs.
I gritted my teeth. Sure, they may not be beating me, but they were doing plenty to me. "I'm going to get out of this and make them all regret hurting you," My voice was cold and harsh, already planning everything I would do to them.
His eyes cracked open a little, "We'll get out of here soon, Roza. Just keep calm."
I felt terrible that despite his injuries he was still trying to comfort me. I dipped my head, focusing back on my binds, I needed to get us both out of here.
Dimitri opened his mouth again just as the door was thrown open, the four Moroi's returning. The blond grinned at me, rubbing his hands together. "Time to change tactics. Hold her still."
Dimitri's energy was renewed, fighting against his binds as two of the Moroi stood on either side of me, hands digging into my shoulders. The blond strolled towards me.
"Magic may not have as much of an effect on him, but maybe you're the weaker link." His hands hovered on the sides of my face, "This is going to hurt."
My chest started constricting painfully, leaving me gasping as all the air was taking out of my body. It felt just like when Lissa had been tortured by Victor. Distantly I could hear Dimitri yelling at them to stop.
Just as I felt like I was going to pass out, it stopped. I coughed as I greedily took heaving breaths of air.
The blond smirked again, glancing between Dimitri and me with a satisfied look. "I think this will work."
