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With that, Starling opened the door The guards that greeted theuards These wore uniforms of scarlet, their faces concealed by sinister masks Cade was shoved out of the lift into a corridor of stone It was damp, and he slipped The bare phosphorene bulbs did little to illuined they were very deep in the earth A powerful force even deeper vibrated the floor beneath his feet in a regular cadence--the distant roar of water and turbines He’d been in enough nize the sounds Why turbines beneath the palace? He supposed he would never know, and it did notconcerns

They approached a steel door at the end of the corridor, and as one of the guards in scarlet started turning keys in a series of locks, Starling said, "This is a sight few have ever seen Mainly just the members of the Scarlet Guard, Minister Silk, and myself The Scarlet Guard, by the way, is under a strict oath of secrecy about what it is that is kept here Yes, this is indeed a rare privilege, Mr Harlowe"

When the final lock released, the door was slowly drawn open Cade was not prepared for the foul stench that flowed out froht in to illu said

Witch? Cade looked, and the creature he saw, molded out of flesh and shadows, did not appear hu, with her mutilated body, the masses of snarls that had once been a head of hair She hadn’t even eyes--just depressed eyelids over the sockets At first he could not discern rong with her rasp it Her lips were sewn shut with large, crude stitches

How could they do this to any living being? The obvious tor into her neck

Cade looked at Starling who appeared affable as ever and started huain

"Monsters," Cade spat "You are mental are we, Mr Harlowe? You don’t knoho she is or what she is capable of She is here for a reason, but for noant you to look at her, not ers like iron and turned his head to force him to look

"Now, Mr Harlowe, I want you to think of your love, your Miss G’ladheon, in the witch’s place The tornity could all await her here The er for a new prisoner, fresh flesh upon which to sate their pleasure and carve their initials"

Cade struggled fruitlessly against those who held hi continued matter-of-factly "At least when it comes to pain A man would never survive childbirth" He chuckled "The witch here, she has endured for a very long ti and has never been entirely broken Fro type The guards like the a man who loves her, you ant to spare her the pain, the degradation, the violation Aht?"

"If you touch her--"

"You will do what, exactly?" Starling asked

Cade tre said, and released Cade’s chin "It appears I was right"

Cade wanted to look away again, but soht his attention Her head was slightly cocked as though she listened He had not been able to tell if she were even conscious

"No one deserves this," Cade said

"You are being judg But for her iarded her with renewed interest This poor wretch? This woination, or did the corners of her hastly s said, "is that if you do not answer my questions, this is the fate that awaits your lady"

Cade strained against those who held hiRemember this vision of the witch, and reme how he planned to kill him, but it never passed his lips because a ripple of calm, like a soft ocean current, soothed his mind

Patience

Cade looked wildly about, but no one appeared to have spoken The witch hung in her chains like a perverseher away, cutting off his view of her

As he was escorted back down the corridor, he asked, "Why is hersmiled "A precaution only You see, one of my predecessors, or perhaps Minister Silk hio It held power, her voice, and by wrecking it, we diminished her, but there is still some, hmmm, persuasiveness, shall we say? in her voice We could have removed it entirely, but we need her to speak on occasion With a newcomer such as yourself, we dee As di there Her tongue is most vile, in any case, and it is a relief not to have to listen to her"

As Cade was pushed into the lift and the pulleys began winding it upward, he realized he had learned so valuable: that this woer to the empire, which hy they kept her prisoner in such a state He also learned that Starling and his h that they illing to show the witch, their secret prisoner, to hile" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">