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Please, Nika Come back to me

The smallest ripple of awareness fluttered inside hientleness anywhere It was his Nika She was fighting to co to help her

He stepped up to Zillah and smiled "Guess what, asshole? You lose"

He shoved his sword into Zillah’s thigh Instantly, a dozen Synestryn blades slashed at Madoc at once and pain consumed him

Chapter 29

Madoc woke up in a small chamber fitted with metal bars embedded into the stone itself He was sprawled on the floor, throbbing with pain Only years of experience carrying around a shitload of agony kept hi the far wall of the chaed into the stone The letters were different sizes; so back decades Soible, and so tih to carve their names on the wall

Madoc refused to join that list

He went to the bars, shaking them to see if he could find a way out The cuts he’d sustained hadn’t had much time to close, and the movement caused several of them to rip open and bleedthose in is still in working order," said Zillah He was outside the cage, flanked by arainst the far wall Tori was crouched next to her, naked and shivering, staring off, her expression dull and lifeless, as if she’d already given up

Madoc was going to get both women out of here He wasn’t sure how, but he’d find a way

Nika? Are you there?

His question echoed in the stillness between them

He knew she was there He’d felt her before He tried to push power through the luceria, urging her to wake up

Tynan had been tossed in an adjoining cage and stood un in his ice blue eyes

"How long have I been out?" Madoc asked hirabbed Tori by the arm and wrenched her to her feet She was in bad shape She flopped around weakly, not bothering to fight as being done to her She was naked, dirty, shivering Blood seeped down her thigh

"Heal her," de her toward Tynan

"I’m too weak," said Tynan

"I don’t care if it kills you Heal her or I’ll let you starve to death in there"

Tynan sed, anger twisting his perfect features "Why do you care if she lives?"

"Because she owes et it froive you a living child Your species is too different fro I’ve done it before Now do as I ask or you’ll wish you had"

Tynan shook his head "I can’t let you do that to her"

"Are you willing to die slowly for your morals?"

"Yes"

"Fine, then I’ll use Nika instead"

Madoc roared in rage, pounding the h their link, but he couldn’t tell if he’d gotten through

"No," whispered Tori "I’ll do it" She lifted her eyes to Tynan "He can’t hurt me any more than he already has"

"See?" said Zillah, aof satisfaction in his tone "She wants it Now heal her"

"Are you sure?" asked Tynan

Tori nodded

Tynan took her dirty wrist and lifted it to his mouth Madoc watched her eyes flutter closed Her body shrank; her belly flattened; her breasts tightened

Tynan pulled away and angry blisters fattened his lips He turned away, vouess she didn’t agree with you," said Zillah "Too bad I have a feeling the two of you will be seeing a lot of each other"

Nika heard Madoc’s cry of rage in her mind, felt his frantic need for her to wake up But she wasn’t asleep She wasn’t drea Zillah had trapped her inside his head and he had no intention of letting her free

Nika sla about inside the rotten depths of evil h his mind She’d never been trapped like this before and she had no idea how to get out

A single, silvery strand connected her to Madoc, but she was losing sight of it as she weakened Soon, she’d be too weak to fight and she’d be trapped here, forever

Like hell