Fear flooded into me, drowning everything I needed to survive this. I had no more courage, no more determination, and certainly no idea what had gotten me here in the first place. Beyond my trembling hands and weak knees, all that remained was knowing I couldn't go back now anyway, even if I tried.
So I stared directly at the Lord of the Dominion, something I'd never before done, and summoned the last of my strength to straighten my shoulders and say, "I will not marry Sir Basil tomorrow."
"Go to your knees, girl!"
The instant he commanded it, my legs collapsed into a kneeling position, responding to his magic. I briefly wondered who he'd killed to have that power and whether it was possible to fight it. Then I folded my skirts behind me. The last thing I needed was to explain why I had trousers on. Or worse, why I was practically begging the Lord of the Dominion to punish me.
The weight of Endrick's attention fell upon me like a boulder. "Lower your head."
For the first time, I noticed a grip glove on the back of his right hand with attached rings on his fingers. It was similar in design to the one Simon had taken from me, but with a key difference: Endrick's was made of small bones that mimicked the bones of his own hand. This I had not seen before, which worried me even more.
I lowered my head, and he brushed my hair over one shoulder. I could barely breathe, and it hadn't
even started. Whatever it was. I knew that when he used to require this of Dominion soldiers, my mother always whisked me from the courtyard before I had to see anything. I heard it though, no matter how far from the courtyard we ever hid. If Lord Endrick intended to cause a person pain, he could do it through mere touch. I hoped he would spare some mercy for me though. I was the daughter of his top counselor.
But maybe that was the very reason this would not go well.
Endrick brushed his leathery fingers along the back of my neck and a shiver rushed through my veins. He was finding the precise area of his target.
I wasn't strong enough for this. Or brave enough. I wasn't enough of anything to survive this.
But I was too late to stop it.
Using the power of his grip glove, he pressed directly on my spine with his thumb, like a knife drilling into my core. Every muscle of my body became rigid with pain and breathing was impossible. Then his thumb rotated on my neck and with it, my insides twisted. I screamed, the pain erupting like cannon fire exploding within me. If I were capable of collapsing, I would have, but I could only remain kneeling, acutely aware that whatever grace kept me alive was fading fast.
Sweat rose from every pore. I couldn't think, or remember my own name, if I even had one. Something like molten lava rushed through my veins, burning and hardening as it flowed. I cried out and tried to pull away, but couldn't do that either.
"My Lord, please--"
"I am dealing with your daughter, Sir Henry, if you won't." Endrick's full hand gripped my neck, and when he pressed down, my entire spine flooded with ice. I gasped as tears streamed down my cheeks.
I tried to speak, but my words were drowned out by my cries. He was killing me, and I felt from him his joy of doing it.
"Who are you to refuse my orders?" Endrick said.
Who was I? He could not have asked any more impossible a question.
"Look at me, girl."
Now I did. With a face marked by tears, any redness from earlier that morning would go unnoticed. It was a small consolation, but it was all I had.
"I beg you to stop this." My voice trembled as I spoke, and if he heard me, he ignored my pleas for mercy.
Endrick leaned down, though the awful pressure on my neck remained. "You will marry Sir Basil, because I want his father's kingdom. It is guarded by thick walls that I cannot penetrate without a substantial loss to my armies, and thanks to the trouble with the Coracks, I do not have any men to spare. After you are married, conquering Reddengrad will be a simple thing."
Despite my pain, through gritted teeth I said, "How?"
"The how is up to me," Endrick said. "Your role is to do as you are told. If you refuse, I will order your father to show you what happens to those who defy me."
Would my father carry out such a command? It was one thing to order the hangman's noose for those who stood in defiance of Lord Endrick, but--
Wasn't that exactly my crime?
"Well?" Endrick's patience had run out. "Will you obey my command or spend time in your father's dungeons?"
I lowered my head again and said nothing. I didn't trust myself with words.
"Have her guard escort her belowground," Endrick said, finally releasing me. "She can think about her answer from there."