Then I’d filed emancipation papers with the state and I was officially on my own…well, sort of.
I’d accidentally stolen some money from my father to help smooth my way. Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you looked at it, my father thought it was my Uncle Joseph, which was why I thought my uncle was taking it out on me a little harder than he should have been.
“Why are you doing this?” I sobbed brokenly, when one brutal lash ripped into my left thigh.
Another even more vicious one followed it up just under my belly button, and I cried out in pain.
The only thing holding me up now were the metal chains attached to manacles around my wrists.
My legs weren’t strapped down, but I was effectively immobile, and had been for going on two hours now.
I didn’t even know how long I’d been in this hellhole.
I knew, though, that I would survive.
Someone—I called her my new friend—kept talking to me.
She was probably imaginary, but that was okay. Anything to take me away from the pain now was good enough for me.
I’m not a figment of your imagination. Hold on just a little while longer, and he’ll come get you, my new friend said.
Who’ll come get me? I asked my imaginary friend.
Call me that again, child, and I’ll tell Nikolai that you like the opera.
I do not! I screamed in my head.
I hated the opera!
Detested it, really.
Especially when I had to listen when Joseph blared it for hours on end.
If I never heard another opera singer again in my life, it’d be too soon.
A particularly sick sound wrenched me away from my inner turmoil and back into reality.
My head dropped, and I looked down at the huge gash on my stomach and vomited all over myself.
At least I couldn’t see my abdominal muscles anymore, I thought grotesquely.
You’ll be fine. I thought you were a nurse, how can something like that upset you? my friend said to distract me.
I loved my new friend.
Had I said that yet?
She fought with me to get my mind off of the things that were being done to me.
Things I wasn’t aware were being done half the time.
“Perfect,” Uncle Joseph crowed, picking up the water hose off the floor and hosing me down once again.
I couldn’t figure out if I was grateful or not.
On one hand, I was happy I no longer had blood and vomit on myself…but it was also cold as a motherfucker in here.
Adding a wet bra, shorts, and panties to the mix didn’t help matters any.
Fire lanced down my stomach as Joseph’s fingers started to dig into my flayed open stomach.
I looked down in time to see him shove something small into the wound, followed by what looked distinctly like a flash drive, before he started to sew me up.
“This should get nice and infected by the time they show for up you,” Joseph said as he took his time sewing me up. “And they’ll find it. And I’ll find them in turn.”***Nikolai
I was wrenched awake by my brother calling my name.
“I didn’t say you had to sleep in here, dumbass. I just said keep an eye on her,” Keifer growled with impatience.
I wiped my eyes with the back of my hands, and said what I felt like saying.
“How about you go fuck yourself with that hot fire poker you’re always threatening to beat me with?” I asked.
My voice lacked its usual loudness, so I wasn’t sure Keifer heard me when he didn’t reply for a few seconds.
I reluctantly opened my eyes to see his face not filled with amusement.
“You know I’m the king now. I could totally have you kicked out of my kingdom,” he countered.
I laughed.
“Yeah fuckin’ right. You wouldn’t figure out how to work the shields. Then you’d forget your email password and need me to come unlock it for you, and you’d be shit out of luck because I’d be in the Bahamas somewhere enjoying life instead of worrying about your stupid ass,” I shot back.
An amused sounding snort came from my brother, and he sighed before taking a seat.
“We’re leaving in an hour. As soon as Blythe wakes up,” Keifer informed me.
I raised a brow at him.
“Okay.”
“I’m not leaving you by yourself…I’ve decided to leave the triplets here. They’ve gotten very good at hiding in plain sight, and they’re a damn sight better at scouting than any trained bodyguard,” Keifer continued.
I groaned.
The ‘triplets’, as he called them, were actually three small ice dragons we’d saved from the Anchorage Sanctuary a few months ago.
They were cute as hell, but they were also demanding and unpredictable.
“You don’t want to take them because they can’t fly long enough for the trip,” I gathered.
Keifer winced.
“Yes and no,” he replied. “They’re going to slow us down, yes. But I also feel that they’ll be of help to you.”