“I don’t know. He’s so far, it hurts to breathe,” I answered.
Her lips pursed in a tight circle and I thought I saw a flash of anger cross her face, but she hid it quickly and efficiently enough that I knew it was a practiced one.
“Is he a member of the Cult, Luna?” she asked. Her question was dangerous, and the deranged mutterings of my cell mate paused. The silence was ominous. I wondered if he was listening too.
“No,” I answered.
Her eyes flicked to mine. Her upper lip curled at the same time that her chest rose and fell with barely restrained emotion.
“Dyna?” I asked.
“You remember my name?” she asked.
“I would never forget you. I always considered you a friend, Dyna,” I answered, leaning against the cold stone at my back.
She looked back at me as if she didn’t believe me.
“Do you remember that day we were learning to swim in the river? How the betas all ganged up on me because I was smaller than all of them?” I asked her softly, feeling more like myself since I’d been able to eat and drink something for the first time in days.
“I remember,” she whispered.
“When Breena used the rest of the group to hide me and force me under the water, you were the only one that went against her. You pushed her away from me and stood up for me. After that day, no one ever teased me like that again,” I continued.
“Breena got what she deserved,” Dyna smiled.
“I’ve never forgotten you, Dyna. I was the one who asked that you be my maidservant. It was the one thing I was allowed growing up. I wanted to make sure you were taken care of because you had taken care of me,” I answered.
“But they told me you were unhappy with me. They told me that you wanted nothing to do with me,” she said, her shoulder shaking slightly with emotion.
“Those were the words of the Cult. Not mine. Thranar forbid me from keeping you as my servant once I was given to him. He wanted to make sure that I didn’t have anyone other than him. He didn’t give me a choice. I’m sorry,” I replied.
“And now look at what’s become of you,” she whispered, her voice shaking with emotion. “On your deathbed because another alpha had the audacity to claim you as his without permission from the Cult.”
She stared at me for a long moment and I watched the indecision play across her features.
“Your alpha, the one who claimed you, does he care for you? Will he protect you from them?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Tell me his name,” she guided gently.
“His name is Vikar and he’s nothing like Thranar,” I growled.
The madman stopped talking. I’d grown so used to the constant sound of his voice that the silence was so ominously overwhelming, and I turned my head, trying to see him in the darkness. I could see the outline of his form in the corner of the room rise and I blinked several times before the full shape of a man began to move toward me.
“Did you say Vikar?” he asked. His voice was suddenly far more stable than before. There wasn’t an ounce of delirium in his tone and as he moved closer, I could see his face. His beard was unkempt and disastrously unruly, but it was his eyes that captured my attention. They were a very light blue that almost bordered on silver. They reminded me of someone else. They reminded me of Vikar’s.
“Who are you?” I murmured.
“My name is Ivar. Vikar is my brother,” he replied gruffly. The clarity in his eyes was unnerving. I had written him off as a crazy inmate that had been down here in the darkness so long that he’d lost his mind. It was more than terrifying to come to the conclusion that it might have all just been an overly elaborate performance.
“Vikar is my alpha,” I replied, waiting for him to continue.
“So, you’re familiar with the Brotherhood I take it?” he pressed boldly.
“I am,” I replied, narrowing my eyes in his direction suspiciously. Could he be telling the truth or was this all a ruse to trick me into revealing what I knew to my father’s people?
Dyna cleared her throat.