“So my people weren't good enough for you, was that it?” Lord Bolton shouted before he smacked Dani hard across the face again. She could feel another cut break open on her face, but this blow didn't hurt as much as the last one. Then again, her sense of feeling may have been slowly fading. She wanted to tell him Tyson was more than good enough. Lord Bolton didn't seem to be in a listening sort of mood however.
The Terran men who had kidnapped her drugged her shortly after taking her from Ethan. When she woke up, she found herself tied to a chair. Lord Bolton didn't waste any time when it came to smacking her around. The guards had left the two of them alone, and that scared her far more than anything else.
Bolton knocked her to the ground and struck her repeatedly. Only Dani couldn't do anything to defend herself, because she was tied to the chair. Each blow distracted her from being able to summon up any magic. Self-preservation ignited a shield of fire that surrounded her, but it didn't stop him from trying to attack her. His fists pounded against the red orb of flames, and each time he hit, it rocked her body.
She whimpered. “Please stop hurting me.”
“Oh, I am nowhere near done hurting you. Remember how I said I would find you another man? Well, I found five of them, and each is more than willing to take his part in making sure Terran gets its place in glory,” Bolton spat. “In fact, I may even do it myself.”
He's not saying what I think he is… is he? She shivered when she looked up into Bolton's eyes and saw nothing but his anger. There was a whole new kind of fire in his gaze. His eyes were narrowed, his lips in a snarl, and she felt more like an object than a person. He advanced on her, grabbing her shirt by the collar, pulling her in closer, the fabric ripping slightly. Then the door burst open. Hope filled her.
“Ethan!” she cried out, and then tears fell from her eyes. Even more so when she realized it wasn't him.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Maya sneered.
The tone of Maya's voice was a tip-off that Dani shouldn't expect any help. Deep inside of her, she wanted to try anyway. “Please, help me. Bolton, he's gone—”
Lord Bolton smacked her quiet. “Wray, I told you to bring her back to me before she did anything rash. Glad to know you're as reliable as you claimed to be.”
A man Dani had never seen before stood next to Maya. His face was expressionless, and his blue eyes looked at Dani and then at Lord Bolton before narrowing. Without a word, he extended his hand, and a red flame tinged with blue burst from his fingertips. It hit Lord Bolton in the chest, the force of the blast sending his body across the room, where he hit his head against a chair. He fell unconscious, and Dani exhaled a soft breath of relief.
“Thank you,” she whispered, and tried to wriggle her way out of the ropes restraining her to the chair.
The man adjusted his gaze so that it was now on Dani. “What for? I'm not here to help you.”
“You stopped him from hurting me.”
“My boss said to send him a gentle message. That's all I did. His services are no longer needed. You can tell him that when he wakes up again. Assuming you're still alive yourself, of course,” he said, and smirked.
Dani squirmed some more in her chair, her eyes wide. “What do you mean, assuming I'm still alive?”
He propped a leg up on an arm of her chair. “The whole point of making a pact with the Terran was to keep you from the Oceina boy. Since that didn't work out, I'm going to have to do something more extreme. It's nothing personal. I hope you understand.”
I don't understand. At all. She struggled more, trying to use her magic to burn the rope, but Lord Bolton had thought ahead. The fabric was flame retardant and her magic worthless against it. “You don't need to kill me. I don't know who you're working for, but Ethan and I just want to live alone in peace. Okay? Just walk away, and we can all move on.”
Maya scoffed. “Please, are you kidding me? The prophets foresaw your spawn destroying mine. I'm not going to let it happen!”
“What are you talking about?” Dani asked.
The man shook his head. “She doesn't know. Don't get mad at her, darling, for something beyond her understanding. She's never been told what she really is. The kind of monster she's going to make. We don't have to punish her too badly for that. There are other things we can do instead.”
“Like?” Maya asked, clearly annoyed. Dani wanted to ask why she was so against her, but decided to not press. A woman scorned was a dangerous thing, and Maya definitely fit the bill.
“Well, the only thing we don't want her to do is reproduce, right?” The man smiled devilishly. He then placed a hand on top of Dani's forehead. “I'll even put you under first.”
His smile was the last thing she could clearly see. Right before her eyes drooped closed, she was almost positive there was a bright, beautiful, purple light surrounding her.