“Pain is the best way to draw out a halfling's demon, and the only way in her case,” Slaine says, waving Malice off. “She’s much too young to have control of it—or is that knowledge too advanced for your kind?”

“She’s a human,” Malice snarls. “It will kill her.”

“I’ll tell Zairn to take it easy. I’m certain the mighty Abaddon’s mate can handle it.” Slaine’s lip pulls back in a sneer. “We have a deal, after all. I’ll respect it and keep her alive until I find out you’ve been lying to me.”

The fact Slaine says “until” and not “unless” tells me all I need to know, and it has my stomach clenching. He’s already made up his mind that I’m a halfling, and he’s going to do everything he can until he finds a reason to kill me.

My eyes find Malice’s brimming with a desperation that pales in comparison to the panic filling my lungs, seeping out of my pores, and infecting the air around me.

Help me.

Malice shakes his head, his lips pressing into a pale white line. I am, my wildfire. I promise I am.

But right after he says it, he turns and storms out of the dungeon, leaving me alone with Slaine. Leaving me to a world of pain and torture.

I only hope I can survive it.

9. Malice

9

Malice

Watching Slaine’s soldiers drag Dagny from her cell and into Zairn’s torture chamber is a pain I’ve never experienced, and if given the choice, I would rather have my skin peeled from my bones and set on fire.

You have to do this. This is the only way. You have to let him do this.

But as I say it, bile coats my mouth—a reminder of how I’ve failed my mate. If I were good enough, she wouldn’t be going through this in the first place. Wouldn’t be in danger. Wouldn’t be in pain.

My claws dig into the flesh of my palm, causing dark blue blood to pool and drip to the floor of the observation room. I’m helpless to do anything but watch through the clear barrier as Rai straps an iron bridle to Dagny’s head. My inner beast threatens to burst out of my skin as he yanks her back roughly, causing the metal to cut the skin around her lips as he chains her to the chair in the center of the room.