Feathers

Mending

He clenched his jaw and did not look down. "That is not why you are here. I do not care about those chickens or what you were doing in the city a few weeks ago. I am not going to-"

She spotted a figure, a Hawk, standing still beside one of the many doors, watching them approach. Could he stop his king? Her crimes could not have been so bad that she did not deserve a fair trial. Were Ferals allowed such things? "Please help me! Help me! He is going to kill me! Do something!"

He looked to her and bowed slightly to Bain, who nodded, and moved to open the door, eliciting a small tinkle from an overhead bell. Behind the door was a spotlessly clean room, the floor was made of big gray tiles in perfect lines and there were all sorts of boxes on the walls with their own doors. In the center of the space was a padded table with a white sheet over it, a sacrificial altar, and chairs against the wall so others could watch. The desperation she felt numbed all the pain in her shoulder.

"No!" She screamed hoarsely and bucked with all of her strength, breaking free of his arms for the briefest moment before she felt the hands of the guard grabbing her around her middle. The wolfskin fell to the floor and her shirt began to roll down.

"Be careful," Bain warned him.

Another male rushed into the room to help, and Sorren froze when their eyes met. He, too, was a Feral. Relief filled her and she waited for him to attack the Hawk and Peregrine, but instead, he looked down at the blood dripping on the floor and rushed to one of the wall boxes. He quickly pulled out and slipped on a pair of gloves.

"Help me!" She cried out to him, but he continued to pull jars from other doors.

She realized they were almost to the altar, covered in smooth animal skin and supported by a single column, and twisted away as hard as she could. Sorren elbowed the guard in the temple, but Bain quickly grabbed her wrist and pulled her back against his chest, securing her tightly. Sorren could hardly see through the tears and her hair, flying madly about.

"Lay her here," the doctor said, pointing to the table. He rushed over to a cabinet and pulled out a thin tube with a straight wire sticking out of it. She had never seen something like that, but when he depressed the plunger and a few drops sprayed from the end of the wire, she knew that it was meant to be stuck into her skin to deliver some fatal poison just like the darts.

Kicking the guard in the stomach the moment he stood up, knocked him off balance, buying her a second to try to push the table over, too.

Bain shifted her other wrist into his big hand, so he had them both and then reached around her hips. As if she were a giant fish, Bain whipped her up and laid her on the table with a thud, ignoring her cry of pain.

"What did you do to her, Bain?" Asio asked him.

Bain shouted when she bit his forearm and tore it away from her mouth, pressing his shoulder mercilessly into her lower back as Asio rushed back over. Sorren felt the doctor hover over her skin as if looking for the perfect spot before he stabbed her with the wire, making her shriek in fear. It was truly over, just like her nightmare had foretold!

Bain waited a few seconds before slowly easing himself off of her. Sorren shoved him away and hopped to her feet on the table with her hands out before her. She could leap in any direction if they tried to rush back in. She hated the way they watched her, counting how many breaths she had left. Her pained gaze met the liquid silver stare of the king to be, conveying so much to him unintentionally. Distrust, hatred, and a tangible sense of betrayal hit him square in the chest, though he gave nothing away except concern that she might try to jump from the table and hurt herself.

After the battles they had fought in together, some small part of her had actually believed that he would have let her be, or at least tried to make her his female. Sorren had put too much stock in him to think that he would not kill her for something so trivial. It was foolish of her to imagine that Peregrines were anything other than soulless brutes.