Six Of Crows & A Court Of Thorns And Roses

4- Warm Darkness

4- Warm Darkness

Inej

This time, it was not a light stealing chocker of diamonds that Inej had to stare at, but a light stealing ring. Hair, eyes, shadows- everything about this woman was darkness. Not the enticing darkness of the Lord Rhysand standing next to The Queen, but a darkness that disgusts and makes you cringe away.

Rough hands- because they're always rough, that doesn't change- grabbed Inej by both unbound wrists. She didn't look back to see who it was. Inej continued to stare straight at The Queen, face emotionless.

She was pushed to the floor as the room went silent. Inej knew especially with her weird body that nobody was moving, nobody was making a sound. The floor was the kind of cold that Inej knew would be reliving in a few moments; when the blood was scorching her skin and her face was too hot with tears, the ice cold floor would be her rock.

One change from the memories, was her clothes were not removed. If she didn't have the mind to remember each and every detail, the dreams that still haunted her would never let her forget. But this time, the clothes stayed.

Inej had made a promise when she first got out of The Peacock's hands. A silly, little girls promise, that she would never let someone abuse her like she had. No one would touch her.

In Ketterdam she was untouchable. She was The Wraith.

Here she was a silly little girl with promises she had no power to uphold.

The cold of the floor seeping through her thin pants was comforting, she told herself. 'Head held high.'

Inej wanted to nod in agreement with herself, but the silence was faster. There had been no noise at all before, but this was a silence that was observing, waiting. The silences one growing up in Ketterdam learnt to listen for and be scared of.

And the whip was there.

One.

Inej numbly thought about the sensations her body was going through. She had always thought of whipping as laying fire against the skin; now she could deliberate that it was much more like fire being raised from within your flesh to meet a burning and raw slice of metal and leather.

She didn't know why she only felt this now.

Two.

Blood soaked her clothes, she could feel it staining and seeping and unstoppable. The cold floor was her rock.

Three.

She saw darkness. Untamed and alit, surging through her vision. Stars pooled at her feet and her mind calmed. The Night was warm and comforting- her fortress and cover.

Four.

'Temporary, survivable,' a whisper in her mind reminded her.

Five.

'Bear the unbearable and live on.'

The stars at her feet stared like eyes, smiling sadly as if they understood the pain first hand. They gathered around her and looked up, waiting. 'One more,' they said.

Six.

The leather sliced through already opened wounds and she could feel metal pieces wedging into her flesh.

The pain she knew she could and would bear was unbearable. In that second there was no longer any proud pretences. Inej Ghafa was in burning agony and there was nothing she could do but scream.

So she screamed.

And so did another.

'No. Save your tears for later. Don't let her hear you scream.'

It was only then that Inej actually acknowledged the voice and that fact that it wasn't her own. That voice was in her mind. It was Rhysand again.

He stared straight at her, finally lacking his ever present amusement, but still holding no other emotions.

Inej could still feel the ghost of the leather on her skin, she was still in shock, but her mind finally acknowledged that it was over. Her thoughts cleared as she tried to work out if the darkness at her feet had been real and where that scream came from. 

The court began to move again.

Inej didn't dare. It was over.

"Well, isn't this interesting?" The Red Queen began. "That sure was a heart felt grunt from a beast so pitiless." But she wasn't talking to Inej. She looked around at her court. Whatever she saw seemed to satisfy her as she continued: "I think we're done here for tonight, take the boy to the cells." With a grin, she added, "Rhysand, you've been so good. Why don't you have the night off and take this animal with you- a little pet- my treat."

Kaz, who Inej finally realised was behind her, growled.

It had been his scream, she knew.

It had also been his fault. 

Too, stupidly, loyal. 

Did really take a night of being beaten by an evil queen in a foreign land for you to realise there nothing worth being loyal to?

Now, Inej would be forced into the hands of a lord of darkness, who looked as if he was ready to tear her apart. And harming his investments annoyed Kaz Brekker.

The Queen, it seemed, knew how to manipulate, just like Kaz did.

And Kaz didn't like being beaten at his own game.

Though, he didn't mind prison cells.

Well, Kaz was going to have to save himself because The Wraith was fighting her own battle, and it might take a while. 

'We'll have fun, my darling, there's nothing to worry about.' The grin spread across Rhysand's face suggested otherwise.

Rough hands picked her up once more and lead her towards the door. Inej would survive tonight- if only to kick Kaz in the head, she would survive.

But for now, Inej was happy to get out of the courtroom- she needed to clean her wounds and clear her thoughts.

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