Courting Death | Book 3

T W E N T Y - S I X

T W E N T Y - S I X
Dark Knight

TIME PASSED SLOWLY. However, I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, at this point.

I was reduced to a shivering mess after what felt like an hour after I had last seen or heard Lucifer. It wasn't that my surroundings were cold or freezing. In fact, the more time that passed and the closer I was to the end of my five days grace, the less I could feel. The reason why I was shivering was that I could hear Lola's voice at the back of my mind.

Her taunts and her laughter were ringing in my head like a large church bell. Each minute that went by was one in which she could use to giggle about my misery. She was here again, her presence not in the material world yet her voice loud enough in my mind that it overpowered my own.

"Poor miserable Addison," she snickered mockingly. "If only she was free."

"Shut up." I pressed my palms against my ears even though I know fully well that she was speaking from inside my head, hence blocking my ears would do nothing to serve me.

"Where's your prince now, Addy?" I could picture Lola's toothy grin. "Where is Dimitri when you truly need him? I showed you an illusion but here we are now seeing the truth. Isn't it funny how the line between those two kept blurring?"

The second she said the word 'blur', the world before me started to do so. My vision was beginning to grow hazy, head starting to feel a little light as I swayed in my spot on the ground. I forced my eyes closed, opening them only after a few seconds in hopes that it would improve my sight but nothing worked. My head felt like it was filled with helium gas, making me fly high into the clouds with delirium.

I feared that the fifth day was starting to chime in. Without a working watch nor the sun at my side, I did not know what time it was. The sun was still in the bright azure sky, from what I could see through the minimal window. It seemed to be at the position of noon, one that was brightly blazing like nothing else mattered.

Groaning, I held onto my hand before laying down on the ground. My body was too weak to move, muscles barely even responding to my commands. Even if it hadn't been too late, the second to final sunset was already beginning without a doubt.

Perhaps at that point, the heavens had pitied me. I could hear a scuffle going on beyond the walls of my jail cell. Men and women alike were screaming, a battle cry echoing through the air as the sound of weapons clashing rang through the halls.

Two guards were positioned right by the entrance to my jail cell a couple of feet away. Even they dropped like flies when a cloudy black wisp enveloped their heads.

The ground beneath me was starting to chill. Since it was natural soil, I could see the small plants freeze up, frost cornering each leaf before it shriveled and died. When I breathed out, my breath was a white mist, further proving that the temperature had indeed decreased drastically over the last few seconds. Even my hands which had been on the ground was starting to turn blue in color, the chill nipping at my fingertips where frost had decidedly etched itself onto me.

When the last cry blared, followed by the thud of a body, I pushed myself as best as I could into an upright sitting position. I crawled, hands pulling the rest of my body forward closer towards the bars of the cell, attempting to peer out.

Silence filled the room before a single footstep resonated into the room where I was kept. I could hear the crunch of the thin layer of ice with each step the person took and that thought brought me back towards the days of the boathouse where the four horsemen had been my enemies.

A single polished black leather shoe stepped in, followed by another before I looked up to see a well-dressed man that wore a scowl on his face. His black hair was not combed neatly even though he dressed smartly. With calculating eyes that scanned the entirety of the room, Fabian's dark irises only stopped when they rested on my crouched wimpled figure right at the other end from where he stood.