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Evie

Evie finished the ration and threw the empty wrapper off to the side. Whatever this place was, she didn’t like it.

She would have talked to the people if they hadn’t all clearly been dangerous.

The girl with the icy blue eyes was staring at her. Evie met the gaze. Somehow the girl’s eyes were flat and dead and still extremely deep all at once.

It was the most bizarre combination Evie had ever seen in her life.

There was a strange crackling noise, and the tension in the cavern sprung so taut she was sure the air was going to spontaneously combust.

Icy-eyes was on her feet, a knife in her hand. Aydin looked like he wanted to bash his head into a wall and Niarok had gone completely stone-faced.

Something bad was going to happen.

Evie drew her dagger quietly and gripped it beneath the folds of her dress.

“Now that you all know who the others are, I think it’s time to make some enemies,” a strange voice said. It was metallic, almost as if a forge was speaking.

Enemies? Weren’t they that already?

“I now know none of you have any problems with shedding blood, so let’s go with that, shall we?”

Oh lovely. These people weren’t afraid to injure others? That was a nice way to start the day off.

“Here’s how it works. Each of you must injure one of the others, otherwise you will face consequences.”

Evie barely resisted the urge to laugh. Well, that wasn’t so hard. She could give someone a tiny little nick and say she’d injured them.

Aydin was on his feet in the center of the cave having a heated argument with the castle. He sliced his right arm with his knife, and the castle wasn’t satisfied.

Then all of sudden he and icy-eyes were having a confrontation, and Niarok was standing, tension written all over his posture.

There was clearly history here that Evie didn’t know.

She braced her feet if she needed to stand quickly and waited it out.

Then it was over.

“And that was extremely disappointing,” the voice snapped.

Evie glanced between icy-eyes and Ayden, then at all the other occupants of this strange room.

What in the Dimensions was happening? Like seriously?

This had to be about the weirdest thing Evie had ever experienced.

“Let’s see if we can do better this time. Evelyn!”

Evie nearly choked. It knew her full name, even though she’d only said her nickname. That was terrifying on a whole different level.

“What do you want?” she snapped. “And who are you?”

“I, my sweet, am Lord Castle. And I want you to shed a considerable amount of blood on one of these people.”

Evie raised an eyebrow.

Considerable amount?

“Or what?” she hissed.

“Or I’ll have to resort to a whip,” Lord Castle replied.

A whip.

A whip. 

Evie forced her breathing to remain even. She gripped the wall, allowing the images to flash past her.

Alcora with the whip, approaching her, yelling at her, forcing her, herding her. Breaking her.

Breathe.

Evie focused on the adrenaline to stay the flashback before it could drag her under. Her vision slowly cleared.

“See? I’m sure you’d rather not suffer that again,” Castle whispered, his voice soft and catlike.

Evie swallowed the bile rising in her throat.

She couldn’t do this. To hurt another would be to sink to Alcora’s level, but to not hurt someone else would be to sign a warrant for her own pain.

She gripped her dagger hard, glancing from one face to another. Everyone seemed uncertain, unknowing of what this stranger would do.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Niarok standing before her. His face was unreadable, but his eyes were gentle and calm. He held his right arm out to her.

She raised an eyebrow and looked away.

“I-I can’t hurt you,” she murmured.

Niarok shook his head. “The alternative is worse. I’m a healer. I’ll live.”

She glanced back at him. His blue eyes held no fear. She swallowed hard and placed the blade of her dagger on his arm.

She’d seen so much blood. It hadn’t desensitized her – it still made her stomach turn.

She gritted her teeth hard and fought to find the numbness she’d lived in for so many years. For a second she was able to slip beneath the surface and in the cold she sliced Niarok’s arm.

The feel of flesh beneath her dagger made her head spin and she pulled the weapon away, staring at the floor.

She looked up to observe the damage and saw a formidable gash on Niarok’s upper arm. It looked extremely painful, but he hadn’t flinched and he showed no sign that he felt any pain.

She slid down the wall as he turned away and walked to his post on the wall. He reached into his pack and pulled out a strip of white that he used to wrap his arm.

If he was that unconcerned, Evie decided she’d better tone down her panic. At least she wasn’t getting whipped.

 

Sorry for the extra long posts… XD