The two words burned into her like a blade, sinking into her very soul and slicing her, each word a deep cut that left her bleeding at the betrayal.
Epharis had gone feral, raging and trying his best to get himself free, but she had gone entirely calm, that name repeating in her mind over and over.
King Alaric, King Alaric... King Alaric…. She was going to kill the king the moment she was free of that cell, or just as soon as she got back from her rebirth.
In the moments it took for their understanding to equalise, Drizdan had picked up a knife with an abnormally long, very black blade that seemed to hum the closer it got to her.
When it touched her throat, she could feel whispers more than hear them.
"Where did you get that?" she whispered, too horrified by their situation to really even be scared any more.
"A gift from the king. Your little immortality trick is a problem, so we have a special knife that will keep you nice and dead," Drizdan said as he drew the blade slowly, tenderly against her flesh.
Blood oozed and she felt a horrible, terrible sucking sensation inside her that pulled her towards the knife.
Recoiling with enough force to bruise her shoulder against the wall, her head swam, her consciousness pulling towards the knife while her body went the other way.
It felt weird, as though she had left herself for an instant, only to snap back in like a blow to her entire being.
Her face went slightly green at the feeling but she managed to keep from throwing up.
Epharis was still raging, swearing and speaking in tongues but nothing worked. His chain was too good, even for its maker.
When he finally wore himself out, his eyes were on her in desperation.
"You have to choose my dear man," Drizdan said brightly, his eyes still lingering on her with interest.
She couldn't look at either of them, instead staring down at the blood between her feet and wait for the words that would end her life, one way or another.
"I can't!" Epharis yelled and Drizdan grinned.
"You know Etani... I think he does actually love you," he said in a stage whisper, delighting in their suffering.
Her head lifted and she looked to Epharis. His face was a terrible mask of agony, tears glistening on his cheeks. They both knew she wasn't getting out of there alive and she swallowed, nodding her acceptance to him. She would go out like the soldier she was. Her chin lifted, ready for the word that would result in the knife coming down on her.
"The baby."
The words were like a physical blow and her heart stopped for a second.
No, no, nonono! He couldn't do that! He wasn't allowed to let her live!
"No!" she screamed, refusing to accept that he would choose to let her live even after killing her child.
But the drow were already moving, one wrapping his arms around her torso and the other grabbing her legs, forcing her to lie flat on the ground. She thrashed, screaming and straining to get herself free, even as she heard Epharis sobbing across the room. Drizdan's grin was sadistic as he knelt beside her, a long silvery blade in his hand instead of the black one.
Struggling to hold her down, the drow at her legs instead sat on her knees, his hands on her hips to keep her still as Drizdan cut her dress open.
Desperate, she sucked in as much air as she was able and the scream that left her was terrible.
Drizdan spun away from her, his hands over his ears that had begun to bleed.
The drow above her got the full force of the sound, his nose and ears beginning to drip blood as she ruptured his ear drums. Falling back, he collapsed onto the floor, pressing his forearms against his ears to block out the sound better.
Running out of air, she sat up, her hands reaching for the drow on her knees and her fingers gripped his throat, nails digging in.
***
Her fingers cut through tendons and muscle like they were butter, meeting at the middle and she pulled towards herself, the front of his throat exploding out towards her.
He fell to the ground, choking as blood began to fill his lungs and she spun, slamming her back against the wall to protect it.
The two men were still incapacitated, Epharis however was fine, his hands already over his ears before she had let it loose.
"Were you a banshee in another life?" he snarled, his hands coming away red.
"I'll kill you!" she screamed at him, hating him for daring to spare her life.
She yanked at the wall, wanting nothing more than to rip his heart from his chest, but she could do nothing, she could barely even stand up.
Buying herself only a few minutes, she was surprised to see the door opening and two more drow entering the room, their ears sticky with blood.
"What the hell was that?" Drizdan shouted though the room was fairly quiet now.
"Banshee?" One of the men asked but they found no such creature in the room, only the now dead drow, the second who seemed to be entirely deaf or dying, Drizdan, and the chained pair.
"We need more men to contain the bitch!" Drizdan yelled and one of the newer drow dragged the dead man and the second from the room.
How many men had Drizdan brought with him? She didn't know, but she was in trouble.
Now that it was just Drizdan and her, she strained harder against the stone, an ominous creaking sound making Drizdan look up, alarmed.
Her entire body strained against the stone and a puff of dust appeared.
Swearing, Drizdan moved to the tray and brought a large hammer down on her knee.
Her scream was loud, but not the same as before, her knee gave out and she slumped against the ground, panting and gasping for air.
Drizdan was on her as soon as he had dropped the hammer back onto the trolley. Ripping two strips of fabric from her dress, he forced the first into her mouth, cursing her when she tried to bite him, and then used the second to bind around her head to keep the wad in place.
Finally he stood, wobbly on his feet.
"What the hell are you woman?" he growled and for good measure, he drove his foot into her ribcage.
The gag muffled her scream well and he smiled when she curled up around her belly again, unable to defend herself and knowing he was going to win.
When the men returned, their numbers had doubled and they took in the scene. Three had bleeding ears, the fourth did not, though he looked a little disorientated.
Drizdan motioned to her and they moved forward. She fought them as best as she could, but with her arms and legs bound she was mostly helpless with her on her back and her arms extended straight and strained above her head.
With two men sitting on her legs, her knee was on fire, one hand in her hair, another on her throat and the fourth man deciding last minute to simply sit on her chest, she was very effectively pinned and entirely unable to see what was happening.
She didn't need, or want to see what was happening anyway, her fear bottoming out into a calmness that made Epharis look away from her.
Drizdan collected his knife and dropped back to his knees beside her, his hands rough as he pushed away the shredded fabric that covered her torso.
His hand pressed against her abdomen firmly, feeling around for what he was aiming for and then he looked up.
"Got her?" he asked and four men nodded, muscles straining and fingers clenched harder.
Epharis couldn't take his eyes off her now, seeing her tears as the knife slid across her skin, opening her abdomen.
She didn't scream, she couldn't even see the room around her, instead she had turned inward and threw herself down, trying her best to join Letari in the protection of her womb.
The knife cut deeper, just grazing the protective muscle that Letari had manifested in order to protect the delicate creature inside her.
Fingers prodded at the muscle, testing it and pressing to see if it could be moved, but finally the knife dragged along it, cutting deep though the knife didn't stay sharp for very long.
It was quickly replaced and the knife changed tactic, cutting soft flesh to find the edges of the unusual muscle, attacking them instead.
Both she and Letari tried to hold it in place, but finally it snapped free and their little ball of light was exposed.
It made a happy little hum at the feeling of their being near, not understanding.
The knife was gone, and then it drove through the thin skin of her womb and that little light snuffed out.