"She'll show." The High General's boots struck marble as he descended the dais. "We'll start with this one."
He came to a halt before Fin.
Fin was kneeling, wrists bound in silver chains, and his breathing was labored. Blood dripped from a fresh wound on his temple.
The High General kicked him in the ribs.
He doubled over with a grunt of pain, hitting the floor. He didn't scream. He hadn't screamed in weeks. The screaming had been beaten out of him somewhere around day four, replaced by a silence that was worse.
Two guards pulled him back upright, but his head lolled forward.
From the side, Hyran and Aeron glanced at one another, both cuffed and unable to help.
In the hall, Serena's vision went white at the edges and her body went rigid. Pain cracked across her ribs so hard her knees nearly buckled. For a terrifying second she thought she'd been stabbed. Then she understood. This wasn't her pain. It was Fin's, bleeding through the matebond like a signal fire.
