Sold

28: Captive

**This chapter is in Synn's Point of View**

Hyrda's face twists into a crooked grin as she peers into a magic projection on the wall.

She looks even uglier than she did when I last saw her; she's always been blessed with beauty but her personality is so rotten that looking at her has disgusted me from the day she was selected by my father to be my mate.

Evil can ruin any beauty.

When we first arrived in our family's cave, she and Vylek had worked together to chain me against the back wall of the cavern. While Vylek and my father had left in search of Saiea, Hyrda had smirked and volunteered to stay behind to keep an eye on me.

She'd ran her sharp fingertips all over me, very uncomfortably, for a long time. Thankfully, she grew bored, brought the magick now seated on the wall to life, and turned her attention to that instead.

The picture on the wall displays a real-time image of the forest as a sliver of green magick slithers through trees and across the ground.

In search of Saiea. Tracking her magick. She couldn't have gotten far and her magick is powerful enough that the sliver should track her easily. 

It amplifies my worry. 

Saiea is out there and both my brother and father are in pursuit, following the path of the sliver as it winds through the woods. 

Although my brother may have exhausted his power, my father has not. And they will find her and try any method they can to tear the magick from her body...even if it kills her.

My skin prickles. I dig my clawed nails into the shackles, begging my magick to tear them apart. But they're magick resistant, and I don't want to exhaust my power yet. I'm tired, and if my brother and father do catch Saiea, it'll take all of my strength to deal with them.

"She's a stupid thing, isn't she?" Hyrda swishes her hips as she paces back in forth, watching the sliver. "I can't wait to see them kill her. Can you?"

My magick stirs in my chest, swirling and climbing toward my throat. I breathe in and close my eyes, feeling the emotion as it comes, and letting it dissipate. 

Hyrda finally looks toward me and taps her fingernail against my anti-magick shackles. "I bet this really kills you, doesn't it? Does it hurt knowing your precious little pet is going to have her organs scattered all over the forest? They'll find her soon, you know."

"Perhaps they'll regret finding her." I keep my voice steady. The last thing I want is to give Hyrda the satisfaction she wants most; the satisfaction of stoking my rage until the last of my magick explodes. "With that much power, maybe she'll give them the fate they deserve."

"Deserve?" Hyrda spits beside my feet and presses her face inches from mine, breathing sticky hot air across my nose and cheeks. "Vylek deserves to be the next broodfather. He is much more of a leader than you ever were. And how DARE you speak ill of our father."

"He's never treated me as a son, and Vylek is no better. He'll follow down the same path, drawing lives from other magick wielders in search of endless power." I pull away from her fetid breath, casting my gaze to the cave floor. "At least our mother regretted her sins. She was wise to let our grandmother lock away her magick and leave the crystal with me, where it would remain safe and unused."

"Safe and unused? It's in the hands of your dimwitted servant girl!" Hyrda's sharp nails slash my cheek as she hits me with a hard slap. "This is ALL your doing. This is Draconian magick, not a toy for a silly little Vyenn girl who can't control her emotions."

"What do you know about control?" My chest rises and I bite my lip, simmering as I stare back. "You blew off the side of the mountain when I denied you before I left."

Her magick springs to life, alighting her skin with pink light. It strikes around the cave, sinking into my leg and tearing my skin with splitting pain. A grunt escapes my lips, but I keep still. I don't want to give her the satisfaction, but it looks like she's already enjoying it.

"Denial or not, your brother is a far superior match for me. And I will overtake his power just like the broodmother." Her magick sizzles and fades. "Looks like the sliver is getting brighter. It must be close to finding her. Maybe when they kill her I'll keep a piece of her as a memento. It sure would brighten up the cave, don't you think?"

A growl pinches the back of my throat and I do my best to settle it.

"Anyway, I think it might be fun to go see the fight in person." Hyrda steps back into my proximity, rubbing her foot against mine. "What do you think, hm? I could catch up to them if I moved quickly enough and I'd love to bring an end to that little squeeze of yours." 

"You're awfully jealous, aren't you?" I keep my eyes fixed on the thin tie around Hyrda's ankle, where she's stashed the key to my shackles. 

If I can keep her here for a bit longer...

"Jealous?!" Hyrda's lip curls and she slams her shin into mine, knocking the keys looser on her ankle.  "I've nothing to be jealous of!"

"You, on the other hand..." Hyrda's face twists with a deep, gnarled scowl. She leans her face in close, sending spit showering across my face with each word. "I saw you outside when you were young, watching mother and father sharing their moments together. I thought no one could pine for a mate of their own more than you until, of course, you DENIED me!"

I move my foot closer to the keys, trying to get leverage...

"TELL. ME. WHY." Hyrda grabs my shoulders, her long nails digging into my flesh as she shakes me. I use the opportunity to inconspicuously press my foot against her ankle. So close... "What was so AWFUL about me that you-"

She backs away and my eyes widen as the key slips off her ankle.

"Forget it!" Her voice lowers. She turns around, hides her face, and walks toward the cave's exit. "I don't care. I never cared. Your stupid bitch will be dead by the next sunrise, and your deranged little romance won't matter. You'll be alone."

Her words sting much more than anticipated, but my wounded feelings pale in comparison to the overall outcome of the conversation.

She didn't notice the key fell. And it's perfectly within my reach.