Tasting Darkness

Read Taming Darkness By Jessica Hall Book 3 Chapter 22 - Aleera | was shoved into the facility and stumbled forward a few steps. | used the slack to yank out of their clutches. | couldn't stand the sensation of their hands touching me. Weren't the cuffs enough? | couldn't use my magic yet, nor could | call for help.

One of the men grabbed my shoulder in a vice grip, his hold tightening around my upper arms. Did they fearbecause of the damage | had done to their fellow minions in the battle? It was smart, but they acted as if | would break free with the little strength left in me.

| wouldn't have fought back even if | did have sway of doing so. Not when | desperately wanted to know what that vile woman had planned. She'd disclosed just a few tidbits so far, nothing that would givea means of shutting her and her power hunters down for good. | needed more evidence, and | needed to see it with my own eyes.

Besides, right now she was exactly where | wanted her, with all the false bravado to match. | wouldn't risk breaking my cover or spilling any of my own secrets. | needed her to think | was broken, that she was the one in control, that she had triumphed over her weak malleable daughter. She had to believe that she could takeoff the board at any moment, if she wanted to bother herself to, that was.

The grip ondidn’t loosen in the slightest, if anything, their fingers dug deeper, like they wanted to causepain. They draggedafter her as she strode ahead of us, leading the way with her head held high, as if she was true royalty. She believed herself to be a Queen, but | understood she was nothing by a tyrant.

| glared at her back, wishing | had laser vision and could cut her head right off her neck. No, that wouldn't be enough torture for this bitch. | wanted her to truly suffer with every breath that left her body. | didn’t want her to have a quick, merciful death. She was no mother, no Queen, nothing but a vile, rotten creature. Her only goal was to obtain power at any cost, everyone around her were just pawns to that end.

During our little trip, my eyes darted around, trying to recognize any of the objects on display. Would they trigger any of my memories? Would she actually stoop low enough to try to make this place look like hto fuck with me? | wouldn't put it past her, but the question was would it be worth her tto try to torment me? Those thoughts all faded fromas we got to our destination. My steps stumbled, and my insides froze up. | never thought | would see this place again, and all those warnings that had been pressed uponin childhood croaring back. The one reminder that | was never allowed to forget.

Stay away from the basement. Don’t even touch the door. It was pounded intofrom the moment | could crawl. It was where my father spent most of his time, and it was strictly off-limits. | didn’t have many rules growing up, despite who my parents are now, my childhood wasn’t traumatic. But the basement for sreason always instilled fear in me, a deep-rooted fear | could not explain.

My mother must have noticed my hesitation because she giggled and a cruel sparkle glittered in her eyes.” Say, Aleera, did you want to hear something funny?” she questioned me, stepping beside the door.

| wanted to turn and run, | didn’t want to go near that door, but their tight grip on my hands wouldn't allowto move. | bit my lip to stay silent. My skin would be mottled with bruises from their disgusting hands, but despite the pain, | didn’t want to play along with this sick bitch’s game.

“No,” | sneered beneath my breath.

If she heard my rude reply, she ignored it. Placing a hand on her hip, she tilted her head as she gestured her free hand to the door. | hated this place and | hated her. | did my best to not let my breathing change, | refused to give her any satisfaction from what this place was doing to me.

A wide, wicked smirk spread across her lips as she took a step toward me. Like an actual snake, she leaned in and hissed in my ear, “This place, your home, my dear Aleera, is what saved my life when that lab went down in flames. This is where | hid while the chaos broke loose. So many of your father’s experiments were under these very floorboards when Darius set this place alight.

They died in that fire. | bet now you wish it wasto be one of the ones who burned to ashes, huh?” | repressed the urge to shudder. Had she planned this damn speech of hers? As always, she was doing her damnedest to hurt me. Why else would she go to these lengths to point out that the one place | had any refuge in, my only home, was the sarea that had saved her worthless life? | watched her every movement, trembling to contain myself. She laughed and turned her back on me, sticking her hand in her pocket and pulling out an old key. She strutted to the door and jammed it into the lock, twisting it until we heard the heavy clunk of the lock.

The old door screeched as if in warning, as she pulled it open and a grotesque putrid stench wafted out. | wished | could cover my nose because the smell burned my insides. What was it down there? Had she been experimenting with skunks and moldy macaroni and cheese that had been stuck down there since the fire? | wanted to vomit and my eyes watered. But despite how much | tried to turn my head and bury it in my shirt to avoid the odor, her brutes heldin place, forcingforward.

“After you, dear,” my mother mocked, giggling atagain. The men holdingshovedtoward the door, draggingas my legs turned to jelly.