The mental pain Lord Taranas inflicted on me was somehow even worse than before, maybe because it took me by surprise. I couldn’t stand. I could barely even think. If Lord Taranas had been putting pressure on me before, he was now simply hammering away at my mind’s defenses. He was clearly not playing anymore. He wanted to win and he was going to do whatever it took to make me submit to his rule.
And what was worse, I thought he was going to succeed.
“Keep screaming, girl,” said Lord Taranas, without a hint of mercy in his voice. “I can do this all day, because I haven’t used even a fraction of my true power yet. Your screams are simply confirmation that your will is starting to collapse under the strain. I estimate you have about thirty seconds left before your will breaks entirely, at
