~ Regis POV ~
The room stank of blood and fear. It clung to the walls, to the dirt floor, and most of all to the skin of the trembling man chained before me. The scent should have disgusted me. Once, it might have. But now, it only fueled the wildfire gnawing at my inside.
Another useless scout. Another false trail.
My hands, slick with blood, curled tighter around the dagger’s hilt. The man’s breathing hitched as I traced the blade along his cheek, slowly, savoring the way flesh split and crimson welled in its wake. I wanted him to feel every moment of it… the slow, inevitable pain… as if it were a warning etched into his very skin.
“You swore you saw her,” I murmured, my voice low and calm in a way that made the man’s eyes widen with terror. “You told me she passed near Black Hollow.
