The Rejected Luna (Avery and Kaden) novel Chapter 25

**Between Then and Now by Mark Twain**
**Chapter 16**

**Christian’s POV**

The dungeon enveloped me in a suffocating darkness, the kind that seemed to swallow sound and light alike. The only illumination came from a feeble yellow bulb flickering above the door, casting ghostly shadows that danced mockingly, taunting the last remnants of compassion I had clung to.

As I descended the stone steps, each footfall reverberated through the hollow chamber, heavy and purposeful, like the tolling of a bell marking the approach of doom. My heart was a lead weight in my chest, but I pressed on, driven by a relentless need for retribution.

In the far corner, Carrie huddled, a fragile figure curled up like a shattered doll, her body trembling uncontrollably as if she were caught in a relentless storm.

Clink.

With a deliberate motion, I pushed the door open, and our eyes locked. The moment she recognized the hunger for vengeance in my gaze, her body seized with fear, trembling as if she were staring into the abyss of her own making.

“W-What are you doing?” Her voice quivered, fragile as glass, each syllable a desperate plea that threatened to shatter at any moment.

I offered no reply, merely stepped aside and gestured for the warriors behind me to enter.

They moved in, each man burdened by the weight of a heavy black sack, their expressions grim and resolute.

An unsettling silence enveloped the dungeon, broken only by the faint, sinister hissing emanating from the bags.

Then, with a swift motion, the snakes were unleashed—dozens of them, slithering and writhing toward Carrie like a dark, living shadow, a nightmare made flesh.

“No! Get them away from me! HELP!” she screamed, her voice a raw edge of panic as she scrambled backward against the unforgiving stone wall. But there was no escape; the walls closed in on her, trapping her in a web of terror.

The serpents climbed her arms, coiling around her legs, their cold, sinuous bodies inching upward, enveloping her in a chilling embrace. I knew this was a sensation she would never forget, a haunting memory that would linger long after the pain had faded.

“AHHH!!” she shrieked, a sound that pierced the air, mingling with the sickening noise of her flesh being bitten and torn.

I stood at the threshold, an unmoving sentinel, my heart encased in ice. “They’re not venomous. I wouldn’t let you die that easily,” I stated coldly, my voice devoid of any warmth.

She crumpled to the ground, her body a grotesque canvas of bloody, torn flesh—almost unrecognizable. If it weren’t for the faint rise and fall of her chest, I might have believed she had already succumbed to the darkness.

“Kill me… please…” she begged, her voice a mere whisper, a ghost of its former self.

But I turned away, summoning the pack healer with a dismissive gesture.

“I told you… death would be too kind.”

**Chapter 16**

In the days that followed, something within me shattered, unleashing a torrent of fury I could no longer contain. I became consumed by the memories of every ounce of pain she had inflicted upon Blair, and I made certain she felt it too.

I had her pinned down on burning coals, the heat blistering her skin with each agonizing second. Her screams sliced through the acrid smoke like razors, a symphony of suffering that filled the air.

Needles—sharp and cruel—were driven deep into her flesh, just as she had done to Blair, over and over again. Each punishment was a lesson she had taught me, a twisted gift of retribution.

And when I finally paused, she dared to believe it was over.

She was gravely mistaken. She had underestimated the depths of my wrath.

I took her to a hotel, a place that should have felt safe but was anything but.

The moment she crossed the threshold into the room, her expression shifted dramatically—panic washed over her face, and she began to thrash against her restraints.

“Christian, please… you can’t do this to me…”

Her cries echoed in the room, rising in pitch until her voice cracked, desperation spilling from her lips like a broken dam.

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