Hive Queen by Sinclair, Grayson (positive books to read .txt) 📕

in a sequestered portion of the city, miles away from civilization in an unmapped location away from prying eyes. Only a select few had permission to enter. I was kept in the dark, but I could tell when we descended by the drop in temperature. It was just above freezing at all times in the mine, and that was just the first of the torments that awaited me.

When we finally stopped moving, I was unloaded. Torches lined the walls and continued as the road curved and disappeared into the black abyss.

The guards here wore heavy, fur-lined cloaks and gleefully smirked at me when I was told to strip.

“Fuck you.”

One of them stepped up and whipped a thin knife across my chest. It was shallow, an expertly placed cut that stung like hell but did no actual damage to my muscle.

“Strip!” he commanded.

My impertinence would only lead to blood loss, and down in the mine, I needed every bit of strength available. I did as the dwarf demanded and stripped completely. After a rough, incredibly thorough and unneeded cavity search, I was handed a thin and itchy pair of beige trousers and a matching tunic one size too small.

I winced as the guard shoved me and led me down the tunnel to a gate manned by a team of guards, and then once we were through, we stopped at a second gate with even more guards. By the time we were through, I was exhausted and chilled to the bone. I shivered, and the guards laughed.

“Get used to it. You’re in for much worse.”

We went through the last gate and entered Tombsgard Mine. Aldrust’s maximum security prison.

The gate slammed shut behind us and locked with an ominous click.

Tombsgard was a wide cavern that branched into dozens of other smaller tunnels. Hard at work were nearly a hundred prisoners, dwarves mostly, but there were humans and even a few elves in the mix. Each was dressed as I was and carrying pickaxes as they hammered away at the iron ore buried in the rock.

We were high above them, and the only thing separating the guards from the prisoners was about twenty-five feet and a stone railing. The guard motioned for me to step onto a solid stone platform that would lower me down.

I peered over the edge at the prisoners who’d stopped working to watch the new guy.

“Don’t get comfortable. None of them are your friends. They all know what you’ve done and have been promised time off their sentences if they catch you doing anything. So you better not use your magic storage while you’re down there.”

I turned around, smiling cheekily. “And if I do?”

“Then your water rations get revoked. You do it twice, we chain you inside a cell with about two feet of freezing water and see how long you last. Of course, you can stop this right now, and just tell us where the Heart is.”

“Nah, a little manual labor won’t kill me.”

The guard laughed sickly. “Let’s see you keep up that attitude in the next couple days when you’re starving and exhausted.”

With that, he spoke a chant in Script, and the platform shuddered and lowered me into hell.

Crudely made wooden furniture littered the space. Tan ceramic plates and cups lay forgotten as every eye was on me as I stepped off the platform.

As I was about to take a step, raw emotion flooded through my connection with Eris. It was slow to build, but unmistakable. Pleasure and lust flowed from her to me, and my heart nearly stopped for a second time in as many days.

I stiffened as it rolled through me. My throat burned as my vision blurred as heat settled into my chest as I fought back my tears. I dug my nails into my palms hard enough to bleed, and it still wasn’t enough to match the pain in my heart.

My breathing increased as my heart broke. Unbridled rage filled me as I shut off our connection. I gnashed my teeth and strolled into the prison yard.

Waiting.

It didn’t take long; I knew it wouldn’t. Whether on Earth or Nexus, prison was prison, and the top dog always had to make it known.

A low whistle sounded to my left, and a dwarven male with more scar tissue than face and a heavily broken nose drained his cup and tossed it aside. It shattered on the wall as he stood and sauntered over to me. The man came up to my chest and had the audacity to stare me down.

“Oi, new blood. Let’s get somethi─“

I didn’t let him finish before I sank my knee into his face, breaking his already-ruined nose. As blood rushed down his chin, a warmth spread over my right hand, and when I looked down, it was encased in chitin.

Before he could react to his shattered nose, I reached low, grabbed a handful of the dwarf’s most precious asset, and clenched my fist tight. The color drained from Nose’s cheeks, and he gasped, spluttering as a rapidly growing red stain appeared between his legs.

With a vicious yank, my hand came free, clutching what no man wishes to ever part with. I tossed the bloody, useless organ away as Nose stumbled back from the shock.

It wasn’t enough.

I grabbed him by the collar of his thin tunic and slammed my fist to his face. Nose crumpled, his blue eyes rolled back inside his skull, and he sank to his knees. Blood streamed over the burst cartilage to soak into his shirt.

It wasn’t fucking enough.

I knelt and slammed my fist into his face again. And again, and again, and again. I hit him over and over. I hit him until my chitin ripped flesh from his face and caved in his skull. I hit him until bone crumbled under my fist