The Master and The Marionette (The Pawn and The Puppet series Book 2) by Brandi Elise Szeker

Author:Brandi Elise Szeker [Szeker, Brandi Elise]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Red Oak Publishing LLC
Published: 2022-08-16T18:30:00+00:00

22. Aquarus

My greatest fear is coming to pass.

They finally sniffed it out. The one room I have dreaded going into above all others. The first treatment I witnessed when I was interviewed at the Emerald Lake Asylum.

“Lock them in,” Belinda calls to the orderlies, ushering me to the large tub filled with cold water. “Our dearest Father is going to lead this one.”

The simulated drowning. It now has two contraptions on either side of the tub. Dessin is already barred down by one of them. Metal clamps are molded around his head and neck, along with his upper body that is positioned over the cold water.

They’re going to make us fight for oxygen at the same time.

I lock eyes with Dessin. And it’s in one look that tells me he knows how terrified I am. We’ve had many conversations about this while traveling together. About how watching Chekiss drown and gag and convulse in the water was traumatic for me, and worse for him. About how more patients have died this way than any other treatment in the asylum.

I gulp as they lower me to the other side of him. My legs turning to jelly as my knees hit the floor. An icy finger with a long snaggy nail grates down my spine, filling my stomach with alarm and heaps of bile.

I spoke to him, my lips forming the words to Dessin. He nods once.

But what I don’t get to say is that it was useless. He’s being monitored like a hawk. I’ll never get anything out of him while we’re here. I need Dessin’s counsel, his brains, his abilities to find the loophole.

Instead, my forehead and neck are attached to a large metal shackle of sorts, like an iron noose, a steel hand forcing me to face the small pool of water, clenching my waist to keep me still while my body goes into a rage of panic of epic contractions and spasms.

All for oxygen.

How terribly cruel.

“I’m told that the two of you have a certain fondness for one another. This concerned me. But it also opened my eyes to your ailments. The devil is using sexual attraction as a way to lure you both into his grasp.” The priest walks around the tub so he can look between the two of us simultaneously. “But I won’t let that happen. I will be your sword to combat him. God is stronger, God is more powerful. And so, I know exactly how to rid him from latching on to your souls.”

Dessin sighs next to me, which is code for I’d rather be drowned than have to listen to him.

My lips twitch, but I wouldn’t dare crack a smile and make this worse for us.

The priest kneels at the head of the tub. “I have blessed this water. And this baptism will not only cleanse the devil but abolish your feelings toward one another.”

Dessin nods in front of me. “Effective.”

Smart-ass.

“Now, I want you to think of the moment you first met. The moment you shook hands, or at least acknowledged each other’s existence.

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