“I’ve flayed men with this blade alone,” Phoenix tells Raj. “The skin comes off smoothly. Clean. So clean that you don’t even notice—at first. The pain comes seconds after I’ve sliced through. Humans need skin. Without it, you’re one raw nerve. Even a gentle breeze is pure agony. And the pain never ends.”
Raj is shivering badly now. It’s amazing how quickly the sweat has coated his entire body.
I feel my body start to shake, too. This is horrible. Worse than anything I could have imagined.
And I just want it to stop.
“Tell me who you’ve spoken with,” Phoenix hisses. “Give me names.”
Raj screams in response and raises his eyes to the ceiling as though he has no idea how to process the pain he’s in.
“It’ll only get worse the more skin I take,” Phoenix promises him. “Don’t make this wor
