CHAPTER NINE
When the torturers came, Ceres tried to fight. She flung herself at them, pulling together all the strength and fury she had. It made no difference. They grabbed her between them, and all Ceres could think was what it would be this time, and whether she would be able to keep from showing them how much it hurt her.
She had no way of knowing how long she’d been in the hole in the ground. Every so often they dragged her out to beat her, or chain her in positions that were agony to hold. They starved her too, feeding her only the tiniest bowls of foul-smelling food that made Ceres want to vomit at the thought of it.
Now, she guessed, they were planning something worse.
They dragged her to a vaulted space that Ceres recognized. It had been there for the training of the combatlo
