Chapter 13
Blood Upon the Snow [Bear McCreary & Hozier]
I show concern, but it doesn’t matter to him. Pushing doesn’t help when his burning hands grip my wrists tightly, and feverish lips move across my jaw as he crawls over me.
The word “no” means nothing to men in a relationship, even if I consider this a fake one. They think once the knot is tied, they can claim you whenever they please, and we can’t say no. They employ misogynistic language, gaslighting, and guilt to subdue us.
He undoes the button on his jeans and shuffles them down before grabbing my skirt and lifting it above my hips.
His hands slide across my skin, near the right side of my waist. I open my legs and invite him to take me.
The last thing I want is for his hands to wander to places I’m not ready to explore.
Instead, I let the voice consume my mind and body as I slip into the depths of my soul and hide until he’s done.
I wish my vagina had teeth as he moves inside me and works with what little magic he has.
While he does, I admire the stars, and as I try to retreat to my safe place, the haunting nightmares seep through instead.
The Winter Nova Hotel is close to where I slaughtered and dismembered the fire elemny. Typha sighs with utter relief as we stand before the undamaged, untouched hotel. Enemies must still be working through the inner city.
We enter the dimly lit room, and I point to the reception desk.
I instruct Typha to search the drawers for the logs when glass shatters from down the side hallway.
A chilling spike of fear crawls up my spine as I step away from the seating area and around the white leather couches and table in the centre.
I move behind the reception desk and beside Typha. As I face her, there is a woman clutching her legs across from us. Blood cakes her features, and a terrified, nearly lifeless look wavers in her purple eyes. “Are you okay?” I ask.
She remains silent. That’s when I spot another receptionist near her. Burn marks spread across her corpse, and blood seeps onto the carpet beneath her.
Typha grimaces. “Where’s the key?”
I shoot her an annoyed glance at her lack of compassion before turning to the receptionist and saying, “There’s usually a key for the tunnel around here. If you know where it is, we can get to safety.”
“My boss moved it to his office down the hallway, but fire elemny are in there.”
“They must be searching for the entrance to the tunnels,” I say. “All we need to do is come up with a plan.”
The receptionist shuffles closer. “A Knight of Eraminia is in this building. The air elemny. He ruthlessly slaughtered everyone. I hid underneath the body over there, and that’s how I survived.”
“Fuck.” I peek over the counter, glance down the hallway, and then at Typha and the woman. “I’m going to set the fire alarm off. When I do, they’re going to exit the room, wondering what’s going on. You two are to stay here and hidden until I deem it safe to—”
Typha grips my arm tightly. “You aren’t leaving me!”
I eye her, noticing the fear in her eyes. With a sigh, I turn to the woman and ask, “Are you alright staying here until we get back?”
“You aren’t leaving me!”
I smile, but the exhaustion weighs heavily on my shoulders now. “I’m Pandora Hart, Commander Frost’s daughter. What kind of elemny would I be if I couldn’t fill my dad’s shoes and save innocent elemny on my way to safety?”
The woman relaxes her shoulders and nods. “Alright, I’ll hide in the cupboard over there. Give it three taps.”
I nod, grip Typha’s arm, and creep out from behind the reception area—sticky blood like peeling tape lifts at the bottom of my shoes as we move to the side wall and press our backs against it.
I steal a peek down the hallway and at the open door.
Three…no, four elemny rummage around in the office, ripping everything apart.
I take a deep breath before heading down the hallway and into the room on the right.
As Typha stands there with her arms wrapped around herself, I scramble onto the table, reach into my pocket, grab the lighter I nicked from the fire elemental, and hold it up to the sprinkler system.
My thumb grazes the lighter until a flame flickers to life.
Water bursts out, soaking my hair and face, and the lights plunge to a deep red, and the emergency signal blares.
Four figures sprint down the hallway, attracted by the noise. Recognising this as our opportunity, I grab Typha’s arm once more and rush into the office. Typha searches through the drawers while my hands slide across the floor, eventually snagging a loose tile.
Fuck, I know Dad’s hiding spots so well!
I give the key to Typha and say, “Get the door open. I’m going back for her.”
“Wait, no,” Typha says, grabbing my arm as I’m about to leave. “Forget her. Let’s just go.”
“I promised her safety.” I shrug my arm away from her. “Get the door open. I’ll be back in a moment.”
As I creep down the hallway, shadows flicker across the flashing red lights. I step into the room on the right when I see them approaching the entrance. Yellow light spills in as the electronic doors slide open.
Exiting the hallway, I quicken my pace behind the reception desk and knock on the cabinet door thrice. It swings open, and relief washes over the woman’s face.
“Hurry,” I hiss, but it’s too late. As we rise, the four fire elemny outside notice us through flashing red lights and blaring noises. “Run!”
I leap over the counter as the woman circles it. Glass shatters, and she screams as flames erupt through the Winter Nova Hotel. The sprinklers kick in, dousing the fireballs before they can reach us.
I sprint into the office and slam the door after the woman dashes through. A flutter rises in my chest, but as I turn to enter, the flutter fades as swiftly as it appeared. Typha isn’t here, and the entrance to Elden Keep remains shut.
“What?” I breathe.
“Where did she go?” the woman demands. “Did something happen to her?”
I shake my head in disbelief. When Typha and I entered the room earlier, the entrance was not visible like it is now. Typha must have smashed through the plaster wall, used the key, and locked it behind her.
“She left me,” I say, lacking emotion as I recall Typha’s threat earlier. But I didn’t think she would…
The door bursts open, and a fire elemny steps through with blazing, hungry eyes. My finger curls around the dagger, and I hurl it at him until it sinks into the centre of his head. He stumbles back, and the three other fire elementals step forward.
I raise my hand to the woman and say, “Stay behind me.”
“And who might you be?” the burly elemny who stands before the other two says.
“None of your—”
“That’s Commander Hart’s daughter,” the woman shouts.
Fuck. Why did she say that? I cast her a glance, but she cowers in the corner, the flashing red light revealing the fear etched on her face. She says it, hoping for a bargain. I see.
“Really?” he asks. “Is that true?”
Through clenched teeth, I say, “Yes.”
“All right. Auden, kill the woman over there while I call King Ragan and tell him the news.”
I step toward the woman and raise my hands to him. “Don’t fucking think about it.”
He eyes the woman and then me. In the blink of an eye, he’s got me by the hair.
I lean into the pain, move my hand toward his neck, and slap my fingers across a pressure point.
He lets go of me, and I shove my palm into his nose and claw at his eyes when more hands grab me.
My body crashes against the office desk as they pin me down.
Froth and water spittle from my mouth as the fire elemny bends my arms until they’re behind my back.
“Feisty little fucker,” the scrawny fire elemny laughs.
“Fuck off!”
The woman squeals. My shoulders slacken as the burly fire elemny grabs her by the throat. The sprinklers have died down, letting the flames erupt through the moisture drenching her, and he burns her alive. My eyes widen as her body falls away from her head.
Disinterested, he tosses her head to the side and faces me with a phone pressed to his ear.
“King Ragan,” he says, and it knots my stomach.
“We have the Hart girl. What do you want us to do?” He nods his head as he listens to what King Ragan says on the other side, but it’s the sinister look on his face that causes me to kick and squirm.
“All right, I’ll put it on speaker.” The fire elemny places the phone on the table, close to my ear.
“You’re good to go. Just tell her what you want. ”
An unsteady breath comes through the receiver. “Typha Hart.”
What?
“That’s not—”
“Don’t fucking talk, slut!” he roars. “After what you did to my family and the disgrace you placed on us, you don’t have the right to speak! Fucking my youngest son like the whore you are and then sending it to Walkyer. Now, that takes fucking balls, doesn’t it?”
I glare into the receiver.
“And since you enjoy sick and twisted games, I have one for you.” My eyes widen as he says, “I’m going to let them fuck you, and when they’re done, I’m going to send it to that traitorous father of yours.”
I wiggle, kick, and spit insults, but the man takes the phone from the table. Deep, sinister chuckles echo through the room, and a buckle snaps behind me. I scream, my cries cutting through the air as the fire elemny tightens his belt buckle around my wrists.
“Who wants to go first?”
I throw the burly fire elemny a dagger of a look. “I’m going to fucking kill you!”
He shoves the other two away from me and grips my skirt. In one swift motion, he flips me around until my back slams against the table, and he shimmies down his jeans.
I suddenly sit up straight and knock my head against his, causing my world to spin as the fire elemny stumbles back. As I pull away from the table, the other two hold me back by grabbing my arms and pinning me against the wood.
The burly elemny tears at my shirt, skirt, underwear, and dignity. He grabs my waist. Searing pain spreads across my flesh, and I scream in agony as a reddened, blistering burn mark streaks down the right side of my body.
My lungs fill with frost, and rage erupts from within. With one horrific wail, crimson and ice wash through the room, blinding my vision from the illuminating pink light.