Chapter 28 #2
I tug the coat around me, and my fingers tremble, shaking with fury over Typha’s betrayal.
If she had just waited, we all could have fled.
They wouldn’t have pinned me against the table, thinking I was Typha, and ripped at my clothes until I was naked, my legs forced open.
The horrific scene will never fade away.
Pain shudders across my waist, confirming that they will always be there, stained onto me to be seen every time I strip my clothes off my body.
Bright light shines from the other side of the tunnel until it blinds my vision after walking through the darkness of the night. Voices shout over the top of each other in panic, and frantic footsteps swarm throughout Elden Keep.
A few of my dad’s guards race past the tunnel doors, too focused on what lies ahead to notice me exiting.
Crimson drips, sticking to the sleek white tiles with every step as if someone has covered the back of my foot in paint.
I move down the corridor and towards my dad’s office.
When I get close, her voice comes into focus.
“They got them both, Dad!” Typha cries. “I tried helping Pandora, but she told me to run, so…I did!”
The wrath I felt a moment ago fades. Every emotion disappears until every fibre of willpower aches with numbness. She can’t even speak the truth about what happened and has to lie so she isn’t portrayed as the bad guy—a true villain hiding under the pretence of innocence.
I step into the doorway, but looking up at them is difficult. It’s hard to see their faces after the trauma, pain and suffering they inflicted on me. And as fucked up as it sounds, if those filthy elemny never tried to rape me, I would be so fucking clueless about it all.
They unlocked those memories. The pink ice, what Mother used to call it—and fuck me, it’s painful to relive Desmond’s death.
“Pandora?” Dad’s voice comes through first.
A hitched breath leaves Typha’s deceitful mouth. “Panda? Oh my god, you made it!”
She comes toward me, and when her hands meet my shoulders as an embrace and act oblivious to the hurt she caused me, the blade in my hands snaps up and drives into her jaw.
Blood squirts and flows down my hands, reminding me of what I had done to the fire elemny who burned my flesh and then tried to rape me.
It feels fucking good.
My unsettling gaze lifts from the floor until I’m staring at her.
“Don’t act like you fucking care now,” I purr.
“After everything you did to me. I still feel your hands gripping my hair after I learned about you talking to Prince Emmerton late at night. You betrayed our kingdom for some fucking dick, and the reason they are here is that you couldn’t keep your damn mouth fucking shut when you were supposed to wed Prince Walkyer. ”
Blood slips through her clenched teeth and dribbles from the corner of her mouth, down her chin, and drips across my hand.
Wide eyes waver with unshed tears, panic and pain, but they’re not enough for me to care after everything she has done, not only tonight but with every stricken memory that comes back to me.
“I remember everything. You, Dad and Mother. I’m not your fucking puppet anymore.”
I glide the blade out of her jaw, twist it in my hands, and then slice my arm outward. Typha holds her throat at the clean cut as she stumbles back and falls to the ground.
“Pandora!” Dad shouts.
I roll my eyes in his direction and raise the dagger towards him. “You used my body for information,” I say in a slow, even voice. “You let men touch me, and you didn’t care.”
My lip trembles, and this surge of ache comes through when Dad doesn’t justify his actions.
“You forced me to kill Des and then wiped my memories so you could continue to use me like a marionette.”
Dad’s face hardens. “This is no time to be irrational. There’s a war going on outside.”
“I don’t fucking care,” I seethe. “Let it burn. We have bigger issues to address. I have a right to my wrath.”
“What do you want?”
“Revenge to all who have hurt me.”
Frantic footsteps come up from behind me. “Commander, the doors to the tunnels—what the fuck!”
Dad raises his hand toward the man and says, “It’s fine. We should protect the mothers and children while they escape. The Old Wolf will hide them in the free cities until they’re ready to be part of society.”
Old Wolf?
“Are you going to let me through to save innocent children and women?” Dad questions.
I eye him and then look away. Lowering my blade, I step to the side to let him pass. “If you survive this, I will hunt you down myself,” I say as Dad moves past me.
Dad sighs. “You won’t kill me. You don’t have the heart to do it.”
My grip tightens on the blade, but it trembles. I don’t know why. I killed Typha as easily as breathing. So, why am I so afraid now?
“You should go as well, daughter,” Dad says. “As much as I am disappointed in your actions tonight, you’re still blood. Go with the children and the mothers. The Old Wolf will help keep you safe.”
“Whatever,” I say.
We go different ways out the door. But while he’s likely thinking about protecting innocents, my mind drifts to King Ragan and how much I want to sink my blade into the side of his neck.
I’ll deal with my dad later, provided he makes it out alive.