Chapter 8 #2
Valentina shifts next to me with a small tremor in her bottom lip. The scarlet V still gleams on her chest, with the gold chains lying heavy on her shoulders. She stares at the judges.
"What now?" I ask.
She doesn't look at me.
A new realization makes my toes curl.
The Omni just got what they wanted from me.
Now they're coming for her.
"Take your place," the judge orders.
Valentina steps forward.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
She continues not to look at me.
The woman wearing the chains appears again. She unhooks the gold links and lifts the leather V away from Valentina's chest.
"About time. Let's go," I order, grabbing Valentina's hand.
She squeezes her eyes shut and releases a heavy breath, shoulders rising and falling in a slow, resigned rhythm.
"Step away from her," a judge orders.
My chest tightens. I spin. "We're leaving."
The judge points to the group of men. They lurch at me, grabbing my arms.
"Get off me," I bark, fighting, but they pin my arms so I can't move them.
"Stop fighting, Brax. You're making this worse," Valentina orders.
I freeze, my heart beating a mile a minute.
What is she talking about?
A man steps behind her. He restrains her so her arms are behind her back. Two kneel and hold her legs against their bodies.
My insides tremble with anger and confusion.
The judge asserts, "Blood remembers. The body pays for what the soul declares."
A man puts a piece of wood to her mouth.
She accepts it and bites down.
Heat from the cauldron intensifies. The man reaches in with his gloved hand and lifts the second metal rod. When he raises it, the tip catches the light, revealing a six-inch-long V that glows molten red.
Rage detonates inside me. I snarl, "Don't you touch her!" I try to fight again, but the men overpower me.
The room seems to hold its breath.
Valentina's lips shake, yet she stands taller, shoulders squared, spine straight.
I fight again for my freedom, and another man steps forward and grasps my throat. I choke, struggling to breathe.
The cauldron's flames flare, turning her skin to gold and shadows. Time slows.
Valentina swallows hard as the red-hot metal V comes toward her.
"Zaii'venar…zaii'venar…zaii'venar…" fills the chamber so fiercely that it vibrates against my rage.
Two men step forward. One pulls her breast to the left. The other moves her breast to the right. The metal V gets pressed to her torso, the top tips touching the side of her breasts and the bottom above her belly button.
Her body jerks violently. A muffled scream rips from her throat, trapped behind the wood. The smell of burning flesh rises again.
It's worse than before. It crawls up my nose and wedges itself behind my eyes, mixing with the memory of my own pain and the visual of her tears falling down her cheeks.
I fight again, and the fingers squeeze my neck so hard I almost black out. I miss the rod getting pulled away.
The crowd's chant turns to, "Ohm. Ohm. Ohm."
Someone slathers ointment on her stomach, and they release her.
She trembles alone, tears falling down her cheeks, staring at the judges while trying to look brave. But she's branded and brilliant and broken open in a way I don't think anyone would ever know how to fix, including me.
My heart aches. Anger floods me to the point I can barely see.
The hand gets removed from my throat.
I choke.
"Easy. Don't want to die on your initiation night," the man warns, and steps back. "Release him."
They obey, and my arms fall to my side.
I rush over and reach for her.
"Don't touch me," she warns.
I freeze.
The judges rise in perfect, eerie unison, their long robes whispering against the stone. One raises a hand, and the room falls silent.
"Brax O'Malley," the center judge intones. "Your duties now lie with The Underworld."
My jaw clenches.
The Underworld can shove its duties—
"You are to speak of none of what transpired tonight," the judge continues, his voice slicing through my thoughts. "Not to your family, not to your friends, not to the woman beside you. Silence is your shield now. Break it, and your life is forfeited."
A cold pulse moves down my spine.
Valentina's breaths grow shallow.
More guilt eats me that I didn't stop them from harming her.
Another judge leans forward. "From this moment on, every step you take will either gain you power or strip it from you."
My chest tightens. The brand on my hand throbs, and my hatred grows stronger.
I didn't survive the streets to be owned by anyone.
I force myself to stand taller, even as my vision pulses from the pain radiating up my arm.
The judge warns, "Your path begins now. Choose wisely, initiate."
Yeah.
I'll choose.
And when the time comes, I'll choose against every one of you bastards.
Valentina stands perfectly still beside me, her tears drying from the heat of the fire still roaring beside us.
The Omni bang their gavels again, sealing whatever twisted ceremony they just conducted.
The chant starts back up, lower this time, almost reverent.
"Korr-velash… korr-velash…"
The sound vibrates through the brand on my hand and the fresh wound on her stomach, tying us together in pain and fire and vows that don't mean what these bastards think they do.
They think they own us.
They have no idea what they've just created.
Valentina turns. "It's time to go." She doesn't wait for me. She moves through the crowd with her head held high.
I follow.
We reach the exit, and someone hands us our clothes. We step into the hallway naked.
The door shuts, muffling the chants.
"Minx—"
She holds up her hand. "Silence is your shield, Brax. Now get dressed. A car is waiting outside to take you home."