Chapter 6
Completed Her Duties
Raven
Present Day – Catastro Sea
This had been a whirlwind since I woke up. My questions hadn't been answered, my annoyance was growing ever present, and my concern and worry and grief were all compressing, one on top of the other.
But I was pushing it all down, forcing myself to focus on the here and now.
Here, I was on a ship headed towards an unknown country with an entirely new set of rules that I wouldn’t be privy to.
And now, I was outside in a very thin garment, a robe that covered me head to toe, but underneath, I was freezing. Even in the games, I couldn’t remember a time when I was this cold. But I clenched my jaw as Drago greeted the woman across from us.
The one who hadn’t taken her eyes off mine.
She was terrifying. What I imagine a monster would be if it pretended to be a human. Her skin was tight against her bones, her eyes expressionless, her mouth in a thin flat line brought up only by the fullness of her pink lips. Her skin was translucent, nearly clear as if it were made of plastic.
She could be twenty. She could be one hundred.
The sight of her was a distraction from everything else going on. It was a reminder that even though I had escaped the games, what lay outside could be just as dangerous…if not even more so.
“—duties, but how can she belong to one of your men? You have just taken her from the Redemption Games,” the Priestess spoke, the words seemingly directed into my very being.
But they weren’t for me. And it was Griffin who responded.
“She is to be my wife.” He tightened his hold on my shoulders, squeezing me to him. “A claimed woman, one who is to be married, is not to be taken to the Isles of Sacerdos.”
My stomach fell to the ground, my previous cold replaced with a fiery rage. But I knew better than to disagree with him here. He had advised me to follow his lead. And I would do so in this moment, but afterwards?
I will not be Griffin’s wife. There has to be another way.
Schooling my features, I forced a placating smile onto my lips, leaning into Griffin’s side.
It was clear the High Priestess was not enthused with his statement. That it had been the trump card he meant it to be. “Unless another can make a claim on her.” The woman tutted. “Perhaps you should get your future wife some clothes. She’s freezing.”
The High Priestess glided forward, appearing an inch away from my face. Griffin’s hand on my shoulder was the only reason I didn’t jump back.
“Raven,” the woman murmured. “You are sure that this man is to be your husband? The Prince of Grypheem? That there isn’t another with a claim to you? What of your soul sent from above?” The words wisped into the space between us.
The prince of Grypheem?
My soul sent from above?
I held my composure.
The wind kicked up, my gown dancing at my ankles, my hair freeing from behind my ears.
The shocking frigid air was exactly what I needed, but with it came the woman’s scent.
Sickly sweet, overpowering as if it were masking a revolting decay.
My nose crinkled in disgust as I leveled the woman with a glare.
I did not know enough to reject Griffin’s claim.
Doing so could very well mean they would have a reason to take me.
But I didn’t agree with her insinuation.
That Sacred Cherished didn’t get to choose.
They were chosen.
“He is to be my husband.” Speaking it into life put a bitter taste in my mouth. But I knew better than to fight on this point.
When she left, I could interrogate Griffin.
See if this was just a ruse, force him to find another option, to take me back to Violencia.
I hadn’t even stepped inside his country yet, and I already knew I would hate it.
That if this was any indication, it wouldn’t be much better than where I had come from.
Is nowhere safe? Is the entire world filled with corruption where the evil feasts on the weak?
Will anyone remain intact? Us? Our families?
Our children?
My daughter’s face flickered into my mind and, with it, a deep well of grief.
I was grieving her childhood, which I missed. Time stolen from us. And then she was ripped from me again.
The Priestess’s lips curled upwards, but she wasn’t smiling.
“I see you have made your choice.” She brought a hand up to my face, her robe falling back and revealing veiny porcelain skin.
Just as her fingertips were to make contact, a hand tugged me back, out of Griffin’s hold and into the group of armed men.
One of which was who held the back of my dress.
I nearly fought against them, but then his scent wrapped up around me.
Even in the full gear that masked his appearance, the acrid poison was unmistakable and oddly comforting.
Oleks.
I couldn’t see the Priestess any longer, but I heard her sharp bark. “I see. We will leave her in your capable hands. But be warned that should another stake a claim on her, she will return to us until the agreement is settled.”
He isn’t lying. He aims for us to truly marry. I can’t do this. It’s too much.
Oleks put a finger to his lips, ducking further down and heading towards another part of the ship, pushing me ahead of him, blocking my figure with his.
We kept going until we entered a different door from before going below deck. Once inside, he took his helmet off, wiping his hair out of his face.
“Finally, it’s just us.” His head moved on a pivot as if he were searching for someone but there was no one else around.
“Oleks?”
“Raven. Listen, we need to talk quickly. Before you are surrounded again.” He reached for me, pulling me into his arms, into a hug. He squeezed me to him.
I was still recovering, not up to my full health, but this time when I woke up I knew that I was better. My stitched up side was no longer pulsating and red; it was healing.
I was healing.
Physically, at least.
“If this is too much. If you need to escape. You just tell me, I will make it happen. You do not need to be in the middle of all of this.” Oleks’s words tickled my ear as he placed them there. “And that woman? Do not let her touch you. She is poison.”
“The sickly-sweet scent?”
Oleks tightened his hold on me. “You could smell it? That is what you need to avoid. Do not let that near you.”
“Raven?” Maverick’s voice cut through our conversation.
I offered Oleks a gentle kiss to his cheek before pulling back from him and turning.
I could not dispel the immediate relief of seeing Maverick.
Of his copper hair in disarray as he jogged the passageway towards us.
Of his bright hazel eyes sparkling in relief.
His mask gone. His entire face on display, creating a picture in my mind of who Maverick was.
Maybe it was the separation that made him seem less approachable, but without it, I could feel the warmth that radiated from him.
Maverick wasn't a cold person by design. It was by choice, by necessity. He was a man who had lost his triplet, George. Who had fallen to Ivan’s torments.
Who had been thrown into the game with Levi, the one he thought responsible for George’s death, only to realize that it was his other brother’s, Enzo’s, choices that ultimately began the chain of events.
“Maverick,” I greeted warmly. I expected him to stop, but he didn’t. Instead, he grabbed hold of me, lifting me off the ground, into his arms.
Rubbing his face against mine.
The show of affection at odds with everything I remembered him to be.
“Brother, control yourself,” Enzo said from behind him, walking up. Their energy had completely swapped since I first met the two brothers. Before Enzo had seemed easy-going, but the man who stood before me was a statue sculpted in distrust and anger.
Maverick grunted, a shocked gasp leaving his lips as if he had just realized what he'd done. He set me on the ground none too gracefully, and it was only Oleks's sturdy arms buckling around my waist that kept my knees from giving out.
“Hey, Enzo. It's good to see you,” I attempted.
“Unfortunately, I can't say the same to you.”
His words were sharp, electric prods that burned. But I numbed myself to them. Controlling my emotions, pushing them further and further down. Until I couldn’t touch or reach for them.
I am the shadow. I am the shadow.
Levi came up from behind Enzo, grabbing onto his shoulders and shaking him.
“Shut the fuck up. It's only because of her that you're alive, that I don't fucking throw you overboard into the sea. You would think after the entire encounter that we all went through together that you would have understood. You owe her. And yet, here you are, sullen and pouting because you're stuck on a ship and headed toward a new country. What did you plan to do? Go back to Violencia? Head back to the prison? Turn yourself in? Did you really think that was gonna go over well?” Levi’s typically soft and southern voice was heated and ragged as his previous anger appeared to compound with his growing annoyance.
Enzo shrugged out of Levi's hold. “I certainly didn't expect to be going to war,” he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.
“All I wanted was to keep my brother safe and for us to survive that fucking Masquerade. And now here we are, headed towards another game, possibly worse, with no fucking rules in place. And all because she had a goddamn child. Everybody has goddamned children. What does is fucking matter? How is she special?”
His heated wrath was pinpricks across my nerves. I didn’t want him here if he had no interest in it. But before I could say as much, Maverick spoke up.
“Brother, cut it out. It's not her that you're mad at. She doesn't deserve this.” Maverick stepped back and allowed Levi to take his place. “I’m glad you’re okay Raven, but I hope you’re ready. When we land, I imagine we won’t have much time before everything starts up again.”
Enzo cut his hypnotic amber eyes to mine.
In their depths, I saw a cornered creature, a lonely man.
A brother who'd lost too much to bear. I didn't blame him for his anger, I just didn't understand it.
Why were we going to war? What had I missed while I was once more swallowed into the depths of unconsciousness?
“Enzo, you don't have to do this,” I said.
I could practically see the sadness painted on Enzo’s face, in the brush of his downward brows, the tightness of his lips, the indigo shadows that crept under his eyes. “I have no choice, Raven. But Maverick’s right, I’m not angry with you. I’m sorry. I just…” He turned his gaze to Maverick.
He just doesn’t want Maverick to be in danger.
“I understand.” Reaching forward, I took one of Enzo's hands, squeezing it in both of mine. The move appeared to shock everybody in the passageway. But no more than Enzo himself. I knew that Enzo was still heartbroken, guilt ridden and simply trying to survive, trying to keep his brother alive. And it made sense to blame me. I didn't know exactly what was happening yet, but all signs pointed to the fact that being Cherished wasn’t good, even if the title was wrapped in a pretty bow and given a special name. Being Cherished meant our choices weren’t our own.
And I was Cherished.
A Sacred Cherished.
I was terrified at what was to come. But I could only hope that each and every one of the men here—that Julian, that Griffin, that everyone who I had met along the way—would be safe. That I wouldn't be the reason more people would die.
Releasing Enzo, I stepped into Levi’s waiting arms. Allowed him to scoop me into them. To remind me that even in the chaos, there was a safe haven I could melt into.
“I’ve got you darlin’.”
Levi would be my rock. My strength. My outlet.
He would help me get back to my daughter. To Jayce.
My thoughts cut to Griffin. To what he had said.
I will not marry him. I will do whatever I must to ensure that doesn’t happen.