Chapter 42
Chapter Forty-Two
The air shifted as we stopped walking, volcanic warmth wrapping around my battered body.
A hazy orange glow pierced the blindfold across my eyes, but that wasn’t what caused my pulse to quicken.
Even without sight, I could sense the authority in the room.
Her power and the reverence of the warriors surrounding her was palpable, crawling up my skin, exploring me in a way that felt violating.
Sightless, I listened. Heels clicked against rock, every step louder than the last, the only other sound a crackle of fire. My breath quickened with each echo, but I steadied it. I held control.
The steps paused before me, mere inches away based on the way that unavoidable power engulfed me.
It turned alluring, though I wished it were not.
Invisible fingers tickled my skin, awakening my senses and enticing them to bow to her.
My stomach rolled, but I straightened my spine, muscles straining against it.
Against her. How she was capable of this, I did not know.
The blindfold fell from my face, and I stared into the cold, calculating eyes of Queen Kakias.
She quirked a brow at my reluctance, reaching up to cup my cheeks with pristine hands, slender fingers ending in pointed nails.
Her skin was soft against my own. These were not the hardened, calloused hands of a warrior who spent their life bearing weapons.
No, these were the hands of a dictator who relied on the soldiers around her to do that.
Kakias was only the mind that guided their abominable actions.
I took in her white skin, like an iced-over lake, not a crack visible but for the faded purple scars stretching from the center of her forehead diagonally across the left side of her face and disappearing under her sharp jawline.
They eerily didn’t twist her expression at all, looking more like paint than puckered skin.
The deep black of her hair was a stark contrast against the rest of her face, except those eyes.
They felt endless, like I would fall into the dark irises forever and never return to myself.
Regardless, I held her gaze defiantly, refusing to show any uncertainty, as I wound my pinkie into the knots at my wrist and fought to keep my spine from bowing to her power.
“Hello, child,” she cooed, as if I were a baby. A chilling smile broke across her cheeks, pointed white teeth stark against red lips.
For a flash, I pictured those teeth dripping with blood, as her hands should be for all the pain she brought upon my life.
For all the pain she brought upon this continent.
Lucidius may be responsible, but I’d be a fool to forget the artful contrivance of this woman.
While many barreled forward with strategies and swords, historical circumstance taught some to nurture a skill even more powerful—manipulation.
Kakias had undoubtedly pulled the strings of fate to her advantage throughout the centuries of her life until I stood before her today.
Hands tied, soul battered, but broken heart still beating. A twisted, vengeful desire gripped me.
I tilted my head, her own taunting smile mirrored on my face. “Hello, wicked queen.”
Ire pinched her face, but it was gone in a flash. The queen released a haunting laugh, echoing off the rock walls around us.
When she took a step back to circle me and Malakai, I maintained my indifference. I did not allow my gaze to follow her, instead scanning for anything that might aid our escape. Malakai was to my right, brows lowered, gaze assessing. The twelve guards formed a semicircle at our back.
In the shadows, a cloaked form lurked. Lucidius. His presence riled my blood, but I forced myself to maintain my cool demeanor.
The cave was the largest I had seen so far.
Even larger than that in which I met the Spirits, with towering ceilings and pointed tapers of rock hanging down from them.
A set of large steps was built into the wall on one side, as if a crowd could gather in the space, and to my other side a bubbling cauldron sat above a fire. A rack beside it held—
I gasped, my resolve slipping for a moment.
My dagger, the spear, and Starfire winked at me in the flickering firelight across the room.
“Oh, you’ve seen my little welcome present?” Kakias intoned. My eyes were glued to my weapons. “Or perhaps a goodbye present is more appropriate?” Her dark dress dragged along the floor, the train a serpent in her wake.
The fire, the cauldron, the forge.
Her present was drastically clear. My precious weapons, the defenses that saw me through the journey here, the trusted presences at my side, were to be melted down and forged into something new.
Engrossian battle-axes most likely. To deface any warrior’s weapon was a disgraceful act among all seven clans, but this…
this level of destruction. It wiped the warrior from existence, erased any honor they bestowed upon their people, and blurred any memories of their triumphs.
This was vile.
My eyes locked on Starfire, the blade that had trained me into the warrior I was today, then the spear, the weapon I had only begun to explore, and the rage I had so carefully contained was unleashed.
“You’re a disgrace to all warriors, present and past,” I seethed.
A cold hand snaked around the back of my neck. She whispered in my ear, her breath a hot sting against my cheek. “I would expect nothing less from you, Ophelia. You’re rumored to be a ferocious little thing.”
If that was what was expected of me, then I would oblige. I’d unleash every bit of fury that had festered within my bones for two years. Allow the power I’d honed to feed on it. I’d play her game of tactics and manipulation, striking low and without remorse.
“And you are rumored to be a cowardly ruler who has others torture innocent men to achieve your deranged goals.” I jerked my chin at Malakai.
She circled back to face me. I caught the flash of hatred in her eyes when they flicked to Malakai, and I realized that his torture had been for no reason beyond her own revenge. The pain she felt over Lucidius having a child with another woman.
“I prefer ambitious, visionary, loyal to my cause,” Kakias said, resuming her control.
“Loyalty does not justify the thousands of innocent lives you took in your sham of a war,” I spat. How twisted her views were, how contrived her motivations. “Your ambition is tainted with death, Kakias.”
“It is called sacrifice, dear,” she sighed. “You’d be smart to become acquainted with the skill, to learn to conquer the ache it leaves behind.”
I found it hard to believe that she knew anything of sacrifice. She operated on greed, ensuring others felt that jarring pain, the black hole it rooted in their soul. Kakias did not sacrifice—others did as a result of her plans.
“Why is that?” I growled. Fury and revenge became molten within me, and I’d unleash them if she thought to make a sacrifice of someone I cared about. My newly adapted strength begged to lock my hands around her slender neck.
“Because you will be the greatest sacrifice of them all.”
My breath caught in my throat. For a moment, I forgot to fight the power driving my spine into a bow. I stumbled but recovered before she could win that battle. That wicked queen would not get my reverence, she’d not get my life—I’d ensure it.
Kakias stepped closer, until we were toe to toe. “It’s a shame. We could have made a great team.” She shook her head, actual pity in her voice.
Malakai practically growled, but Kakias paid him no heed. The hatred was clear in the tight set of his mouth and shoulders. He looked quickly to my wrist—where one finger tangled with the knots—and blinked in understanding.
“And explain to me, Kakias, why would we ever be a team?” I forced myself to resume an essence of that false sweetness.
She dropped her gaze for a moment, and I stilled my fingers, my heart rate speeding.
She was not looking at my hands, though.
In her own she held something thin and silver, a blade as delicate as an icicle.
She twirled it between her fingers. Black gems lined the handle, sending a myriad of colors around us where the firelight touched them.
The reflections were searing poison against my skin.
Lifting the dagger to balance it carefully between her hands, she regarded it like a treasure on display for its victim.
“Well, surely after that one is disposed of”—her eyes landed on Malakai briefly before turning back to me—“you will need a new lover. I have someone in mind.”
My blood chilled, fingers gripping the rope. “Your son?”
That malicious smile returned. She grasped my chin between cold fingers and jerked it upward.
With her other hand she brushed the hair from my forehead, prying it from the patch of dried blood.
The hilt of her dagger pressed into my cheek.
“He likes pretty things. I think he’d be pleased to have you as his own. ”
There was a shuffle behind us, a guard stumbling, and Kakias averted her attention for a moment. I looped my finger into the rope and tugged.
Then, she tightened her grip on my jaw and shoved my chin up farther. “But, alas, you would be too much trouble. I can see it in your eyes—the way they swirl with that unbridled power.” She considered. “I think it’s something we share, Ophelia.”
“We share nothing,” I spat, wrenching my chin from her grasp.
Her sharp-toothed smile was hungry. “The innocence of the naive is truly remarkable.” Thoughtful eyes raked over my body, but she tutted, “It does not matter. My son wields enough power without you, so it will be cleaner if I simply take what I need now. Besides.” She gripped my left forearm. “This would have to go.”
The cool tip of her dagger traced the Bind where my leathers were torn at the elbow. Each second of the slow drag fueled my anger.
When she reached the tip of the star, she dug the dagger in gently, a bead of crimson blood forming around it, sliding downward over my scars. That dark power around my bones loosened as she watched it, hunger burning at the sight, distracting her.
Her eyes met mine, a cruel joy festering there, and I knew what she meant to do. It would not be enough for her to kill me; she had to break me first. Little did she know I had already been broken so severely by the man standing beside me that her attempts would be futile.
She tilted the dagger as if she would drag it down my arm. The ropes fell from my wrists. Her eyes widened, and I smiled sweetly.
“Oops,” I whispered, before raising a fist and bringing it firmly against her jaw. The echoing crunch was satisfying, but I could hardly appreciate it before the room around us erupted.
The guards pulled axes. I ducked one and swiped two daggers from the owner’s waist. I turned to Malakai, slicing through the binds at his wrists without looking and shoving a weapon into his hands.
“Show no mercy,” he muttered just loud enough for me to hear.
“It’s not in my nature to,” I purred as my dagger sank into the side of a guard. Together, Malakai and I faced the host of Engrossian guards.
I couldn’t help but grin as my blade repeatedly met flesh. I was not killing them, but I was inching toward the fireplace. Toward the weapons beside it. If I could get my hands on Starfire or the spear—
Cool fingers wrapped around my throat, crushing my windpipe and throwing me to the ground. The air blew from my body, and my head smacked into the rock. Black dots clouded my vision.
“Enough!” Kakias shouted.
Her bloodied warriors froze as her claws gripped my hair and dragged me to my feet to face her. The silver slit of her dagger pressed against my neck as she walked me backward. I couldn’t fight, couldn’t struggle as it sank deeper.
One motion, and that would be it. My blood would spill, my life would be ended. Malakai would die next, and the Mystique Warriors would forever be at the hands of this hell-sent queen with the soulless eyes and bloodied hands.
My legs hit a table beside the forge, and she forced me onto it. Splintered wood cut into the skin where my leathers were torn. I felt trapped. I did not understand the power she wielded to hold me here.
“The box,” she called without taking her eyes from the place her knife met my neck.
A guard brought whatever she demanded, placing it on the ground beside the table where I couldn’t see it.
I raised my chin, daring her to make that final slice.
“All of this precious blood wasted in a worthless girl,” she whispered.
My chest tightened, but I refused to let Kakias see even a flicker of vulnerability. Malakai was on the ground, struggling against the guards.
The queen smiled as the first bead of blood trickled down my neck, a thin line of heat tickling my flesh, signaling that it was time to die. Metal caressed my skin like a welcome kiss, as if the Goddess of Death knew I had evaded her recently and had come to claim me now.
The blade pressed deeper. It was sharp—one slice and my life would be over. My eyes locked on Malakai, face drained of color and eyes wide, and I sent my goodbye to him with one slow blink, sending him riling against his captors.
Then, I met Kakias’s cold stare, watched her lips split into a victorious grin. The blood thickened on my neck. Slowly. She was going to do this so Angel-dammed slowly. Make me feel every second of life leaving my body.
There was no preparing for it, nothing I could tell myself to make it hurt less. I was trying to grasp that grim reality when a flash of green armor threw aside the queen, knocking both her body and dagger away from me.
He tore his mask from his face, but it wasn’t pale skin that shone in the firelight as he looked down at me.
It was tanned skin.
Brown hair with honeyed highlights and chocolate eyes fueled by vengeance.