Chapter 9 #3
Panic tore through me. The thought of her tainted hands on my Sorrow.
The final image of her on the boat, the devastation, the pain etched into her face as the corpses she’d raised slumped into the blood-strewn sand, haunted me.
My only hope was that she and the others had escaped. To where? I had no idea.
The empress grinned, her yellowing teeth exposed. ‘You’ve no idea how much I’d like to see her. Possess her. So, Asmar. I’m going to issue a demand and you and your feeble mind will obey. Your wife, sister-type thing and captain fled to Drufaera. Enfys sits on the throne. For now.’
She was safe! They’d made it! If I could have exhaled my relief I’d have blown the mad bitch away.
‘From what my spies say, the little princey, Oskar? He’s positively livid. Wants your wife dead. She’s not safe, Asmar. Not safe at all.’
A shiver of fear traced my spine. Sorrow was strong. A fucking Deviant. Oskar was only what, eight or nine? He wasn’t close to emerging yet. He wouldn’t have the power to harm my wife… But those who’d been loyal to Romero? They’d have a few reasons to sanction Sorrow’s death.
‘You’re going on a trip, Asmar.’ She stroked her finger along the edge of the dagger still pressed against my pulse.
‘Back to Drufaera. You’ll tell everyone how you escaped.
You’ll let your wife think you’ve found a way to beat those tattoos.
Then, Asmar, then you’ll bring her straight to me.
Deliver her right. Into. My. Hands. You won’t disclose my plan or show any signs you remain under my control. Understand?’
Rage roiled through me. I’d fight it. Gripping the dagger, I tried to force it closer to my neck. I’d rather die than sacrifice the woman I loved. The empress rolled her eyes.
‘Oh, Asmar. You’re so frightfully boring.’ She placed her cold fingers on mine, lowering the blade. ‘You can’t fight this. Not at all. I need a Deviant more than I need air and you, dull as you are, are my pretty, green-eyed key to obtaining one. If you need more encouragement…’
Ifan stepped aside and a young girl, a child, trembled in the doorway. Tears ran down her face from her wide brown eyes, her fingers clutching a rag doll to her chest. She looked unnervingly like Sorrow when she had been a child. The poor thing must have been five at the most.
‘Ooh, she’s such a sweetie. Don’t you think, Asmar?’
The empress put her hand out, and the child shook her head, her wild dark hair falling around her face, and my heart cracked.
The empress rolled her eyes, and lurching, grabbed her.
She cried for her mama as the empress placed her before me.
I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around her, tell her she was safe.
But even if I could, that would have been a lie.
‘This little snotty thing reminds me of someone.’ Her fingers clutched the ruby, the damn ruby that would grant my freedom. ‘Now, who could it be?’
My fingers flickered for a moment as she eyed the girl. I grunted, desperate to spare her whatever ordeal the empress had planned.
‘Of course.’ She clapped her hands together, and the little girl flinched, setting her brown eyes on me, pleading for help. She looked exactly like—
‘Your wife!’ she cried; the girl’s chest heaved as she tried to hold back her tears.
‘Oh, Asmar. This could be your little girl. Your child. Did you want that? Did you want to force your bought bride to give you babies? That’s why men like you buy a wife, isn’t it?
Force a woman greater than you could ever be to push out snivelling baby after baby.
I think you’d have liked that very much.
Life is truly a curse sometimes.’ She grabbed my hand holding the dagger, brought it to where the child’s heart hammered in her chest. My eyes widened as she flinched. ‘Press the blade forward.’
Without question, the blade pressed against the child’s grey shawl. Her cries stopped, her tiny form shuddering.
‘The little girl you’ll never have. Tragic.’ Leaning up on her tiptoes, she kissed my cheek. ‘Heartbreaking.’
‘Empress,’ Musa spoke from the shadows.
She sighed dramatically. ‘Oh, I’m not going to kill her, am I? Not yet anyway. Take the dagger away.’
My hand dropped, and the little girl sobbed, her eyes wide and staring at the monster before her. The monster I couldn’t protect her from. I swore if I destroyed the empress, I’d find this child, make up for the nightmares I’d caused.
‘So, you will bring back your lovely Deviant of a wife. You’ll bring her to me before the red moon, because if you don’t, if you think you can escape me, I will find you and personally ensure you slit the throat of every single Asmaran child. Every. Single. Fucking. Child.’
She clapped her hands together as the sobbing girl was led out, my blood frozen in my veins.
My one chance was the ruby. I’d find a way.
I had an answer. All I needed was one bloody ruby and this nightmare would be over.
I stepped into line behind her, unable to reply to Musa as he called to me.
The only images flipping through my mind as they led me away were how I’d strangle that bitch when I finally got the ruby.