Chapter 22 Miska
MISKA
Several handmaidens whispered as they bathed me.
Goosebumps rose across my skin as the icy water splashed on me, and I yelped when the brush they used scraped over my backside.
My lips crumpled, and I tried to distract myself by looking around this bright, large world I’d been stripped and tossed into.
This bathroom was as enormous as the bedroom the soldiers had shoved me into earlier.
I had beaten on the door, twisting and pulling at the knob until my palms and knuckles burned.
I had searched the room, shoving the windows open one after the other, only to discover how high up I was.
The wind cut sharply through my hair as I hovered over the sheer drop.
Even if I tied all the linens from the bed, the makeshift rope would not be long enough to help me escape, nor did I know what waited at the bottom.
Clouds obscured whatever lay below, and all I saw beyond was a vast expanse of trees and mountains.
I was desperate to find a way out but soon learned there may not be one. My thoughts of escape died long before I heard the footsteps of soldiers out in the hall. They escorted the maidens into the room, leaving before I was stripped bare and forced into the washroom.
I covered my whimpers as my head was jerked from side to side, rough hands pulling at my hair and impatiently ripping a brush through the long strands.
Dianna often brushed the knots from my hair before bed while telling me stories about her home world.
She was never this rough, but they were not her, and they didn’t care if they hurt me.
I wouldn’t cry, though. No. Dianna wouldn’t cry.
I sniffled for the last time and squared my shoulders.
Dianna had been through tougher things than this, and I would be strong like her.
When they finished bathing me, they hoisted me out of the bath and dried me off.
I fussed at them, insisting I could do it, needing them to stop touching me.
They ignored me and shoved a dress over my head.
The slippery, pure white fabric fell to the floor, just covering my feet.
One of the maidens pulled at the laces, tying them so tight at my back that my breast bunched and my ribs ached.
They spun me around, moving me as if I were an unfeeling doll, and began styling my hair.
Three sets of uncaring hands pulled and twisted in different directions before securing it in place with small silver pins.
Finally, they finished and gathered their things, all but fleeing my room.
My body trembled, and I stood for a moment, trying to process the violation and calm myself.
Slowly, I walked to the large silver-framed mirror that took up half my bathroom wall and stared at myself.
I truly looked like the young woman Dianna said I was growing up to be.
I closed my eyes and bit into my lower lip so hard I was afraid I might draw blood, trying to stop its quivering.
I’d finally had freedom and a family, yet they had taken it all away.
Kaden and Isaiah had dragged me from my home, kicking and screaming.
Cameron hadn’t hesitated to protect me, but it had ended with him lying twisted on the floor, his throat a tangled mess.
My healer’s heart had called for me to help him and ease his pain.
It had been torture not being allowed to go to him.
Even as Kaden had bound and secured me to Isaiah’s spiked back, I’d prayed he was okay and had survived.
My chest hurt too much to think of the alternative.
We’d fled into the night, and after what felt like hours of flight through icy mountains and barren plains, we finally landed before a gaping portal.
A handful of soldiers gathered around us, and I knew the second I saw her legion where we were going.
They had obviously gotten word to her long before my kidnapping.
I’d fought back my sobs, knowing that I would probably never see my home again.
I blinked, studying myself in the mirror once more.
No. I wouldn’t give up. I wouldn’t back down without a fight.
Dianna and Samkiel had been training me to protect myself.
I’d find a weapon and fight like hell to escape.
Dianna would fight. They all would. I would be what she saw in me.
I was no longer the lost or forgotten girl from Jade City, and I wouldn’t be bullied or ridiculed ever again.
Resolution surrounded the growing, aching pit in my chest, locking away my grief, fear, and pain where it couldn’t be used against me. And when armored boots echoed outside my door once more, determination set in.
THE WAR ROOM they dropped me off in was too big and bright, just like everything here.
This place reminded me of the images I had seen in the book about the prestigious gods and goddesses.
It was all just so gaudy and cold. The gold and cream colors screamed at me, and the high gloss of the massive table amplified it all with its reflection.
Marble statues lined the walls, holding up columns wrapped in banners.
They twisted in the wind, making the beasts embroidered on them seem to come alive.
The back of the room was wide open, the golden city below nearly glowing.
Even from here, I could see the clean streets and people wearing the finest clothes walking about.
They laughed and sang, prancing through the streets as if they lived by the grace of some perfect, sweet queen.
I knew some herbs and potions, when mixed right, could create mass hallucinations, and I wondered if perhaps she had drugged the citizens below into a state of joy and peace. How could they not see the reality of her?
The enormous double doors behind me were suddenly thrust open.
I jumped and spun, my hands clasped in front of me as I faced the being who sought to rule it all.
Nismera’s heeled boots tapped against the polished stone floor.
She smiled, and if I did not know her legacy of abuse and torture, I would think she was painfully beautiful.
Her silver hair lay in perfect spirals down her back, the sides pulled up and pinned in place by the half crown she wore.
Her dress was made from the finest fabric, all soft and light as it draped the curves of her body.
Tiny gold scales covered her shoulder, three chains criss-crossing over her breasts.
It was armor, but it looked deceptively delicate and feminine.
Stunning. She was the most hateful, beautiful being I’d ever seen.
No guards followed her in, the heavy doors closing behind her with a thud. It was just me and her.
She stopped in front of me, her perfect lips curved in a small smile. “I hope your room is to your liking.”
My room? It wasn’t my room. There wasn’t a single thing in there that was mine.
My room had the assorted herbs and plants I’d grown from seeds in my window.
My room had the art Samkiel had given me on the walls and the silly picture Cameron had drawn for me tacked above my bed.
The closet here wasn’t full of the dresses, shirts, and shoes Dianna had made or bought just for me.
It was not my room. This was not my home. This was my prison.
“I want to go home,” I said, my voice trembling.
Nismera crouched to meet my eyes and reached out. I flinched, but she ignored my reaction and slid her fingers over my hair. “But, my dear, you are home. This is your new home, and we’re going to get along so well.”
She stood and patted my head roughly as she walked past me as if I were no more than a hound. I turned to keep her in my sights, watching as she stopped beside the table. She turned to face me and tapped her fingers on the surface.
“Let’s cut to the chase here, Minci.”
“It’s Miska.”
Her lip curled. “Sure. I need poisons, and since you’re the last of your little species, I need you to make them for me. I have a workstation set up and ready for you, with everything you should need. You can even start today. How does that sound?”
My throat bobbed. Nismera wanted me to do exactly what the healers of Jade City had been doing.
“I’ll make sure not to burn you out, and you’ll have an entire staff at your beck and call. In exchange, you get that lovely room and all the food you can fit into your tiny little belly. You’ll be one of my elite staff—”
“No,” I said.
Nismera continued to smile until what I’d said registered. Then, a switch flipped, and shadows slid over her features, casting an ugly darkness over her glowing beauty.
“Excuse me?”
I took a shuddering breath. “I said no.”
Her fingers stilled against the table, and I squared my shoulders.
“Cute,” she said. “I’m offering this once. Either you make me what I want and enjoy all the amenities I’m offering, or I force you. If you choose the latter, you will sleep in the dungeons below my palace amongst the prisoners to wallow in their shit and piss.”
I had to be strong. Nismera was just like everyone else in my life before Dianna came. She was a bully, and I was over it.
“I said no.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I won’t let you use me to hurt my family.”