46
The dungeons were low-lit, the hood of her cloak casting her deeper into shadows. In Talloh, the dungeons were unguarded, and the risk of escape was virtually impossible. And should they manage? Where were they to go? The sands and the serpents? The sea and the kraken? It had taken everything for her, a necromancer, an assassin, a lady to pull it off, and even then, she’d needed inside help and the backing of a completely different kingdom to do so. So, while not easy, the risk was negligible.
Valine was graceful as she floated across the stone, carrying with her the knowledge of higher beings and the magic that coursed through her veins. She was a dangerous creature, and she would imbue every part of herself with it. It was an intimidation tactic, but it was generally effective.
She found the cell she was looking for and stood before it, twisting her beringed fingers in front of her. The magic tethered to her mark, seeping in and settling like hooks in flesh. Her mark awoke with a gasp, startling up from the rough, moldy pallet that had been provided. The acrid stink of piss was in the air from the bucket in the furthest corner of the cell. Valine wondered how often it was emptied and who had the undesirable duty to do so.
“Who’s there?” Pandora gasped, her pale hair greasy and limp, her nails bitten and dirty. Her feet were curled beneath her, tangled in the filthy blanket she’d been provided. She was a shade of what she once was. Her clothes were grimy linens, no longer was she bedecked in jewels and velvet. No longer was she keeping Jacira with that thing she did with her tongue. No longer was she playing the king.
“Hello Pandora,” Valine announced in a low voice, stepping closer to the bars.
Pandora’s eyes narrowed, searching the shadows as flame played across Valine’s face. She was surprised and confused, and Valine smiled a feral white smile beneath the hood, but she knew the fire picked up on it.
“Valine? Wh—what are you doing here?” Pandora’s voice was a quiver, her green eyes fearful.
“I’m here to offer you a choice.”
“A choice? What kind of choice?”
“You face the gallows tomorrow, but I’m giving you the option of a second chance.” Valine paused, Pandora’s face losing color. “You can choose to work for me—finding dirty secrets, trading intel, using your charms, whatever suits my needs and whatever you feel equipped to handle—or you can choose death.”
“What? What are you talking about? You speak of treason? Like you’re some sort of spy?”
Valine crouched before the bars, eyes level with the woman on the ground, a subtle threat in her tone. “Something like that.”
“Why me?” Pandora pressed.
“Because somehow you were fucking both the king and the princess without anyone knowing, not to mention the allegation of your relationship with Larysa Olympias. You clearly have charm, and I could use it. I hate to see talents wasted.”
Pandora narrowed her eyes, not even summoning the ability to be ashamed. She was so far past that point. “You called the relationship an allegation.”
Valine was thrown for a moment but didn’t allow the confusion to show on her face. “I did.”
“But you didn’t with Jericho and Jacira, meaning you knew those relationships were true, but not with Larysa.”
Valine cursed herself internally. She felt anger burn in her eyes, her lips thinning. She inhaled sharply and immediately regretted it, smelling damp wool, mildew, and piss. Pandora wasn’t shackled, but there were chains in the cell, flaked with rust and what Valine suspected was blood.
“I don’t see why that detail matters.”
“I think it matters a great deal,” Pandora said, strength growing in her voice. She stood to her height, Valine realizing for the first time that she was as tall as her. Unsettled, Valine got to her own feet. “I think you know the truth.”
Her voice was an accusation, and Valine continued to stare at her, her gaze beneath her hood flinty. She wasn’t sure what to say next. She was still so off-kilter from her altercation with Nylantia, she was not at her best.
“Whether or not I know the truth is irrelevant,” Valine hissed.
Knowledge lit Pandora’s peridot eyes. “It was you,” she gasped. “You killed Jericho.”
“And how would I have done that?” Valine nearly growled. “Were you not the one that woke next to his dead body? Were you not the one supposedly associating with Larysa Olympias, paying the fucking healer with Lunethian jewels to pay off his gambling debts? Were you not seen with him many times, feigning headaches to conspire? Were you not accused of blackmailing him in your quest for the crown? And was he not caught with fleur de mort? It was the perfect crime, dear Pandora. You had motive. You had opportunity.” Valine curved her fingers, puncturing Pandora’s supple flesh with her magic. She gasped with pain. Valine cocked her head. “How would I have done such a thing? I had already left Talloh long before you even went to bed with the king.”
The veins stood out against Pandora’s pale skin as she struggled for breath, pain wheezing through her lungs. “What are you doing to me? This isn’t funny, Valine.”
“I see no humor, either. I’m simply applying pressure to show you what I am capable of.” Valine lifted her hand up to her face into Pandora’s line of sight. Slowly, she curled her fingers inward, and the magic responded, black smoke constricting the woman’s throat. She clawed at the invisible mist, but her hands only went through it. Maintaining eye contact, Valine unfolded her fingers, and the smoke receded. Pandora heaved for new breath. “Let me make this clear; I could kill you right now. I could let the gallows take you tomorrow. Or, you can pledge yourself to me and live.”
Pandora was rubbing her throat with a dirty hand, staring at Valine with true fear. “Are you a necromancer?”
“I think that’s a foolish question at this point. I want an answer.”
“I want to ask a question before I agree.”
Valine was impressed with the woman’s courage that even after Valine had choked her by barely lifting a finger, she still had the spirit to negotiate. She could admire that. “Ask it then.”
“Why frame me?” Angry and despairing tears pooled in Pandora’s eyes. “What have I ever done to you?”
Valine offered her a solemn smile. “You were convenient. That was all. You happened to fit the requirements needed for the job I was doing.”
“That’s it?” Pandora screeched. “I was there? That’s it?”
“Yes,” Valine said, voice concrete. She wasn’t proud of the part she’d forced Pandora into, which was why she was trying to make amends this way. She didn’t deserve to swing by the neck tomorrow. She didn’t deserve to be dishonored and disgraced when her bowels and bladder let go above the stones. “Which is why I’m here now.”
“You can go fuck yourself,” Pandora spit.
Valine sighed. “I’m offering you an out.”
“I don’t want your fucking job.”
“You’d rather die?” Valine lifted a brow.
“I wanted more.” Pandora’s voice was defeated.
Valine was curious, so she couldn’t help herself. “Why were you involved with Jericho and Jacira? I could never put together why, so I assumed.”
Pandora barked a laugh. “That’s just it. What you assumed was exactly what I wanted. I want to be queen. I’m little more than a bastard, but I could taste that fucking throne. I was so close, and you took it from me.”
Valine considered, a plan forming in her mind, decisions marking, penning themselves in her mind, plots shifting. “What if I could get you a different crown?”
Pandora lifted her head, slowly watching. She had her attention. “How?”
Valine shook her head. “I can’t tell you that now. Not when you haven’t accepted my offer. But I swear to you, if you agree to my terms, I will do everything in my power to give you the crown that you so desire.”
Pandora stared at Valine flatly, eyes hard.
“You have what it takes to survive in the court,” Valine told her. “We can make this work, but you will not get it right away. You will have to do so much before the opportunity will come to pass. Do you agree to work for me?”
Pandora, defeated as she was, stared Valine through, resentment and hope mingling. “I’ll do it.”
“Okay, but first, you have to die.”
“What?” Pandora squawked.
“I’m going to create a permanent tether between us. When you die, you will be reanimated but bound to my commands. You will maintain all the abilities of life, including bearing children and aging, as long as I live. But if at any point I sense your defiance, I will kill you, and I can do it from two feet away or two hundred miles.” She snapped her fingers. “Just like that.”
Valine was lying. There was going to be no tether; she could not sense Pandora’s defiance, and she could not kill her from miles away. What would be her undoing was a broken command, and Valine had no direct control over those. But Pandora didn’t know that, and folk knew enough about necromancers to fear the might of tethers. Valine could resort to more control, but she was not that desperate. She was going to resurrect Pandora the “right” way, as she had no interest in sacrificing a piece of her soul for the power-hungry girl.
Even so, fear was a prevailing motivator.
“Will it hurt?”
“For a moment,” Valine told her honestly.
The blonde woman sat on her filthy pallet and nodded once. “Are you going to do it now?”
“No,” Valine said. “It will be tomorrow at the gallows. They need to see you hang. I will ensure your body is retrieved, and I will bring you back.” Valine tossed the menstrual products in the cell. The padded linen landed around her like large snowflakes, stark against the grime. “People shit themselves when they die. If you want to spare yourself the mortification, pad your undergarments with these. Your bowels will still release, but it won’t end up on the pavers.”
All the color drained from Pandora’s face, tears rising and silently slipping down her face. “I didn’t want this.”
“Most people don’t care for the cards they’re dealt, but you make them work for you, and if you can’t, you bluff.”
“I will never forgive you,” Pandora swore.
“I don’t expect you to, but I don’t need forgiveness. I need obedience.”
“So, this is really it.”
“It is. But don’t take it too personally. You are one very small piece in a much bigger machine.”
“You’re a villain,” Pandora hissed, her teeth still white despite it all.
“I know.”
And with that, she began walking in the direction she had come from, pausing in front of a cell. Inside was Healer Das, staring at her with terrified, rheumy eyes. There was hope there, too, but Valine ignored it.
“You can swing tomorrow,” she snarled, and for good measure, she drew her magic away from Pandora and lashed at the healer, severing his vocal cords. It would not kill him, but he could not speak of anything he’d heard this night.
She left the dungeon behind with the sounds of Healer Das’s gurgling cries following behind her as she smiled and ascended the stairs to her king.