Chapter 54
Where am I?
And where was I before I came here?
It was bright. So bright that I had to shield my face with the back of my arm.
I walked towards the only thing that I could see in the midst of this blank space of white void.
No, not something, I realised as I moved closer, but someone.
She was robed and hooded with the finest creamy silk; her body, I could tell, was tall and slender, even from behind.
“Hello?” I called out. To my surprise, my voice didn’t echo.
She turned around, but her oversized cowl didn’t allow me to see her face.
Her robe draped over her shoulders, just enough to cover her full breasts, but her belly, I could see, was very much swollen.
Her hands went to her throat, exposing it, as she untied the thick knot that was keeping her hood in place.
My hand darted towards the centre of my breastbone. My fingers found skin.
“That’s my necklace!” I wanted to snarl at her, but my words stuck to my tongue as she pulled back her hood, revealing herself. Princess Maryam.
“Oh, look who it is…it’s Lady Cordelia Weakheart.”
My jaw tightened. “Give me back my necklace!” I demanded, every word dripping in rage.
She let out a playful laugh, holding her lower belly with both of her hands. “And why would I do that? Why would I ruin a complete set?”
She placed a lock of dangling hair behind her ear.
The gesture caused her wide sleeve to fall to her elbow, exposing her hand.
A golden band with an emerald gem, the shape of a kite, wrapped her ring finger perfectly.
And as she moved her hair out of the way, two identical marks scarred her neck.
My stomach boiled, just as my blood did. I wanted to rip them all off her skin.
She laughed again. “I took everything from you—your necklace, your man. Mmm. Oh, and I almost forgot! Cinnamon says hi. Aegir gifted her to me for blessing him with this child.” Her hands went to her belly once more and she let out a loud sigh of pleasure.
“You’re lying! He wouldn’t do that to me.” I tried to bark the words at her but they came out tainted with uncertainty.
“Oh, but he did. He chose me, didn’t he?”
“He was forced to. Your father made him.”
“Do you really think that a powerful male like my Aegir can be forced into anything? You heard him choose me. Tell me, how long did it take for him to say my name?”
She rested her hands on the apex of her belly, bobbing with laughter. My whole body trembled. I bit the insides of my cheeks so hard, blood coated my tongue, my gums.
“The answer is one second, Lady Weakheart. It took me one second to take everything from you…and do you know which part I took from you that I treasure the most? It is the memories of your parents.” My heart leapt, tears soon leaving my eyes.
“Tell me, do you wish to know if they are memories filled with love and laughter? Or do you wonder if they are filled with hate and terror? I guess you’ll never know for as long as I live. ”
My fists balled at my sides, and I was surprised to find added pressure in my right hand. I looked down and found myself holding a silver dagger, its hilt tightly gripped inside my fist.
“Oh, are you going to kill me?” she asked, giggling.
I might.
Several times my gaze shifted from the clenched dagger to the princess.
She let out another blood-poisoning laugh.
“You don’t have it in you, do you?” Every word she uttered tainted me, consumed me, took over every part of me that made me whole, and spread through me like the venom of a snake.
My fist tightened, my gaze lingering on the tempting dagger.
“Come on, do it. I know you want to.” Her lips curved.
“Do it, and everything that I took from you will be yours once more.”
I strode towards her and clenched my free hand around her neck. She stiffened, eyes wide.
Then I placed the tip of my dagger against her belly.
“Do it,” she choked out.
The rage-filled roar that ripped from me reverberated around us, urging me to push the dagger through her belly.
I gritted my teeth so tight my jaw ached, and I stared at her.
Tears dripped at the tormenting frustration.
I tore myself in half. A part of me—one made of hate and jealousy—implored me to slice her open, yet another part of me… I—I just couldn’t.
“No.” It came out with reluctance, but it was better than a yes, I hoped.
I lowered the dagger to my side and let go of her neck, only to seize back my necklace.
I gently rubbed its raw stone with my thumb.
My brows furrowed. The grey was the right shade, but its texture felt smooth and glossy, rather than rugged and cratered like the moon or like—like the walls of those caves.
The caves.
This isn’t real.
“This isn’t real,” I breathed, letting go of the dagger. I didn’t hear a clink.
It felt like a rush—or more like the sensation of free-falling—and it snapped me back to reality. The caves. The shadow of a snake gracefully moved away from me, reaching deep waters until it disappeared.
“Gods,” I mumbled. My hand went to my neck—my fingertips felt stone beneath fabric. I huffed in relief.
Cinnamon is safe at the orphanage.
“I’ll fucking kill you!” Marshen roared to my left. I jerked, snapping my head towards him.
Marshen’s body trembled uncontrollably. The only thing keeping him on his feet was the forked points of the glorious snake’s tongue at his temples.
Mercy, forgiveness, control. The test that tempts one’s mind and soul.
“Blanca! No!” Marshen screamed in either rage or terror.
“Marshen! Do not kill him! Or her. Do not kill anyone!”
He must not have heard me.
“I’m going to fucking tear you apart. You were so jealous, you couldn’t just let us be. But I’m not taking any more of this shit.”
“Marshen! It’s not real. Snap out of it!”
Marshen grunted, his right arm jerking as if he, too—wherever he was—held some weapon.
Well, I certainly couldn’t harm the snake, and I couldn’t let Marshen harm anyone in there either, yet I could, perhaps…
I neared Marshen, one eye on the open-mouthed snake, the other on the dagger.
I took his right hand. I held it firmly, resisting his jerking twitches.
I drew a thin line across his palm, just as I had done with mine.
Blood trickled its way out with the same languidness. Marshen flinched, his brows furrowing.
“What the? This—it can’t be. This—this isn’t real,” he muttered. Then he rasped faintly, “You will always be mine.”
Marshen’s eyes snapped open. The snake’s tongue slowly retracted just as my armed hand did. Marshen swayed unsteadily, his breath uneven. I ducked, grabbing him by his forearm and draping his arm over my shoulder.
I wasted no time snatching the immortal flame out of his clenched hand.
The gesture allowed me a detailed view of the snake before us.
It locked its eyes with mine. Fear of being punished for interrupting its test rushed through me.
But thank the gods, the snake slithered gradually until it, too, disappeared into the deep.
I hadn’t realised that I was holding my breath until my feet reached the landing on the opposite side of the lake. Our gazes met and lingered. We both knew that what we had just respectively faced was either what kept us awake at night or what often haunted our dreams whenever we slept.
We moved deeper into the alcove, away from those monstrous mind-manipulating snakes.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
I knew that Marshen shoved whatever it was that he was feeling into a side compartment when he said, “I’d be better if you’d at least cut my lefty…and what if we have to row a boat now? Do you learn nothing?”
I rolled my eyes at him before fishing for the salve in my soaked backpack. “Your lefty was busy clenching the flame. Thank the gods you held on to it.”
“I was under the impression that I was holding twin swords,” he replied.
“Hmm.” I ripped the collar off my ruffled shirt using force and my dagger.
“Thanks,” Marshen mumbled when I finished wrapping the cloth around his palm. “What’s next, I only wonder?”
“Whatever it is…we’ll face it together.” My reply almost startled him, but then he nodded, a silent thanks for the hidden words.
As we exited the alcove, another long corridor awaited. We turned at the gush of wind that sprang up behind us, only to see that the entryway to the cavern was no more.