Chapter VI Lela #2
“A daughter walks home, through the woods all alone. She longs for her mother, and the warmth of the hearthstone. She never sees the wolf, who stalks through the trees. She never hears his steps, only wind in the leaves.”
Perhaps it was because it had been months since I’d had to endure Valerius’s attentions. Perhaps it was that secret missive with cryptic quotes about freedom. Or maybe Grigor’s pitying looks, knowing Valerius would not be gentle this night. No. I don’t think it was any of those reasons.
Bunica walked with me tonight. I could feel her spirit in my bones, willing me to awaken, to come out of the dark. The subtle hum of magic prickled along my skin as her voice sang to me while I walked through the shadowed halls.
“He pulls her off the path, and drags her to his lair. She screams for her mother, and dies in the darkness there. Her mother comes running, hearing her daughter’s cries. She rushes through the woods to where her daughter lies.”
The house was silent as I walked past the atrium. The only sound was the trickle of the fountain. The water flowed like blood, the blood pumping thicker through my veins, singing a new song. One of vengeance. One that would finally free my chained spirit from my master. And this abhorrent world.
“She sees the vicious beast, eating her precious girl. It awakens the mother’s wrath, for her daughter was her world.”
I walked away from Valerius’s bedchamber, down the long corridor and out into the courtyard, toward Diana’s temple.
Once inside, I lowered to my knees to offer a prayer.
I stared up at Diana, the fierce protectress, goddess of the hunt, as she drew her arrow back, pointing at some unseen prey.
Her wings were spread wide, her horns curling in a feminine sweep, her tail whipping and her dress pressed against her strong, womanly form.
Setting the oil lamp down, still shaking, I placed both palms on the cool stone and pressed my forehead to it, recalling the warm memory of Trajan kneeling beside me in this very spot, comforting me.
Then his deep, masculine voice echoed in my mind.
You are stronger than him … You are better than him.
This spark of rage and desire for vengeance was also because of him. The handsome tribune who’d offered me some small hope had buoyed me up, igniting a fire that burned inside my chest.
My body had been used countless times without my permission. It hadn’t seemed to matter when I was able to lose myself in my mind, in the abyss. But Trajan had stirred me from my deep emotional slumber, and I couldn’t seem to find that place of deadness inside me. That realm of peace. Of pretense.
I remembered how I’d touched my blood to his skin, sensing, recognizing a good man beneath. It was surprising. Even more so was the whisper in my heart that made me tell him, You are going to protect me.
What a sad jest. He couldn’t protect me.
No one could. I was the only one who possessed the power to escape this horror-filled world.
But even I needed help from the supernatural.
If Bunica had been right, then there was at least one goddess on my side.
My grandmother continued to sing in my memory, her eyes glittering by the firelight, intense upon me, Malina, Kostanya, and Kizzy.
“Fury burns her soul. She becomes a beast of her own. Her mind fills with darkness. Her heart is hard as stone.”
Goddess, help me, I thought, since I could not speak the words with the muzzle in my mouth. Then I sat back onto my knees and peered up at the divine creature in half-skin, wishing I could become her. The power of a dragon was magnificent. If I held such power, I’d change the entire world.
Magic burned brighter inside my chest, spreading through my limbs. It hummed and whispered through my veins, sizzling to the surface of my skin. It had been too long since I’d felt this sensation, this touch of the gods.
I didn’t need the power of a dragon. I held the power of a sorceress, of a bloodsinger.
Knowing what to do, I paused for one moment longer in the temple then marched back toward the center of the house and the corridor leading to Valerius’s bedchamber.
“She kills the devil wolf. Vengeance gives her strength. She tears him asunder. With her claws and her teeth.”
When I finally entered his bedchamber, no longer trembling with fear but with anticipation, he was muttering something to himself while looking out the archway toward the lights of the city. I took my place beside his bed, cupping my palms at my sides.
Inhaling a deep whiff, he turned, that sinister grin on his face. His bright green eyes were slit with the dragon, his features tight as if he were about to shift. I remained still and poised.
“There she is.”
He stalked toward me, still smiling. He stopped before me and then cupped my face, though he merely held the bridle, which covered my jaw. He rasped his thumb over the jeweled mouth. I couldn’t feel it, but I shivered with revulsion all the same.
“I wish I could kiss the lips beneath this golden chalice, sweet Lela.” His dragon eyes glazed with cold lust. “I would devour you.”
His speech was somewhat garbled since his canines were lengthened. He was closer to the dragon tonight.
“But you would bite out my tongue, wouldn’t you?” he whispered intimately.
He wrapped one hand around my length of hair falling down my back and pulled so that I bent my head and arched my neck. I inhaled sharply at the pain but kept my hands at my sides, tucked in the folds of my nightgown, and remained calm.
“Wouldn’t you?” he hissed, our faces close.
I couldn’t answer, but he seemed to find the answer he needed in my gaze.
“You can’t help but make men want you. You certainly possess the beauty of a witch. But you are mine, Lela. It will always be so.”
Seemingly satisfied with his decree, he let me go and stepped back.
“Now, remove your gown and bend over the bed.”
He stepped away toward his wardrobe to undress and place his toga neatly on its shelf. Valerius had always been a creature of habit. He never altered his routine. He was so predictable.
I did not remove my gown, but I bent over the bed and set to work quietly with the key hidden in my hand, waiting for his return. It only took a few moments before I heard his bellowing outrage.
“I gave you an order, Lela!” His bare feet smacked on the marble floor as he crossed the chamber. “Don’t think because I haven’t had you in months that you can disobey my commands.”
I curled the fingers of my left hand over the lip of the bridle above my mouth and tightened my hold on the hilt in my right.
“I’ll fucking make you obey,” he growled.
“So mark me, all ye monsters, who prey on daughters fair. We mothers will come hunting. We are the beasts you must beware.”
The burning in my veins coursed quicker and hotter, my own heart drumming louder in my ears. He grabbed hold of my hair and jerked me back off the bed, onto my feet.
With one swift move, I pulled the bridle from my mouth—the unlocked clasp falling free—and twisted around, swinging and slashing the dagger across his chest. The shock made him let go of me and falter back, glancing down at the gash.
When he looked up, I was already licking his blood from the blade.
“No!” He lunged.
“Fall to your knees and don’t move,” I spoke softly; an eerie echo of my voice swirled in the room, laced with the power of the gods.
He gasped in pain, instantly crumpling to his knees, his arms paralyzed at his sides. I dropped the golden bridle before him, the key clinking in the lock. His terrified gaze flicked from the bridle on the floor back up to me.
“If you kill me, Lela,” he hissed, “they’ll torture and execute you.”
“It would be worth it, but I’ll kill myself before it comes to that.”
“Don’t! I’ll be better to you.” There was a tremor in his voice that skated sweetly over my skin.
I loved to hear his fear, to feel it trembling to my bones.
A nectar I never thought to taste. “I’ve been better to you than to any of my slaves.
I’ll make you a true wife if you stop this now and let me go. ”
I stared at this foul creature who had given me almost too much pain to bear. But like the naiad, I endured it all. And I would be free—either in this life or in the netherworld.
“She was right,” I muttered to myself. “Freedom is true happiness. No matter the cost.”
“What?” His expression twisted with confusion, his canines still sharp.
The air was laced with feminine magic, my magic, and it was sublime, intoxicating.
“Keep your lies inside your belly, Valerius,” I commanded.
He’d opened his mouth to say something else, but he couldn’t, the lies sticking in his throat.
“You are no longer my master,” I whispered. “I was never yours anyway.” I stepped closer, the tip of my blade at the tender notch at the base of his throat. “You have taken my body. Now I’m going to take yours.”
“No, Lela. Listen—”
Sffft.
I silenced him with a deep slash all the way across his throat.
I’d had lots of practice in making cuts.
I’d sharpened this blade daily, knowing exactly how hard to press for a precise incision upon my skin.
I knew the light pressure needed for a surface cut.
So I knew exactly how hard to press to go deep.
I’d used all of my strength to slice so very deep. When he fell over, blood spurting, eyes wide in terror, I leaned over and embedded the blade where his black heart should be.
My magic filled the room, singing through my own blood.
A catharsis of using my magic to kill my jailor, my rapist, my demon filled me up with vengeful pleasure.
I was free. I smiled, then I sang the final verse of “The Mother Song” aloud, finally gaining my voice back after all this time.
I watched his blood spread in a wide pool at my bare feet and sang.
“Let the daughter walk home, through the woods all alone.” His eyes glazed over with emptiness, with death. “Let her go to her mother, and the warmth of the hearthstone.”
A solid thunk drew my attention to the terrace. My pulse tripped faster. A sapphire-scaled dragon in half-skin had just landed—thick horns curling back, tail swishing, wings spread wide, ice-blue eyes blazing wildly. His fiery gaze moved from me down to the murdered corpse of my master at my feet.
I was caught and would die for my crime. But no remorse entered my heart. It was pride that guided me to turn and face my death with my head held high.