49. Chapter 49
Ifailed at every attempt in escaping the shackles on my wrists.
They were ironclad, but that didn’t stop me from trying to get to Ora.
These fuckers carried her limp body like she was refuse and not the damn queen who they should respect.
The moment those chains were wrapped around her and Phe, I noticed their energy drained, was siphoned.
They didn’t affect me because I carried no magic, and the soldiers learned that very quickly.
I’d tried getting to Phe when that fucker they called Cadis hit her on the back of the head, but once again I failed.
But I was more than a Veik. I would help Ora like I’d always promised I would, even if it was the last thing the giants let me do.
We were led to a clearing, where they chained me to a wooden post. Phe lay unconscious, but they chained her to the wheel of an enclosed carriage anyway. Ora was finally coming to from the makeshift post they’d chained her to. I heard Cadis in the distance talking to his soldiers, giving orders.
“Is she alright?” Ora whispered in a slur. Phe was Ora’s lifeline, her rock. I couldn’t imagine what she would do if her sister died.
“She’s breathing, at least.” What else was there to say? “Are you alright? I need to get you out of here. We need you safe for Gria. I need you safe.”
“I’m not leaving Phe.”
I knew best not to argue. When Ora put her foot down, it was easier to spin gold from a spinning wheel than to change her mind. And I loved her fiercely for it.
“Fine.” I had been working my post loose while the soldiers had their backs turned.
I pushed the last bit, shimmied my chains off, and ran toward Ora.
I had just reached for her when a soldier advanced on me, throwing their fist toward my face.
I spun, my elbow locking on their jaw as I pivoted again and pushed hard with both hands for them to fall to the ground.
Lucky for me, their scabbard had come loose, allowing me to quickly unsheath their sword and ram it into their chest. The giants must have been on my side because this soldier had been a living one. Until they weren’t.
“Sury! Behind you!” Ora’s shout caused me to pivot, ready to thrust the sword into the next person, until my arm was pushed to the side and silver eyes bared into me.
Peiro lifted my arms back to the point of pain, forcing my hands to release the sword onto the ground between us. “Get off me, fucker.”
The man I’d thought was my friend let me go with a shove and my ass hit the ground. He turned and stepped toward Phe’s unconscious form. He cradled her head to whisper something in her ear. A curse, perhaps. “Get your fucking hands off of her, you lying prick!”
Peiro’s gaze snapped to mine like a beast sizing up his prey.
I should have been afraid and pleaded for my life, but that wasn’t the Anmathios way.
And after all the shit we’d been through, this man was the last thing to be scared of.
In quick steps, Peiro approached me on the ground and grabbed me by the collar to pull me to my feet.
“Now get your hands off me,” I spat in his face.
Peiro slowly wiped the sputum off with his free hand and snarled, grabbing at me tighter. “I don’t have much time. I need you to listen to me.”
“Sury!” Ora sobbed, clanging hard against her chains.
“Anything you have to say can go right to the giants’ hell, where you belong.”
“Little Lord. Take care of her. Where she goes next is not safe for her.”
“No shit,” I seethed in between my teeth. “You betrayed her. Betrayed all of us. You were family, asshole. You were family!” I shouted, then spat in his face again.
Peiro sighed deeply then released me. “Please take care of her in the ways I could not. And after that? I will gladly walk into the giants’ hell and lock the door behind me.”