13. Lina
Lina
I wake to warmth beneath my cheek.
A deep hum beneath the gritty ground rouses me. I lift my pounding head and blink away the confusion. I am alone in a dark closed-in space. Rock surrounds me on all sides.
“Lovely,” a voice purrs.
I groan as I force my body upright to find I am not so alone after all.
Before me are a set of beautifully polished golden toenails absent of blood. I swallow and lift my eyes all the way up a thin body adorned with golden silk. One bronze leg peeks from between the lush fabric. Finally, I find the face of the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
Her hair is black. Her eyes and lips blood red.
I flinch as she reaches toward me. Her eyebrows lift, but then so do the corners of her perfect lips.
Her fingers, painted gold to match her toes, reach my hair, and she rubs the strands of dirty bronze.
“Beautiful color. Your curls would be so luscious with a bit of help.”
I swallow. What in hell is she talking about?
“Where am I?” I say through cracked lips that sting with every movement.
“You didn’t drink any wine at our revelry, did you?”
How is that question relevant?
“My men first found you on the edge of the desert, starving and cowering in a pit.” She squats beside me, gripping my chin between her fingers. “Poor thing.”
I jerk my face from her grasp. “Don’t forget the part where I was hog tied, gagged, and dragged into literal hell.”
“Oh, don’t tell me my boys were rough with you.” She clicks her tongue in disappointment. “I’m very sorry to hear that. Perhaps your beauty was too much of an allure for them. They simply could not help themselves.” Her voice has a lilt like a melody. Beautiful but patronizing.
Anger boils up from my belly. “They couldn’t help themselves?” I bite out with ferocity I didn’t know I was capable of. “Couldn’t help but drag me into a pit where demons?—”
She stands. “Oh, don’t act like you were better off before. You were sleeping in a tree hollow for Nihil’s sake!” Her laugh is shrill.
“Only because we were hiding from your demon spawn,” I growl.
“We?” she says, tilting her head. Her eyes spark.
I cross my arms and refuse to speak. I don’t know that I’m capable of lying at the moment or if I even should. So, I decide silence is the best recourse.
“Where were you sleeping before the tree hollow? Was it better? Where would you have slept last night if it weren’t for the Ancient One’s grace?”
I lift my chin and refuse to answer.
“You believe yourself to be smart, I see. But you carry little value in your own life. Do you believe that is all you deserve? To barely survive, day in and day out? To be at the mercy of those stronger? To starve and live in filth, with only the vague hope of experiencing another day in squalor?”
“To choose,” I say, but I don’t meet her eye. “I deserve the choice. That is what the Drak’yn will never give me.”
She chuckles. “Such prejudice. Well, let me ask you this, girl. Would you rather be the predator or the prey? You must choose one.”
My chest heaves now as I stare down at my dirt-caked fingers. She is right about one thing; I have very little to live for. My life was not good before they took me.
“And you are wrong. You do have a choice. You can choose to die. You can choose to remain a lowly woman on your knees. Or you could be powerful.”
A flame flares to life behind her.
“I choose to have a soul. In whatever time I have left.”
She does not like this response. Her beautiful face is suddenly shadowed with a grimace.
She stands and holds her chin up. I take the opportunity to look around.
There are no other refugees here. Only me.
In a room about the size the sandy circle had been.
The ground is the same color dirt, granular but smooth.
The walls are an orange stone, where flickering firelight reflects back from the several attached torches.
“Do you know who I am?” her sickeningly sweet voice croons.
I shake my head.
“Of course not. Lowly village girls wouldn’t know a queen if they saw one floating on the clouds.”
When I don’t move, she sighs and grips my upper arm. I reluctantly follow her command and rise to my feet. “Where did you take the others?” I rasp.
“The others are still attending the culling. Some are chosen. Some given a role within our community.”
I frown. That part was real? Are they really accepting people to be cooks and whatever other jobs she announced?
“And some are killed,” I say.
“Some are already dead,” she says. “We simply provide mercy.”
Is that what they say to justify spilling blood like it’s a chalice of wine for their entertainment?
“There is much you don’t yet comprehend about our way of life. I understand. It’s very different from what you’re used to. And clearly you were raised with hatred for our kind. It sinks deep when children are told such awful tales.”
The woman climbs a set of steps behind her onto a low stone platform. She dips her hands into a golden well then flicks the water from them.
Her every move is smooth and serene, like a serpent hypnotized.
“You have such potential,” she tells me. “Yet, you reject our magic. You don’t know what you’re turning down.”
I roll my eyes. “I have idea enough.” I’ve seen their beasts. I’ve seen their treatment of the sick. I’ve smelled the decay on their breath and felt the claws of their warriors against my skin.
She spins. The eyes that pin to me now reveal more of her nature. A predator, wooing a meal.
“Nearly every soul dancing above rejoices because they know they will be fed and clothed. They will be safe and comfortable in our midst. In this world of darkness and despair, it always surprises me when we find a doubter. Our kingdom is vast and powerful. We treat our subjects well. And what is the alternative? This?” She waves at my sunken form.
I decide then that arguing with her will make no difference. She thinks I’m insane. I think she is insane.
“Very well, your rejection of our god is accepted—for now. You will not like what happens next, child. But remember that you did this to yourself. It needn’t be this difficult.” She snaps her fingers, and a shadow falls over me.
My eyes widen, but I don’t dare look over my shoulder. Warm breath huffs onto my neck, and with it comes that familiar scent of decay.
My vision turns black.
“Your fate is now in the hands of my warriors.”