9. Eshe
Eshe
Ezra opened the doors to my new chambers, and it was nearly identical to the ones my father would send his royal captives to. The ones he wasn’t quite sure about and didn’t trust.
It was pretty, for political reasons, but the windows were barred shut, and the lock was on the wrong side of the door.
I’d never heard of a time when a woman was thrown into one of these, mostly because women were forbidden from politics and war.
I gritted my teeth. Instinctively, I stepped back, but Ezra made sure I wasn’t going anywhere with his firm grip around my upper arm. It made my body tingle with rage.
I’d never been in a cage before.
He pulled me toward the chamber and then pushed me through the threshold.
“It’s temporary. Or not. You decide,” he said.
The walls that imprisoned the room were a dark, forest green and reminded me of Mongah.
Patterns of gold paint were embossed from the top of the ceiling to the marble floors.
At the far end of the chamber sat a bed resting beneath a canopy of deep purple fabric, supported by four towering golden poles.
The fabric hugged the four poles surrounding the bed.
It was inviting, and suddenly my body wanted to relax into it.
It had been so long since I’d slept in a bed as plush as this.
But it was a facade. This wasn’t real. They were my enemies. I couldn’t forget that.
I whirled around to face the twins. Casimir hadn’t said a word as he stood behind his brother. Besides having the same height, they didn’t look identical anymore.
“Oh, yeah? How so?” I crossed my arms.
“It depends on how you cooperate, of course,” Ezra said softly. He was playing with me.
My nails dug into my palms. How did this turn around so quickly?
I was foolish in my planning. I had expected one, maybe both of them, to recognize me during the dance and had readied myself for the moment they chased me down.
It all went according to plan. If it were not for Ezra’s otherworldly perseverance and eyesight in the dark, I would have been celebrating this moment with Norrah, who wouldn’t have had a clue I had just murdered her Qahl.
I knew there was a chance that things wouldn’t go exactly how I wanted, but I planned for that.
I trained for it, but what I hadn’t known was that Ezra’s skills far exceeded my own.
Why had I underestimated him? I assumed he would have been the typical prince, like Casimir, enjoying the finer things of the palace, living among his harem with women draped over his arms, with no care in the world?
Casimir shook his head with a smile. “You were always an adventurous girl. I admired that about you.”
I scoffed and shook my head, though my heart was still racing. Always a flirt, Casimir. Always making my heart skip a beat with his words.
“Look where that’s gotten you. Reconsidering some things?” Ezra murmured.
“Oh, fuck off, Ezra,” I warned him, knowing where his head was at.
“My brother is being too kind, adventurous? No. Careless and deviant? Yes. Something a woman should never be.” He shrugged casually. “Only trying to help you find your way.”
Heat filled past my neck and into my cheeks. I trembled underneath his burning gaze, and I wanted nothing more than to strangle him for it.
But not now.
Now was no longer the moment I had the upper hand. It was no longer the moment I had been living for over the past eight years. I had to wait a little bit longer. They weren’t going to kill me, or else they would have already done so.
New plan.
“If you had nothing to do with my family’s deaths, then why are you keeping me here like I’m your prisoner?”
“You tried to kill me, woman.” Ezra’s jaw tightened. “I don’t take that lightly.”
I took a strong stance and placed my fists on my hips.
“If what Casimir says is the truth, then it was clearly a misunderstanding.” Not likely. They had something to do with it. I knew it in my heart. I forced the next words out of my lips, “Let me go.”
“Not a chance, love.” Casimir laughed.
“Am I even allowed to come and go from this room?” My eyes darted around. I could feel the walls of this chamber start to reshape and float closer to me.
Casimir shifted on his feet, already falling for my trap, but it was Ezra who answered, “No. I think it’ll do you good to have some structure and discipline.
Too much freedom isn’t wise. It gets into your head.
Your father never learned that lesson. He always spoiled you.
You’d do well to learn from this.” Ezra turned on his heel and strutted toward the door.
My heart thundered against my throat.
I needed to get out of here.
At the last moment, I sprinted across the room, dodged Casimir’s reach, swerved around Ezra’s—
His arm snaked around my waist and hoisted me into the air. I kicked my legs at him, but a cold, hard blade appeared below my jaw, and I froze.
“You’re like a rabid dog. You don’t know what’s good for you, Eshe,” Ezra spat. He dropped me back to the ground, blade positioned toward me. I looked up at Casimir, but he just shook his head slightly and followed his brother out.
This was so much worse than I had expected. I was prepared to die, but not to be a prisoner.
This was my worst nightmare.
I heard the sliding bar of metal on the other side of that door echo across the chamber.
Then I heard their hushed voices float through the cracks. I tiptoed closer.
“We’re not bringing this matter to Father, are we?” Casimir.
“No.” Ezra.
Footsteps faded.
No one was going to know I was here, only them.
I unraveled my strained fingers and looked around my new cage. After taking a long, deep breath, I took my time inspecting and softly knocking on every nook and cranny around the door until I found a shallow spot next to the threshold.
I scurried over to the large, empty, decorated pots near the window, lifted one made of marble over my head, and smashed it down onto the marbled flooring.
The heavy marble crashed and broke pieces of the flooring.
Perfect.
Taking a thin piece of marble, I walked back to the threshold.
I began drilling the smallest hole with the piece of hard marble, twisting it back and forth with my fingers.
After what felt like hours, and when it felt like my fingers were about to fall off, I was finally able to see through the empty, dark hallway.
But I saw the latch of metal, hanging on the hook, barring the door shut. I pushed the door open to test it.
The door hit the latch.
All I had to do was move that latch to the left, off the hook, and I’d be able to push the door forward.
With the thin, makeshift marble needle I created, I slid it all the way through and pushed left.
I heard the metal latch slide.
I pushed the door forward and—
Freedom.
I stifled my menacing laughter.
Darting my eyes a foot to the left, I was going to drill another hole in the side to lock myself back in.
Because I was crazy like that. No way was I not going to take advantage of this situation.
My family had yet to be avenged for their deaths, and I wouldn’t fail them.