Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Rocking. The world is rocking.
Salt stings my lips and lungs. Red Root clings like a heavy, smoky blanket over my face and eyes as I fight my way back to consciousness, to sensation. Metal pinches my wrist. I’m lying on something soft covering something solid and unforgiving.
I breathe in, rolling onto my back as I fight to open my eyes. Metal clanks, and my wrist feels so much heavier than it should. I blink, vision bleary as I look up to see the thick iron chain bolted tight to the wooden wall, the cuff biting around the delicate flesh of my wrist.
No. No!
I gasp, turning around as my free hand reaches for the one bound in a manacle. My finger brushes against the slightly warmed metal – it’s been here for a while.
“She wakes.”
That voice.
It summons bile and acid to my throat. The liar’s velvet tones roll over me. I scramble amongst the blankets on the floor, turning to see him. The monster obsessed with power, with ruling the continent … with me.
Nouis is watching me like a predator. He absorbs my every movement as I scramble away from him. My back slams against the wooden wall. I look out through a grubby window, and see clouds scud past. The whispers of a sloshing ocean and the call of gulls leak through the wood of the ship.
We’re sailing. I’m trapped on a boat, with this delusional monster.
This depraved tyrant who started everything, who set the continent on a path to war, who set my city on fire …
because he wanted everything. Nouis’s greed and desire for absolute power is maniacal.
He wants the entire continent under his grip.
His loathing of anyone not under his control is vicious and bloodthirsty. And me?
While yes, I am the head of the bank, and he sees me as key to controlling the Independent States, he has wanted me for longer.
His obsession with me started as children, a crush that morphed into a depraved, sadistic kind of delusional ownership.
And worse, he’s convinced it’s mutual, though perhaps a shred of reality is leaking through his vile imagination given I’m chained up this time.
The room is small, and almost entirely empty. Bare floor, walls and ceiling. The door is made of thick wood with a strong-looking lock. Nouis sits on a chair against the far wall, a small table to his side with an unlit candle sagging in the wrought-iron holder.
Nouis stands up and the floor creaks under his smart, durable boots.
“Sorry about the conditions, my dear,” Nouis says, his voice almost purring. “But technically you are a prisoner. Once we sort everything out with my aunt, we can improve things considerably. Have you situated as befits my intended.”
His intended? Bile burns a hole in my throat.
Last time, at that trap of a negotiation, he spoke as though I wanted what he wanted.
Somewhere in his sick mind he convinced himself that I was somehow working with him.
Clearly, he hasn’t given up. He doesn’t want to kill me; he wants to break me.
He wants me to be his. He wants to live out his vile fantasy with me. Fulfil the obsession.
This sick monster.
I stare at him, fear wrapping its icy fingers around my neck and squeezing tighter and tighter until I can barely breathe.
“You know, you had me going for a while.” Nouis chuckles darkly, those manic green eyes glinting as he crouches down to my level.
“I didn’t see what you were doing. I really thought …
but then that traitorous false priestess made her announcement.
A new church? Ridiculous. Preposterous. Then it was so blindingly clear. ”
What on earth is this idiot babbling about? Nouis laughs, dropping his head and raking his fingers through his dark curls.
“You are so very clever, my dear. I can’t believe I ever forgot that,” Nouis says.
“Taking power so you could ensure our war comes about. Bolstering that false priestess so my aunt has to invade, to force her hand. I’m sorry I was slow on the uptake.
I should never have doubted you. It’s brilliant. ”
Nouis reaches out to me. I want to scream; I want to lash out and throw his hand away. But I can barely even flinch as his fingers press my chin, tilting my face to the side as his eyes land on the bruises around my neck. Left from the attack in my home.
“A miscalculation of your effectiveness,” Nouis says with a sigh.
“But then, without risk we don’t have reward.
Deliberately sowing division amongst the people by casting out Patricelli was smart, but who knew they’d be so foolish as to actually lash out like this?
Peasants dare to reach for us? I’m glad you handled them – and making Patricelli look like the villain for orchestrating it too was utterly genius.
But you need not fear anymore. Here, you’re under my protection.
No one will touch you, not when you’re mine. ”
His? He still thinks, all of this … was with him in mind? I feel desperate tears welling in my eyes. My fingers curl around the knitted blanket beneath me, as I fight for breath.
Nouis drops his hand and kneels, closing the gap between us.
“I’ve left you speechless.” Nouis’s eyes rake over me. I’m still in that blasted bridesmaid dress, but his hungry stare makes me feel like he’s stripped me naked.
He reaches for my face again, and I can feel myself trembling against his grip. He leans closer. He drops his head to mine, ignoring the single tear that breaks free from my eye to drip down my cheek.
“Shhh, it’s okay. No need to fear. We’re together again now, darling.
” He’s practically groaning, and it disgusts me.
“But we will have to be careful. Make sure we play my aunt just right, and this can all happen for us. You and me, ruling the continent through the most powerful bank in the world from our seat of power in Halice. Starting a dynasty that will conquer the continent and beyond.”
He leans his mouth down, but my head is trapped between the wood of the wall and his iron grip so he is able to press his lips against mine. That’s when the door of the cell opens loudly. Nouis snaps his head back to glare at the intruder.
Lysa smirks, as she leans against the doorframe.
“Cousin, you’re finally conscious.”
“What?” Nouis snarls.
“Captain says we’re about to make land.” Lysa juts her chin towards me. “Wants to make arrangements for her.”
Nouis sighs and drops his hand as he straightens up. He brushes off his dark fitted tunic.
“Good news, my dear. The sooner we get this sorted, the sooner we can get you out of those chains, hmm?” Nouis says excitedly. “I will be back soon. Hopefully that sleepy fog will be all cleared up.”
He turns to Lysa and says in a sharp voice, “Lock the door.”
“Obviously,” Lysa answers with a drip of sarcasm as he walks past her and out of the room. I let out a gasping, shuddering breath as my free hand comes around to frantically wipe at my mouth, wanting to claw my own face off to rid myself of the sensation of his assault.
“I’ll have to keep a close eye on you, cousin,” Lysa says, irritation licking out of her flat expression, “given you mean so much to him.”
“Be careful of him,” I respond, voice thick and raspy as I meet her eye. “He’s manipulative and dangerous.”
Lysa smirks and reaches for the door handle.
“Then we are a good match, because so am I,” she answers with a dark chuckle and a wink before shutting the door tightly behind her, leaving me in the room alone.
The loud clack of the key in the lock punches through the air and I am utterly and entirely alone, trapped in this tiny room, chained to the wall.
Bile surges up my throat. I just about manage to clamber forwards and vomit into a corner.
My limbs tremble and my face is slick with silent tears.
Fate’s Fury, this is it. Nouis has crossed the threshold from delusional to entirely insane. It is a vicious, callous kind of madness that terrifies me. What will he force me to live through? And that’s if the Holy Mother doesn’t take my life the minute we step onto dry land again.
I fight for breath, hunched over on the floor as I fight to get control of myself. I wipe the tears from my face with trembling fingers. I pant, trying to gain control of my racing heart and throbbing veins. The metal around my arm clatters and tugs, making movement difficult.
I need to calm down. I need to pull myself together. I might be trapped, I might be in the heart of enemy territory, but most importantly, I am Renza Di Maineri. I will walk towards my Fate with my head held high.
I will not be afraid.