Chapter 1
One
Autumn sat in pure darkness for what seemed like forever. Her only friend was the gentle hum of the ship. Try as she might, she couldn’t reach Dante through their telepathic bond, and she had no communicator to contact him with.
Armienti and Valdez had robbed her of everything. Her life, her future, her happiness.
Her own wet vomit accosted her senses. She couldn’t keep any food down. Disgusting green slop was delivered to her, three square meals a day without fail. Sometimes long winding hairs stuck out of the bowl. Armienti had offered to get her better food, but she couldn’t stand to eat the food of a traitor—especially one who thought she was going to marry him and rule by his side.
She gulped down the chunks greedily, desperate yet nauseated at the same time. She was too hungry to turn her meals away anymore. A fever consumed her, and delirium set in. She was far too weak to attempt to escape.
The ship stilled and the temperature in the room dropped to what felt like below zero. She shuddered, her teeth clattering together. The air was cold and dry as she inhaled. Her breath became white flowing mist.
Where were they? Had they finally landed?
She stretched her neck to peek through the windows but was unable to catch a glimpse of her surroundings. It was no longer dark and star-filled outside, but a deep murky gray.
The lights in the room flickered on and she squinted, her eyes taking a moment to focus. She’d been in the darkness for so long she’d lost track of time. She trembled as two Zexian guards approached her. Their powder-white wings sat high on their backs, twitching. Their obsidian eyes were dark and lifeless.
They keyed a code into the door of the translucent cage she occupied. They dragged her from the cell, kicking and screaming with all her might. Which wasn’t much, considering she could barely stand.
She was escorted up several flights of stairs and through dark corridors. Screaming and crying echoed from the surrounding chambers. A chill skittered down the length of her spine.
Autumn was dumped on her face before a throne, sitting atop a three-stepped steel dais.
Leave it to Valdez to have a throne on her ship. How pretentious. What a bitch.
Valdez had since changed from her tattered attire. She wore a crimson toga. Her frayed hair from where Dante had burned her jade braid had been combed neatly behind her pointed ears. A sleek white mask concealed half of her face—the half he had burned to a blackened crisp. She stroked the material with her fingers.
She chuckled and crossed her legs before propping her chin with her fist. “You look terrible, human filth. Why the long face?”
Autumn struggled to stand. Her legs crumpled beneath her weight. Her energy was non-existent. It was humiliating.
Valdez yawned and picked at her red manicured talons. “What? No witty comeback? I’m rather disappointed. I prefer my game to have a little fight. This is going to be all too easy for me, and I hate to admit, rather boresome. You have it coming though. I’ve dreamt of this day since first we met. I can’t wait to feast on your sweet, supple flesh.”
Valdez snapped her fingers and two winged soldiers returned carrying the golden sunburst crown gifted to her by Dante’s mother, Isidora. Autumn winced as they shoved it onto her head and the ends collided with the backs of her ears. Thick warm blood trickled over her scalp.
“Perfect,” Valdez flashed a serpentine smile. “A crown fit for a fallen Empress.”
The soldiers dragged Autumn to a door surrounded by Valdez’s crew who heckled her on with whistles and jeers in their strange Zexian language she couldn’t comprehend.
At that moment, Armienti rounded the corner and his cerulean eyes widened. “What—what are you doing? I thought we had an agreement that no further harm would come to her.”
Autumn glowered before hocking saliva in her mouth and spitting on his boots.
“You said you would rough her up a little, scare her to get it out of your system, but this?—”
A grin twisted across Valdez’s mouth like a rabid jackal. “Well, I’m afraid I’ve changed my mind. And, by the way, you shall join her.”
Zexian soldiers swarmed Armienti, and he struggled to break free from their grasp. They urged him onward.
Such an idiot. She rolled her eyes.
The door of the ship opened and hissed. Brisk wind blew inside shattering Autumn to the core. She’d never been this cold in her entire life. Gusts of snow whipped for as far as her eyes could see. There was nothing but violent wind and white.
“We’re going to play a game. You know how I adore games, Armienti,” she held her hands against her cheeks like a giggling schoolgirl.
His eyes widened; no words left his mouth.
Valdez’s blue eyes glowed with mischief. A soldier went to hand her a golden bow and arrow, but she pushed it aside.
“Never mind this useless weapon. I have a better idea.”
She cracked her knuckles and tied her short hair into a ponytail. “You have five minutes. Run for your lives.”