Chapter 4 #2
“We all have our reasons for doing the king’s bidding. Did you ever stop and think that maybe Damien didn’t have a choice?”
“There’s always a choice!” I retort.
“Just like you have a choice now?” Kane challenges.
His words pierce me like an arrow. He’s right. Every choice I thought I had has been taken from me.
“Fine. But no one made him sleep with me. No one made him confess his love. No one made him share personal things with me.”
“True,” Slader agrees. “But you don’t choose who you fall in love with. Feelings like that are damn near impossible not to act on. Trust me. I’ve been in a lot of people’s heads, and that man’s love for you was almost irreversible.”
“You made him fall out of love with her?” Kane’s outburst startles me. I would expect that reaction from me but not from him. He’s usually more calm and collected.
“I had to,” Slader growls. “King Cimmerian could tell it was only a matter of time before he completely lost control over Damien, even with the leverage he has on him.”
“What leverage? What does the king have on him that would make him do this?” The last few words come out almost as a plea. I need to know why he would sentence someone he claims to love to a fate worse than death.
“I told you it’s not my story to tell. I didn’t have to tell you any of this. I don’t owe you anything, witch.”
If I could access my power, I’d send a fireball right at Slader’s head. Clearly, being prisoners together doesn’t make us friends.
“Okay, well,” Kane starts in a much softer voice. “That’s something, Reign. His feelings for you were real. Maybe he’s just like us, a good person forced to do bad things.”
“Were,” I repeat.
“Huh?”
“His feelings for me were real. They’re gone now. Whatever the king had that one do to him erased any love he may have had for me.”
“Come on, you can’t give up on him. A love like that is worth fighting for.”
When I look at Kane this time, I see a glimmer of a tear forming in the corner of his eye. He slowly slumps to the ground, lost in thought.
“Are you okay?”
When he doesn’t answer, I wonder if I’ve overstepped. He leans his head against the wall, and a single tear falls from his eye.
“I knew a love like that once,” he says quietly.
I keep my mouth shut and wait for him to continue in his own time.
“Her name was Lytia, and she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Looking at her was like looking at the moon. Her white hair stood out against her midnight skin, and her smile could bring an army to its knees.” The corner of his mouth curves slightly at the memory of her.
“She was from Nazrelia, and I was from Cyron. We met when she and her mother visited Cyron when she was thirteen. Neither of us came from money, so traveling back and forth to see one another wasn’t really an option.
Instead, we wrote to each other. Through those letters, I fell madly in love with her. ”
I shift into a more comfortable position on the ground. The way he talks about her reminds me of how my father would speak of my mother after she had passed. I would fall asleep to his stories of her, and she would be there waiting for me in my dreams.
“Eventually, it was like fate had brought us together. We were put on the same squad when we got to the Training Sector, and everything fell into place. For the first time in my life, I was truly happy. But, as you know, the story doesn’t end there.
During my third year, King Cimmerian caught wind of my progress.
I didn’t know much about the king at the time, but that quickly changed. ”
His hands ball into fists, and I brace myself for what he’s going to say next.
“At first, he would just have me fly to deliver messages to the other realms or territories. I was na?ve back then. In fact, I felt honored to be of service to the king.” He huffs out a humorless laugh.
“One day he ordered me to set fire to a building in one of the Infinite Sea Territories. At the time, he had told me it was going to be rebuilt but needed to be burned down first. It wasn’t until later that I found out it was a Healing House full of injured fishermen.
Turns out he had ordered an attack on them at a nearby port just days before, and he needed to finish the job. ”
I’m reminded of the story Damien had told me about his father warning the three Leaders of the Sea about the ambushes the king had planned even after they had agreed to a peace treaty. That would’ve been two years before this attack.
Aren’t the Great Six Realms enough for him?
“After that, I refused to follow his orders. That’s when he started using his power to take over my body.
The first time, it felt like something was crawling under my skin.
It feels like when you’re having a nightmare and you can’t scream or run.
I was a passenger in my own body as he burned down neighborhoods, bit off the heads of innocent people, and did far worse things I’ll spare you from hearing about. ”
“I can’t even imagine,” I quietly mumble.
“One night I decided I’d had enough. I had been holding out hope that I would return to Lytia, but eventually I knew I’d never see her again.
I tore fabric from my shirt and used it as a noose.
I suppose the spell preventing us from harming ourselves is because of me, so I’m sorry about that.
” When he looks at me, I can see the sincerity in his eyes.
“A guard found me before the damage was permanent.”
His gaze falls to the ground, and I realize the story is coming to an end. Pain radiates from his cell to mine, and my heart aches for him. For both of us.
“King Cimmerian wanted me to know that I would never be free. That I was under his control. He saw my attempt at taking my life as defiance, and he wanted to make sure I paid for it. The next night, he brought me to the Throne Room. Lytia was already there, chained to the king’s throne.
” He swallows hard, trying to hold back the tears that I know are fighting their way to the surface.
“She was covered in bruises and cuts. Her fingernails were missing, and in the middle of her chest was the Royal Insignia branded into her. It was his way of telling me he owns her. That he owns me. It wasn’t enough for him, though. It’s never enough.”
The tears finally break through. Kane pulls his knees to his chest and begins sobbing.
“You don’t need to continue,” I offer softly. “You don’t need to relive it.”
“I relive it every night.” He lifts his head, wiping away the tears. “He took over my body, and I had to watch as my own hands took her life. I’ll never be able to forget the image of the light fading from her eyes.”
“Kane, I have no words. I know there’s nothing I can say—”
“It’s okay. I’m not telling you this because I want you to feel sorry for me.
I’m telling you this because if I had another chance to get her back, I would do absolutely anything and everything to do it.
I would never give up, and you shouldn’t either.
It’s not too late. No matter how hopeless it looks, Damien is still here.
He’s still alive. And although he may be lost, he can be found again. ”