Chapter forty-seven
With the new tunic I stole from Evan’s short body, I wrapped his leather belt around my tiny waist.
The tunic hung on my body in an embarrassing way.
There was a bit of blood at the top of his tunic I couldn’t wash out.
After rinsing my hair in the tub, the one I almost drowned in a hundred times, I sheathed two daggers on both of my hips hidden under the almost clean tunic. Knowing the bruises on my face and body still showed, I hoped I could still pass as a citizen as I planned my next victim’s death.
I wrapped a nearby cloth around my hair, hiding again—but not for the same reasons as what felt like a year ago.
I was hiding for a purpose far greater than insecurities.
This time, it was to attack, not defend.
Opening the door, there were no guards around.
I stepped out and walked down a large hall.
Was this normal? Must be since this place was death itself.
Something exploded nearby and made me flinch.
I shook my head.
This place did a number on people.
I straightened my spine and continued my way in the general direction of what had to be the main hall, where I was sure I could find Helon.
He did this to me.
He was the reason why I lost who I was.
He was the reason for the pain and suffering I had gone through. Passing large, dark tapestries and windows, I decided to take a moment to look outside.
Smoke filled the lands, more than usual. Chaos.
Interesting, but not interesting enough to stop me.
Hurrying my steps, I ascended a few stairs.
I finally made my way to the main hall’s doors.
Taking what might be my last breath, I opened its large metal doors, sneaking in with a dagger in my hand, ready to die for this last kill, but instead, I froze in my steps.
They didn’t hear me enter for their conversation did not cease, but I could hear them.
The words they barked back and forth wasn’t the reason for my stuttering breath.
Aris was standing in front of me in his battle leathers and sword in hand.
Lifeless warriors lay near the pillars to the side, one near him.
It was only Aris, Malakar, Acantha, and Helon in the throne room.
A family reunion, it seemed.
I was late to the party.
My head cocked to the side.
How could I have forgotten the way he moved, the way his voice sounded, the way his being shone in every room he was in?
Remembering why I was here, I slipped to the side between the pillars where it’d be hard for them to catch my presence.
I crept towards the dais—
“It’s over,”
Aris said with lethal calm.
“How could you do this to us?”
Malakar said in disbelief.
“It was time.”
“What do you mean ‘it was time’?”
Malakar shouted at his son, eyes going wild.
“We didn’t raise you to do this to us! We raised you to build with us, use your skills here, in Stroka.
Not for some silly project you’re rebuilding in the middle of nowhere.”
Aris looked over to Acantha, whose brows were furrowed over fear-filled eyes.
“Come with me, Mother.”
Aris held his hand out to Acantha.
Malakar’s laugh thundered in the room.
“You’re delusional.
She’s not moving a step towards you.
She’s loyal to me.”
He pressed his fingers into his chest as he shouted at Aris.
“It’s over, Malakar.”
“It’s over when I say it’s over, son.”
I was close to the dais, hopping silently behind the different pillars.
“Not this time.”
Breathing in deeply and before he could turn from the sound my feet made, I snuck behind Helon with lethal swiftness.
Though I was weak, considerably, I placed a dagger against his throat.
I tugged the back of his tunic toward me, gaining more control.
I could hear their backs stiffen.
All was quiet besides the screams of dying Strokan citizens in the distance.
I didn’t dare look at Aris as I held death over his conniving uncle.
Given the number of bruises, cuts, and wounds on my face and body, I wouldn’t be surprised if Aris didn’t recognize me.
“Bitch.
How did you make it out?”
Helon breathed shakily, trying not to move too much against the dagger.
“What did you do?”
Aris' voice was barely a whisper.
I could hear the shock in his voice.
I could hear the pain.
“She came here, Aris, to Stroka.
Sh—she told us your plans for invasion, and we couldn’t trust her word so—so we kept her.”
I laughed hoarsely, pulling his body closer to me, dagger pressing and breaking skin.
He didn’t know I could speak for myself.
Blood leaked down my hand.
“She’s no longer there, Aris,”
Helon breathed through the pain I dealt him.
“She’s useless to you now.”
He smiled nervously, knowing I could kill him by pressing one more centimeter into his skin.
“What did you do to her?”
Aris’ voice was controlled, though I heard a sliver of panic.
“He didn’t do anything, Aris.
Stop the dramatics.”
Malakar scowled.
I pulled Helon’s neck towards my face.
Looking in his eyes, I said.
“You did this.”
His breath caught in his throat, and he froze, eyes wide.
If the main hall could breathe, it held in its breath.
Utter silence filled the hall.
Not a single muscle twitched.
Helon stammered, “I—I—”
“You’re not a mute,”
Malakar whispered, shocked.
“Answer me.”
Aris’ power rippled towards Helon.
I dug the blade in further.
“She—she’s—Aris, she’s—"
“You took me.
You tortured me for information you never got,”
I hissed into his ear.
“You killed me and my memories. My life.”
Two things happened at once.
Malakar swept towards me, grabbing my waist, but it was too late.
I had slit Helon’s throat, ending his wicked, pathetic life.
Now it was Malakar’s turn to have a blade at my throat.
I let Helon’s limp body drop to the floor.
Blood dribbled from his neck and mouth before the fire in his eyes faded.
Malakar’s arms pressed into my sides, not allowing air to flow.
I didn’t need to see it or to feel it to know that he had reopened the wound around my neck.
Blood spilled on his blade, making it appear worse than what it felt like.
I didn’t dare struggle against this emperor.
Aris had stepped forward but stopped when Malakar stiffened the dagger upon my neck.
Aris’ eyes remained cold and distant.
“She’s Insulatus now, Aris.
She’s gone, for good.”
Malakar straightened his spine.
“You always had a soft heart for the weak.
Remember that one—the man I captured in the war? What was the name you kept telling me he was called… Something with a… Ah, yes.
Jonam.
Yes, yes, I think that’s what it was. I thought I taught you a lesson not to get too attached to those people, Aris. And now you’ve done it again.
I’m quite disappointed in you as a son. Except this one seems to be more than a brother-in-arms bond. Perhaps…something stronger?”
Aris’ jaw twitched.
“You killed my brother?”
I breathed.
“Your brother?”
Malakar drawled.
“Oh, Aris.
This keeps getting better.
No wonder you’re so attached to this thing.
Your guilt weakens you.”
“What did you do to him?”
I raised my voice, feeling the power from within.
“Jonam? He was the only one to escape the cages.
I’ll always remember him.
What did he do with his freedom? He found me and tried to kill me.
Spewing something about how I deserved justice for what I have done to Aris and to my people.”
Malakar scoffed and shook his head.
“He was so enraged he didn’t see my men come from behind him, and I ordered his execution then.”
So that was how my brother died.
By trying to end Malakar’s life.
That was something my brother would do.
Instead of running and escaping, he fought.
Aris took a calm step towards us.
Not caring anymore what he saw in me, I lifted my eyes to him.
He met them.
All of my feelings for him flooded into and around me, spilling into every cracked crevice.
For a moment, I let him see all of me.
The pain, the fear, the anger and hate, the change in me that Helon uttered, the part of me that I hid from myself, the loss of myself, the part that reminded me of him in the darkest of moments, and the love I had for him.
I let him see the sweet, soft girl he knew that had changed forever, let him see how much I wanted to end his father’s life. I let him see the part of me that didn’t care if he hated me or was disgusted by me, because it didn’t surpass how I felt about myself.
“Of course, we saw something in her.
She knew something she wasn’t telling us.
We had to use some tools on her to get her to speak.”
Malakar shifted with me pressed against his body.
He was using me as protection or leverage.
I wasn’t sure which yet.
“How did that work out for you?”
I croaked while my bleeding throat moved against the blade.
Malakar laughed, looking at me.
“You did fool us, but I wonder how long you would last.”
“Until death.”
He stopped laughing, but I didn’t let go of Aris’ beautiful dark eyes.
I could see the strong column of Aris’ throat move.
I would have died to keep his secrets with me, I told him through my eyes.
Malakar’s rough, bearded face spoke against my cheek.
“Enough.
Aris, it’s simple.
Leave Stroka with your men, and I won’t kill her.”
“You’re done, Malakar.
Your infantry—is done.
They’re gone.”
Aris stepped closer.
“Hand her over to me.”
He still wanted me—the person I had become.
He was delusional; he thought I was still here.
“She’s dead if you don’t let us go, son.”
Malakar chuckled but pressed the blade even deeper, piercing my flesh.
I glanced at Aris, and I saw the fear in his eyes.
I shook my head as much as I could.
It’s over, my mind told him.
It’s over.
Let me go.
Panic filled his eyes and his face.
He was no longer the controlled emperor I was so used to seeing standing in front of me.
He was breaking.
“Kill him,”
I whispered loud enough for him to hear me.
“Shut up, you bitch! I’ll gut you to pieces.”
More blood slid down my neck.
I flinched against the dagger.
I could feel the pain—
“I’ll do it.
I’ll leave the city at once,”
Aris blurted.
“Just hand her over to me.”
“No!”
I cried out against the blade.
“I’m already gone, Aris.
End his life.
Finish what you came here to do.”
“Hand her to me now,”
Aris growled, ignoring me.
“How will I know you won’t kill me after?”
Malakar grunted.
“I’m a man of my word, unlike you,”
Aris said through clenched teeth.
“I promise I will not kill you if you hand her over.”
Malakar loosened his hold on me and lowered the bloody dagger from my throat.
Shoving me down the dais towards Aris, he reached for his wife.
But Acantha was nowhere beside him.
I scrambled on cool, hard ground on my hands and knees.
Aris rushed to my side, grabbing my arm.
His touch sent electricity through my veins, and I felt my heart beat stronger than it had in months.
I lifted my head to meet Aris’, which were dark, wild, and everything I now remembered. He turned and watched Malakar as he searched left and right for his wife.
Acantha was now behind us.
Malakar narrowed his eyes.
“Come here.”
Acantha stifled her sobs.
“No, I won’t do this anymore. I can’t—”
“Do not make me repeat myself!”
“Enough!”
Aris shouted.
He drew a dagger from his chest.
“You did this to yourself.
You lost your family.
You lost your people, your country.
And now you’ll lose yourself.”
Aris flung his dagger with full force, aiming straight for Malakar’s heart.
Malakar turned to his left just in time for the blade to plunge into his right shoulder, but we both didn’t see the next dagger flying in his direction.
Another perfectly aimed dagger diving into the center of his chest.
Silence fell in the throne room.
Malakar’s knees dropped to the dais, echoing off the walls.
He lifted his head and looked at his son. “You…”
He crumpled, and his open eyes turned vacant.
With a blank face, Aris took a deep breath and turned towards me.
“Let’s go home.”