Chapter 9 #2
What if it wasn’t just a gem? My feet were rooted to the floor as I stared at Musa.
The King of Yepana had spent the week talking about forgotten Gods, old myths and legends.
Tales from a faraway land I’d been told as a child, as Mother tucked me into my bed, a candle flickering next to me.
I lifted my gaze slowly, seeking the glint of Musa’s eyes in the dark.
I shook as one of the legends returned to me.
One Musa had reminded me of, only the previous day.
The Ruined Heart of Vyrus.
It was a myth I’d been told a hundred times by my mother as she held her own ruby ring.
She’d told me about how Vyrus had torn his heart from his chest and begged Evella to accept it one final time.
But she’d already left him behind. Vyrus’s heart had fallen, fallen to the ground where it shattered into four pieces.
The legend spoke of how the other Gods had rushed to hide the sections, knowing how it weakened Vyrus and hoping that they would be the one to usurp him.
It was a tale The Alliance had long banned. Now it was nothing but a myth recalled from charred pages. After all, we wouldn’t offer our sacrifices into the volcano if Vyrus wasn’t the figurehead of terror but a heartbroken god. But what if it wasn’t simply a tale? What if…
I paced back and forth. These were stories, myths. It couldn’t be true…
‘Poor Mr Asmar.’ My head turned towards the door, my blood boiling as the empress waltzed forward.
Musa raised his chin from the shadows as she let out a long sigh.
‘I’m such a naughty empress, aren’t I?’
She cocked her head, her long pale hair slipping to the side, a few stray strands covering the ruby around her neck.
Her fingers clutched it tightly, as though she’d seen where my eyes had darted.
Ifan stood at her side and I ignored the mixed pang of regret and pain for my brother.
Surely there was a way I could grab the ruby?
There would be a moment, a split heartbeat, when they removed the Evellum cuffs, before the effects of the Vyrium took over.
What if I could grab it in those few seconds?
She inclined her chin and Ifan, eyes down, beads of sweat glinting on his forehead, fumbled with keys, unlocking my cell.
Letting go of the ruby, she crooked her index finger, beckoning me forward.
Thoughts swarmed my mind. For a moment, my heels dug in, before my breath crushed against my chest and a guard dragged me forward.
Images flashed before me, ways to grab that fucking jewel, rip it from her and finally, finally, possess a way to end her control.
I glanced at the bandolier slung across my brother’s wide chest. He was stronger than me, armed.
There was no question he’d hurt me, even kill me if I attacked, but I was never one to worry about the consequences.
‘Oh, chivash! The game of the Gods. You could have asked me to play?’ She sighed.
In the gloom beyond her, a number of guards waited as a tightness spread through my jaw.
Grabbing the ruby was a possibility, but escape certainly wasn’t.
She’d simply rip it from my dead fingers.
How many chances would I get? ‘I do adore destroying my opponents’ pawns. So useless. So pointless. So…’
She gazed into the distance, her stare hardening as a muscle flickered in her jaw.
My heart thundered as I measured the risk.
I stood an arm’s length from the empress, her nose wrinkling as she stared at a vacant spot.
Ifan grabbed the chains around my wrists.
The second they were off, I’d be in her thrall once more.
Nothing but a marionette to her whims. But if I could do it… If I got the ruby…
I jerked, looking behind the empress with a gasp.
It was enough for Ifan to furrow his brows, turn back to the corridor, and I lurched.
My heart tore from my chest, my hands wrapped around her throat.
Screaming filled my ears as I skimmed the chain.
My pulse thundered, her nails sliced my cheek as she shoved me back.
For a fleeting heartbeat, the chill of the ruby lay at my fingertips.
Fumbling, a raw cry broke through my lips. The chain. I had to grab the—
Pain shattered my skull as Ifan grasped my hair, slamming me back into the bars, agony exploding across me. For a moment, I rested against the metal, focusing on the dark thud of pain and not the loss of the ruby.
My eyes opened and I slumped down the bars. Failure. Again. The empress narrowed her eyes. Her chest shuddered, face flushed with rage.
‘Oh, Asmar.’ The childlike voice was gone, replaced with one more suited to a demon. I closed my eyes. The slicing pain of another failure hurt more than the warm blood running down my neck. She tutted. ‘Take those off him, Ifan.’
I groaned, doubling over as Ifan’s fist slammed into my side. While I was busy blinking away the dark spots and heaving cool air into my burning lungs, he removed the cuffs, passing them to a guard.
‘Stand tall, Mr Asmar,’ she said, her sickly tone returned.
Despite the pain demanding I remain hunched over, my body sprang up, my watering eyes the only sign of how it crippled me.
She tutted once more, taking a step forward.
‘You’re really starting to vex me.’ She placed her chill lips close to the shell of my ear; her damp, musky scent assaulted me.
‘Your life teeters on the edge of a rather sharp sword. Take a dagger from your brother. Hold it to your neck, Asmar.’
She stepped back, a fierce light glinting in her wide brown eyes.
Without an ounce of hesitation, I reached out, taking the first dagger from Ifan’s bandolier.
I flipped it in my fingers, pressed it against my jugular, sensing the chill of the blade with each eerily calm heartbeat.
My mind screamed, swore and cursed her to Vyrus’s flames, but my body flowed to the beat of her will.
Smiling, the empress stepped back, scratching her neck. ‘I’m rather annoyed with you. I’m your empress, Mr Asmar. Your empress. Why would you want to strangle me?’
She stuck out her bottom lip as a bead of sweat ran down the side of my face. Thank Evella, she hadn’t seen the relief flooding my chest. Relief that she believed I wanted to strangle her and not how the desire to tear that ruby from her scrawny neck consumed me.
Tucking my shirt back into my pants, she sucked in a rattling breath before backing away.
‘You miss Mrs Asmar, don’t you?’ Despite how the empress controlled every flicker of movement on my face, my blood chilled.
The one person I didn’t want near this mad woman was Sorrow.
She nodded, a look of false pity on her face.
‘Of course you do. Would you like to see her?’