Chapter 35 #3
“I swear to the fates Orlin, if you and Lis can’t be reasonable with one another, the oracles themselves will come down from their mountains and take her. Do you want that? I. Need. Her. Alive.”
He kicks a nearby table and it skitters across the marble floor. King Euron turns around, still enraged and walks to The Nightmare.
I take inventory of the rest of the room, witnessing the sudden upheaval of decor and furniture in just the few short moments King Euron has been here. It’s as if a toddler has had a toy broken and they’re throwing a fit.
And in a sense, perhaps that’s all I am.
Clinging to the shadows by the door stands him, The Devourer.
I pull the sheet tighter around me though he doesn’t notice me either.
The sound of skin being struck draws my attention back to the encounter between Euron and The Nightmare.
The king has him pinned against the wall by his throat and The Nightmare takes the abuse willingly.
I slink across the floor, dragging the sheet with me as it sweeps some of the rubble with it, until I reach Lis.
Quickly bringing my fingers around her neck to straighten it, I feel for any open wounds or breaks. After inspecting closer, it seems as if she’s merely unconscious.
I murmur, “But I heard your bones crack?”
King Euron continues his barrage of words directed at The Nightmare, but another voice comes roughly over my shoulder.
“She cannot die as you would. She is cursed by her ancestors.”
Not bothering to look over my shoulder, I continue to look down at Lis’ pale cheeks, the pink underhue zapped from her complexion.
“Leave us alone,” I croak out, trying to get the phantom that lingers behind me to go away.
“That is not why I am here, Alora.” His voice is closer this time.
I don’t respond, I merely wipe Lis’ hair from her forehead.
Footsteps fall heavily on the floor, rushing towards me.
I can tell based on the loud steps that it’s the king. Only someone who was afraid of nothing would walk so boldly.
Turning to face him, his blue eyes blaze in my direction with his golden locks disheveled and pointing out in random directions.
“I need you, Alora.” The flatness of his tone lends no information as of what his intention is.
He extends a hand, raising his eyebrows in the process. “You look a little worse for wear.”
His eyes lock on mine, his irises void of any emotion.
“Get up,” he commands.
I sit there, stunned by his apathy.
He snaps his fingers and The Nightmare saunters over, his feet crunching over broken glass. My nail marks still mar his face and a sick sense of pride swells within me, the first feeling I’ve had that trickles in.
The Devourer makes his way to the door with his back turned to me until all I see is the neat knot at the nape of his neck. I watch him walk away until he stops beside the door and leans against it, facing us. He folds his arms under each other and looks like the embodiment of indifference.
It feels like it’s Lis and I against the very monsters of this realm. I scoot closer to her, oddly protective of her even only knowing her for mere clockhours.
“In case you haven’t learned yet, this is me asking kindly.” King Euron’s gaze hardens on me.
He speaks again, “I don’t have need for defiance, just for obedience. If you’d rather learn the hard way, then I have ways to make that happen. Sure, Orlin roughed you up, but that’s just a taste of what I’ll send you to the dungeons for if you decide to force my hand, Alora Viren.”
A smirk forms on The Nightmare’s lips.
Frustration grows on the king's face, pink flooding his cheeks.
“Kassiel, bring me your dagger,” he demands.
The Devourer pushes off the wall and within moments he’s standing next to the king, a dagger outstretched—my dagger, the opaline glint a stark comparison to the dark walls.
The king grabs it quickly and jabs the point under my chin until it bites to the point a small bead of blood wells. The king uses his free hand to drag the bead along my jawline.
“I know you’re not aware so I’ll say this once. I may not have magic, I may not have abilities or even the inklings of essence that even some bastard babes in this realm have,” he steps closer, “but I do have a wickedness in me that doesn’t compare to your nightmares.”
He releases the point from my chin and drags the blade across his tongue. My ichor stains his light pink flesh and he hands the dagger back to The Devourer.
He swallows, his Adam's apple bobbing with the motion, before speaking again.
“I have no qualms with watching Orlin rape you. Better yet, I have no qualms doing so myself. But worse than that, I would take carnal delight in watching a blade sink under your skin and flay you open while you screamed in agony. And then, Alora Viren, Commander of the Hidden, after I peel your skin off, I would carefully cauterize each vessel that would bleed only to then let maggots breed and fuck and shit in your rotting body, all while keeping you alive.”
He spits on the ground, the blood from my blade tingeing his spittle. “You think you know the horrors of the realm, but no one leaves my dungeons.”
The Devourer’s head ticks up slightly, his green eyes leveled on mine.
King Euron shifts and then kneels down, bringing his face down to my own.
“And,” he adds, “if that isn’t enough to motivate you, I will track down your friends and make you do all of the things I just described. I have ways of forcing you.”
I don’t meet his gaze, instead focusing on something more familiar—the green orbs that haunt me from near the door. Their severe gaze threatens to fracture me.
Returning to look at King Euron, I murmur, “What will happen to Lis?”
He bobs his head to look past me and watches her prone form before frowning.
“She’ll be fine. In a day or two.”
His frown widens and he turns to look at The Nightmare.
“How hard did you beat her? Well nevermind,” he turns back to me, and waves his hand in the air, “it might be a few days but she always comes out of her half death.”
The Nightmare interjects, “To be fair, your majesty, she did almost break through her culling bands and she kicked me first.”
King Euron’s eyes widen in disbelief.
“You couldn’t have told me that sooner?” His voice rushes out in a whisper, “Well damnit make sure you get another set of bands on her then, we don’t need her unleashing all her fury. We’ve barely kept her contained as it is.”
The Nightmare nods and rushes out the door.
“Well, let’s be off then. You’ll be escorted by Kassiel while I go make some arrangements for our new visitors.”
Apprehension worms through me but I raise to my feet nonetheless, not wanting to risk his wrath and the possibility of meeting his dagger.
His demeanor changes and a smile snaps to his lips when I begin to follow him, his mood swings more extreme than I had noticed before.
“Excellent, this is all according to plan.”
We leave the peculiar woman left on the floor laying in rubble and The Devourer locks the door behind me as we begin our way down the numerous steps in the tower.
The king follows a different path and finally we’re left alone in the dimly lit corridors.
Though he is one of the men who’s known the most intimate parts of me, and my insecurities, I can’t help but feel like I’m walking with a stranger.