by S King
“Here to take me in?” I asked getting to my feet.
“Yes.” The answer was honest and unforgiving. Not that I expected much from the other woman.
From day one I knew we weren’t going to get along because we were too much alike. Maybe it was her need to fulfill the orders given to her no matter what. Maybe it was the way she gave me a chance to gather my bearings and face reality. Whatever the reason was, Talay and I knew how this game was going to play out before it even happened.
Leveling my eyes to her, I asked, “who’s the Regal Guard?”
For once, her hard walls fell to reveal her feelings. And what I saw hiding away in her eyes was something I wanted to scrub from my mind. Fear would be an understatement and terror would be too far from the truth.
Within her eyes, I saw the truth behind Shang’s warnings and my ignorance. Whatever their technique or methods were, RG wasn’t a band of members I was too confident to go up against. Not right now and if I were smart, not ever.
As quickly as the emotion was revealed within her eyes, it was covered with the hardness that had been her signature look. She stared at me and calmly said.
“Take the opportunity to come with me while you can, Luminous. RG won’t show you the same reverence.”
I nodded, fighting back the frustrated tears for my situation. Crying wouldn’t solve anything and there was no sense in pretending I wasn’t scared to death by what was to come.
“What’s the first stop?” I asked, half-begging her to take me to the scientists and their bullshit secret lab.
The last thing I wanted to do was see Demir. If he had been the one to sign off on the order for RG to come for me, I didn’t want to be in the same room as him. But thanks to the laws set in place, I knew her answer before she said it.
“You’ll be presented to the judges of Onyx Elite.”
I scoffed, looking away from her. So I did have to face Demir. Even in my final moments. Wasn’t that just a bite in the bum.
“At which point,” she sighed, something strangling the words as she looked at the carpet. Maybe some form of sympathy was coming over her for my situation. Not that I was going to get excited about something that definitely wasn’t going to come.
“I’ll be read my order. Transferred to an unknown location where the scientists will condemn me to a life unworthy of living?” I finished for her.
Whether she wanted to or not, she looked at me with those weird eyes of hers and gave me a nod of acknowledgement. For once I saw the humanity in Talay and was thankful for it. But it did nothing to resolve the blanket of dread wrapping itself around me.
“Figured as much,” I whispered. With a heavy breath, I stood up and looked out the window again. Unable to stop my mind from pointing out the truth behind my situation.
I was out of options. Out of ideas and worst of all. I was out of time. The guards were closing in on me and even if I were able to get away from Talay. I knew in the pit of my stomach it was only a matter of when not if for the other members to catch up to me.
Turning around, I ignored the pain in my ribs and clasped my hands together behind my back. I knew how this game was played—hell, I had done enough of my own throughout my lifetime—and knew moreover, my life was officially over.
Cold cuffs clamped around my wrists followed by Talay steering me toward the door.
“I’m sorry about this, Luminous.” She whispered.
Closing my eyes, I waited for the blow to come. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait too long. One second I was seeing Demir’s smiling face in my mind’s eye, hearing his sweet lies and the next everything went black.
§§§§§
I hated getting knocked out. Probably more than I hated fainting or my sleep paralysis. The headache that followed the blow to my skull was never anything worth bragging about. Now was no different.
As if to drive the point home, I tried to gather my senses about the room I was in. There was no hushed breeze coalescing around me to say the heat was on. No birds chirping, no water sloshing. Simply nothing. When there was silence around me I knew exactly where I was. There was only one place I could be where total silence came in waves.
“Talay Ragnar, the judges of Onyx Elite request an audience.” That automated voice was like a canon going off in my mind.
Sure, I had a strong feeling I would come back to Castlehedge eventually, but not so soon. Not in this fashion. With a black bag over my head, my wrists bound behind my back and my fate staring at me in cold, calculated humor.
I was lifted from my perch on whatever I had been transported on. Slung over a beefy shoulder like a rag doll and carried forward. So, it wasn’t just Talay. Maybe it was Shang, I thought to myself as cool air hit my exposed back and the locking mechanism on the infamous black marble door rewound before clearing a path.
A surge of excitement and surprise filled the air as the floor changed from the cool brick that lined the tunnels to the smooth marble that was easily cleaned of the blood from guard members long forgotten.
I was facing the black marble door. Which meant the judges—Demir saw me flopped over the beefy shoulder of a man I had assumed was none other than my savior himself.
“What is this?”
A woman’s voice. One I hadn’t encountered in some time. Judge Sadvidge. The malevolent bitch was more than likely smiling from excitement. A rare display of emotion from the otherwise calculatedly heartless woman.
Instead of answering her, I felt the shift in big beefy’s shoulders and took a deep breath before being thrown to the floor. Free of the ties around my wrist and the bag on my head.
Luckily, I knew enough to let my hands shoot out during the careen act to the floor. The last thing I wanted to do was figure out how I was going to have plastic surgery to fix my nose. I loved my nose and had been lucky enough to never have the little sniffer demolished during any of my previous fights.
“Luminous River,” Sadvidge purred from her raised bench seat and looked over the long desk to get a better eyeful of me.
Gritting my teeth, I thought about all the ways I would kill the woman should I ever get the chance. There was my whip. Karina’s Russian Heart bombs. My bare hands. The possibilities were endless when it came to ending a sadist. However, considering I had a Platinum Guard member and some muscle head asshole behind me. I wasn’t going to take the chance of getting dead before I could even take a step forward.
So, I steeled my nerves, shut down my emotions and slowly raised my head to meet my fate.
To no surprise, Demir Losett was sitting in the middle of the bench with nothing being given away on his face. No sympathy, remorse, sorrow. Nothing beyond utter callousness and boredom. And to think, I was still hopelessly, unforgivably in love with him.
I didn’t know how many days had passed since I saw him last. But unlike our last departure from each other. He hadn’t changed at all. The same look of uninterest danced within the gold-silver color of his eyes. While a new hint of disgust morphed his face into stone. Whether the feeling was for me or himself was up for debate.
“I’ll admit it was extremely difficult believing you were still alive,” Sadvidge said, sitting back in her overstuffed chair and crossed her arms. “After all, several prominent members of each guard watched you fall from the cliff. Along with witnessing, Judge Losett,” she made a show of pointing to the judge in question. “Stab you through the stomach.”
“How did you survive such a fall?” A male judge, one I hadn’t been kind enough to learn his name leaned forward examining me from his higher seat.
Cutting my eyes at all of the judges, I smirked, “I’m a fucking koi fish.”
The curse pulled the emotion I had wanted from the bench. Two of the female judges scowled in disgust. Sadvidge literally growled in irritation. But the men were apparently used to my quick wit and quicker comebacks. Neither Alexi or the other male judge made a move to say or do anything. And as for Demir? Well, my Joker decided to narrow his eyes on me
for a second before settling his face back into a hard mask of nothing.
Fuck him and his black robed buddies, I thought to myself as cold determination seeped its way into my veins. I’d figure out a way to get out of this situation sooner rather than later, even if I had to die in the process. But I was not going to be a breeder for the scientists.
“Luminous River,” Sadvidge composed herself enough to follow Demir’s example and shut down her emotions. “You do understand why you’re here, yes?”
I shrugged my shoulder and rolled my eyes, “sure, why not?”
She bared her teeth at me, causing a smile to come across my face. I knew she couldn’t do anything to me. Even if she ordered Roxy—who was standing in the corner of the courtroom biting at the bits to snap my neck—to handle her light weight.
“Miss. River, you do understand the situation in which you find yourself in, correct?” Judge Alexi allowed Sadvidge to find her composure, yet again.
“I guess,” I said on a sigh, looking around the courtroom for some type of exit.
Not that I was going to make a move to bolt. It’d be stupid and a sure way to get dead. But it was worth a shot to look around. Afterall it’d been half a year since I was back in the OE’s presence and honestly, I hadn’t expected them to rebuild after Karina’s explosive episode.
Sadvidge forcefully slid something across the desk and nailed me with a hard stare. One filled with laughter and mocking humiliation.
“If you’ll be so kind to read Miss. River’s order.” She said to someone on the bench.
My heart sank as I connected the dots. She may not have been able to fuck me up physically, but the bitch could go after my most vulnerable point. My mind.
“Miss. River,” his voice was like razor blades against my eyes. Poison in my veins. Acid to my ears.
Slowly, I found Demir’s hard eyes and willed for my hearing to leave me as he continued to hand down the order.
“You are hereby sentenced to the custody of Whitmore Crystal Labs. At which point the board of directors will oversee your transfer and your sentence shall be carried out. Do you acknowledge your sentence?”
I tried to find his humanity. I tried to see that little crack to let me know he had a plan and was working behind the scenes to get me out of this situation. But like when he had told me about Slade. When he drove that fucking dagger through my stomach. How he spoke to me when his mind was made up. There was nothing. Nothing in his face to tell me he had anything going on behind the scenes. Nothing to hint at his plan for saving me.
And when that conclusion finally hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew I had been defeated and there was nothing left to be said. Nothing left to be done.
A side door of the courtroom that had remained a mystery to anyone outside of the Onyx Elite opened. Revealing two hulking men, clothed in black scrubs like I was being sent to an asylum. In unison, they walked toward me and waited for the verbal acceptance of my punishment.
“Miss. River,” Demir said my name as if it were a simple piece of bread. “Do you acknowledge your sentence?”
Dragging my eyes away from the men waiting to take me to my death. I found Demir. As cold as he was, I returned the look and got to my feet unhurriedly. Offering my wrists to the men beside me, I didn’t say anything to the court. Especially Demir. There was no purpose in it.
From this moment forward, whatever was going on through his mind would be his own little secret. I would figure out how to get out of this mess myself and once I did? Well, I’d find some place to call my own. Of course that was after I killed each and every judge sitting on the bench. Including Demir.
“Luminous River, must you be reminded of the court’s regulations?” Sadvidge found her voice and was glaring at me with narrowed eyes.
I smirked and raised my eyes to her, “tell me something, Sadvidge. Do you know the difference between a rattle snake and razor wire?”
Silence and confusion morphed the cocky bench into something I hadn’t seen, ever. Each judge looked at me as if they had been trying to figure the riddle out before I had even asked.
As the cuffs closed around my wrists, I waited for someone to supply me with the answer to the question I had asked. God knows I wasn’t going to have much else to think about when I stepped over the threshold of the lab.
The scientists wanted me for what I had become and throwing a tantrum wouldn’t change that reality. I could fight, kick, scream and put on a show but in the end, I knew I would lose. The odds weren’t in my favor and I wouldn’t give Sadvidge or the other judges the satisfaction of watching me go down in a blood bath.
Again, the prominent judge bared her teeth at me before jerking her head to the men still at my side.
“It is the order of Onyx Elite, Luminous River, former sect leader of Silver Guard squadron eight, is sentenced to the custody of Whitmore Crystal Labs. For the crimes of murder, mutiny, and evasion of apprehension on this date April seventeenth, in the year of twenty-twenty-two.” Sadvidge sat back in her leather seat triumphantly as she sealed the record and watched as the men checked the cuffs one more time before wrangling me up and led me out of the courts.
Even though my heart shriveled and shrank from pain, I held my head high. Thinking of anything outside of the obvious. Karina was the new sect leader. She was happy with Dristan. They would probably go on to get married and have kids.
Would they have Karina’s temper? Dristan’s inability to hide his emotions? Maybe a respectable amount of both. What would the wedding look like? All of those meaningless questions raged on in my mind as I was led through the dark tunnel I had no connection with.
I tried to fill my mind with happy thoughts and stupid notions that offered me little peace. All the while, coming to grips with the reality of never seeing the light of day again. Maybe now, I would be able to see my sister. I could ask her for forgiveness for all of the things I had done when we were growing up. Maybe we would be able to sit on the highest rooftop of Castlehedge’s elite corporate building, drinking soju and talking shit.
“Step up,” the first man said as we reached the end of the corridor.
I listened, raising my foot up to find the steel slab. There wasn’t any point in fighting the guys to get out. I had exhausted all of my options and now all I could do was wait to see where I ended up.
Internally, I made a deal with myself. Once I was processed through the lab, I’d devise a plan. Note all of the exits, scientists working on me, and how many guards. Once I had all of the intel I needed, then and only then would I make my move. If I had anything to say about it, there wouldn’t be anything coming out of me except for the monthly gift from mother nature herself and bodily fluids. No experiments. No amnionic fluid. Nothing I shouldn’t have to deal with while I’m still in my prime.
“Miss. River,” the second man pulled my attention away from my fragilely determined mind set and brought my eyes around to his face.
He was cute in a boyish type of way. With his chestnut brown hair and lighter brown eyes. Unlike Demir, he didn’t have a beard or any facial hair; he was clean cut. Boy next door type. So how in the hell did he wind up here?
Naturally, he was taller than me by several inches—if not a whole foot on good days. And his eyes offered me a sense of peace.
“I’m sorry,” he said and nodded to his partner.
Raising my hands, I ignored his vain apology and stared ahead of me before staying.
“If you’re going to knock me over the head, please use a board or something else other than your fists. I don’t think my skull can handle any more knuckles.” I said, closing my eyes waiting for the blow to come.
“Wha—no, but this is going to sting a little though,” he warned right before the pinch of a needle bit at my neck.
Right before the curtain drew closed, I actually had the audacity to smile.
“Finally.”
Chapter 16 Still We Danced
I needed to get out of here. The only ration
al thing that came to my mind was getting the hell out of dodge and never looking back.
On the outside, I looked as if nothing were wrong. I looked like I had my shit together and what I had just done didn’t come at a severe cost to my mental health. It was just another order and nothing more. A face attached to a name who had done wrong. A person guilty of sins committed against what we were. There was no Luminous River. There wasn’t any emotion. Nothing to tell anyone who didn’t know any better that things had just ultimately taken a turn for the worst.
I burst through my office door, slamming the thing behind me as I gasped for air. Why in the hell weren’t my lungs working? Ripping the black tie from my robes at my throat I braced my hands on the desk and tried to think of what the fuck to do next.
I had been the one to hand down Luminous’s sentence and now? Now what I was supposed to do? I hadn’t figured out a backup plan should what happened tonight come sooner than it was supposed to. The only thing I had figured out definitively was the fact I would need Karina’s help. Alexi and Heaton had told me as much when we were in that Red Room club.
Granted, that was before I sent Karina’s sister to the fucking gallows, escorted by two juiced up men in black scrubs. As soon as Karina found out what had happened she was going to move forward with her original plan. And God have mercy on Dristan for standing in her way.
Pushing off the desk, I convinced myself—half-assed—that movement would help me think better. I just needed to move, and an idea would come to me in the end.
The first thing I needed to do was find out where the labs were and how to get in. Having only a general idea wasn’t going to help me and searching the court’s database would be something of a nightmare should Sadvidge catch wind to what I was doing.
From what I knew, Whitmore was hidden away in the mountain terrains of Springcrest. As far as to where within the mountains, I hadn’t the first fucking clue. With just that reality check alone, I became sick to my stomach. The only person I knew who would have even the slightest idea as to what I was stepping off into was the very person I didn’t want to call. But it was for Luminous and right now, I didn’t think she cared one way or the other if Shang was involved in saving her or not.
