Deadly Lovers (The Prussia Series)

by Karisha Prescott

  I caught sight of Sebastian’s back and could make out half of Robert’s face. They were talking with Queen Victoria. I took a step back hurriedly and almost slipped on the stone step I stood perched on, trying my best to eavesdrop.

  “This must be some kind of trick,” I could hear Queen Victoria say, though faintly, “I won’t let you simply collect the dignitaries of the court without some confirmation that they have, as you have suggested, conspired as agents of your…rogue court,”

  I couldn’t hear what Sebastian said as I hid behind the door frame, only one eye and ear out to look and listen, as his back was turned to me. I cursed under my breath as Sebastian continued to talk for what seemed like forever, and I was unable to make out a single word of it. Then it was Robert’s turn to speak.

  I couldn’t hear much. He said something about formalities and honor, then a lot of mumbling and then he said an actual name and my eyes went wide as I heard the Queen curse Robert, loudly. I slunk back out of sight. Robert had named only one person that I could hear. And if I could hear it, others that might have been eavesdropping would have heard it too.

  “Looks like I’m being summoned,” said a smooth, low voice.

  I turned around and could see only his eyes on me. He stepped out of the shadows, the reflection in his eyes growing brighter as I pressed my back up against the door frame and the wall. The Duke, rubbing his arms where he had been bound, had that same smug smile on his face that had been there before. I watched as he adjusted the cuffs of his shirt and slowly took steps towards me. He took each step up the stairs slowly, his eyes fixed on me and I shuddered as he came near enough to touch me.

  I closed my eyes for a moment and could sense that he had paused. I breathed as slowly as I could, my adrenaline racing, praying that he would slip past me quickly and not say another word. But when I didn’t hear him take another step, I slowly opened my eyes. The Duke had his face less than two inches from mine, his eyes crinkled slits of insane rage. I tried to gasp but his hand quickly covered my mouth, pressed so hard over my mouth that it formed a tight seal, suctioned in place. I breathed deeply from my nose and felt as my heart leapt up into my throat.

  “I didn’t believe it when a little birdie told me you were the end to Jasper,” said the Duke, whispering into my ear, his hand still pressed roughly against my mouth, “I think Josephine will thank me for this…” he said, a low growl starting in the base of his throat.

  I tried to step into the hallway, my arms flailing to get attention - anyone’s attention. But the Duke grabbed the back of my hair and tossed me down the stairs into the passage way. I hit the bottom of the stairs hard, the force of the landing knocking the air out of my lungs. I ached, even with the adrenaline that rushed through me, and wondered if I had broken a few ribs. As I tried to get up, the pain seared through me and I had my answer.

  I stood up, limping over to the wall as I tried to regain my breath. I took a deep breath in and winced, the pain sharp. Tears of pain began to stream out of my eyes and I looked up to see the Duke slowly descending the stairs. My prayers had gone unanswered.

  The Duke didn’t plan to simply walk out of the castle. Apparently, he had other plans. I looked past the Duke towards the entrance to the hall. I would never be able to go up against him. I recalled Lydia’s advice earlier. I could hide. I looked down the passageway towards the dungeon. Or I could at least buy some time. Someone would come to check on me, I hoped. I looked back at the Duke. He walked slowly towards me with a smile on his face that put fear into my heart. I looked back towards the dungeon and began limping along the wall towards the light of the open door.

  “Oh, Princess, this is just pathetic,” laughed the Duke from behind me as I winced with each step, “When I retell your death to Josephine, I think this will be her favorite part,”

  I smiled to myself for only a second. Only a second. I couldn’t die but he didn’t know that. But it didn’t mean I was signing up for pain and torture, either. I continued to limp along the wall, going as fast as I could go. He was playing with me. I knew it. But as long as I stayed out of reach, I wasn’t suffering under his hands.

  “Do you think Josephine will forgive you?” I asked, looking towards the dungeon, trying not to look back.

  I heard the Duke’s footsteps stop. I paused a moment and looked over my shoulder. I thought that someone had stopped him or he had thought about my question and just walked away but he hadn’t. He stood there with his hands over his mouth smiling and laughing at me.

  “For stealing away the opportunity to kill me herself,” I said, my eyebrows raised in innocent curiosity, “to avenge her brother’s death with her own two hands,”

  That’s what I had wanted to see. A moment of pause. The smile dropped slowly away from his face and I watched the doubt sink into place. He hadn’t thought about it before but that worrisome look on his face told me he considered it now. I hadn’t known Josephine. I had only met her once. But after meeting her, I wouldn’t have put it past Josephine to kill the Duke for stealing away her chance at revenge instead of celebrating him.

  I continued to watch the Duke, waiting to see what his choice would be. Would he pursue me or would he take the opportunity to waltz into the well-lit social atmosphere of the castle and Robert’s company, leaving me to safely retreat to the dungeon? I watched the doubt etch into every inch of his face. His hands came away from his mouth and rested momentarily at his chin as his eyes cast downward to the floor in contemplation. He shifted one foot behind him, as though turning to leave and put a hand up with one pointed finger, poised to speak.

  “You know, Princess, now that I’ve considered it,” said the Duke, all trace of emotion drained away from his face as I held my breath, waiting for him to go, “I think Josephine would be extremely upset…if I left you alive,”

  My eyes went wide. His emotionless face burst to life in a chaotic and sadistic rage as the foot that had been behind him swung forward in a lunge. I turned quickly to hobble as fast as I could away from him. I had gambled too much.

  What had been a slow game of cat and mouse had transformed into the chase of the fox and the hare, and an injured hare at that. I didn’t make it beyond two steps before I felt his hands grasping the back of my neck and my hair with both of his hands.

  My body went completely tense, unsure of what to expect. He had grabbed me awkwardly from behind. I tried my best to scratch his hands, to tear up his fists so that he would relax his grip enough that I might wiggle free. But he only chuckled a low, throaty laugh as I struggled. I felt my feet come out from beneath me as the Duke lifted me off of the dirt and straw floor. I kicked wildly, only managing to kick a small tuft of straw away from me before I couldn’t reach the floor at all anymore.

  “Let me go,” I said, “The Queen will kill you for this,” I threatened.

  “The Queen was going to kill me anyway,” said the Duke, a raw anger revealed in his tone - not one shrouded in a laugh or disguised with a false smile but a deep-in-the-belly kind of hatred fueled anger.

  “You can go,” I offered, pleading, “Just leave and I won’t say anything,”

  “Oh, is the Princess giving me leave?” the Duke asked, mock shock in his tone, “Thank you, Princess, for such kindness!” he growled, throwing me forward into the dirt and straw towards the dungeon door.

  I looked up from the dirt with straw in my hair, my hands raw from trying to catch myself, and my knees were scraped from the rough landing. He had thrown me roughly 20 feet. I began to scoot quickly towards the light of the dungeon door, seeing no way to get past him. The Duke continued to move towards me, slowly, his smile a mask for cruelty that I had seen worn before by others.

  I felt the tremble start in my hands as I continued to scurry backwards through the dirt, trying to move quickly. But the tremble didn’t stop there. It attacked my knees, as I tried to crawl and had to continue to scoot backwards, the pain shooting through my entire body. I had countless scrapes and bruises. They co
ntributed to the overall ache that spread over me.

  I tried to keep my eyes on the Duke, to keep track of him, but every time I looked into his eyes all I could see was the possibilities of what might come next. And I knew I needed to think of something, anything, some way to get help or get away from him.

  After a few moments crawling backwards I saw the light spill over me from the door of the dungeon. I looked back quickly, relieved that I had made it, but relief turned to terror as the Duke walked right over me, grabbing me by the hair as he walked and dragged me after him. I felt the terror grip me as I rolled behind him, hair threatening to rip out of my scalp with every yank and pull he made.

  My mouth filled with the dirt that covered the floor and the bits of straw that kicked up as I was dragged along. I spit, kicked and thrashed my arms wildly as the Duke dragged me across the dungeon floor. Just as I thought he would release me, I felt some of my hair rip from my scalp as the Duke flung me from the floor into the dungeon wall.

  The wall shook, brick and dirt bowing slightly at the weight of me being thrown against it with such force. I bounced off the wall and fell back into the dirt, more dirt and straw falling from above as the barn floorboards that made up the ceiling of the dungeon showered debris down on me. I coughed as the small cloud of dirt that settled over me and got up on all fours, still trying to get the dirt and straw out of my mouth.

  The Duke stepped forward quickly and sent a hard knee into my face. I felt the bone of his knee connect with my nose which sent my head reeling backwards. I felt the gush of blood flood down the front of my face and the sharp crack of a broken nose. The light exploded as my eyes went in and out of focus, the blow disorienting me with little more than an outcry of pain.

  The blows came quickly, without rhyme or reason and as if they came from every direction. He kicked me again, and again, and again. Each blow opened a new wound. Each kick found something else to break. Every breath that escaped my lips, forced out in pain, could barely be replaced before the next blow came.

  It wasn’t until I lay on my back, the warm trickle of blood on my face beginning to pool in my left eye as I looked up and he paused. The light blurred like a halo around the smiling face of the psychotic Duke. Why had Sebastian left me alone with this monster? I thought. Why did I always end up in a pool of my own blood? I wanted to scream out but I couldn’t move my jaw. He may have broken it. As the blood pooled in the small curve of my left eye, I closed it. I looked up at the menacing Duke with only my right eye, even that beginning to swell closed.

  “You just won’t die!” said the Duke, with a fascinated look on his face, breathy from exerting so much force in beating me, “You don’t mind if I take a break, do you?”

  I thanked my stars that the Duke might stop. I felt the trickle of a tear begin in my right eye, blurring what little I could see even more. I didn’t move. I didn’t even moan. I could barely breathe and it hurt each time I took a shuddered breath in.

  “A quick drink and we’ll resume,” said the Duke, as he roughly pulled me up from the blood smeared dirt and yanked my head to the side.

  I hardly had time to react as the Duke bit down into the soft flesh in the curve of my shoulder. I wanted to scream out but every broken bone screamed out louder. My own pain silenced me.

  The only thing I felt above the pain was rage. I felt the rush of warmth leave my shoulder as the Duke pulled deeply, drinking in the warmth and leaving chills racing down my spine as the cold began to climb through my limbs inch by inch. Soon, the only thing left to warm me would be my rage. I opened my eyes as best I could; the blood that had collected over my left eye had spilled down the side of my face and down my neck, just where the Duke had bit me. My right eye, swelling quickly but still able to make out rough shapes and outlines, showed me enough.

  I gritted my teeth with every inch of willpower I had left as I raised my broken arms as quickly as I could and grabbed hold of the Dukes face. I pushed as hard as I could to get him away from my shoulder. I felt the surge of rage failing me as the Duke laughed into the blood spilling out of me, the gurgle of his laughter making me sick to my stomach and fueling my rage further. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth harder, my rage transforming into something I had never felt before, something I had only imagined others around me to feel - insanity.

  My adrenaline surged and my hands quickly found the sweet spot I was looking for as I dug into the soft eyes of the Duke with my thumbs. I didn’t press into them with the pads of my thumbs. I took the points of my nails at the corners of his eyes and dug into the soft slimy material of his eyeballs. I used my hands to press securely to the sides of his face, a perfect anchor to navigate my thumbs as he tried to pull my hands away from his face.

  I jabbed my thumbs in hard, digging in until I hit bone and then I scrapped as hard as I could. His screams pierced my ears and I smiled, still gritting my teeth. The Duke that had only moments ago been standing over me, kicking me into a pile of broken and barely held together pieces, crumpled to the floor at my hands.

  “Mercy!” he screamed at me again and again, still trying to pry my hands away from his face, clawing at my arms.

  Each pass he made over my arms left deeper gouges from his digging nails and the wounds ran red with my blood but I refused to let go. His shrieks of desperation echoed in the small enclosed dungeon but instead of mercy, instead of restraint, I offered him the only thing my pain would allow me to offer him. Justice.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “Any minute they’re going to come looking for me,” whimpered the Duke, his cheeks covered in streaks of fresh blood, his eye sockets empty, hollow.

  He felt the floor with his hands, shaking and patting the earth as he went as though looking for the eyes he must have dropped on the ground. But he hadn’t dropped his eyes. I had dug them out with my thumbnails and enjoyed it. My face twisted into what resembled a snarl more than a smile as I watched him, in shock, trying to figure out which way to flee on his hands and knees.

  “It’s about time you ended me, don’t you think, Duke?” I asked, mocking him.

  I heard him sob as he continued to pat the ground, trying his best to keep his back to me. Every time I stepped around to the side of him, following him, he would change his direction, shuffling across the dirt in the opposite direction. I couldn’t help but enjoy this. Every step I took following him, every breath I took mocking him, I felt pain. I couldn’t deny him that equal feeling. It was only fair.

  “Mercy!” he cried.

  “Mercy for my ears,” I muttered, crouching down next to his face, ignoring the splintering pain shooting up from my shin which clearly had been fractured in several places, “Perhaps I’ll take your tongue next to save my ears,” I whispered.

  The Duke scurried away from me, trembling.

  “Why aren’t they healing?” he screamed right before he crawled face-first into the brick wall behind the chair he had been tied to. Pools of my own blood were not far from him. Even as I followed him, enjoying his torment, I left a trail of fresh blood that still oozed from my cuts, breaks and gashes all over my body. He had bloodied me good. He had enjoyed it. And I couldn’t help but enjoy repaying him for his kindness.

  “Maybe…” I said, “Maybe I’m different. Maybe I’m the one vampire you shouldn’t have messed with,” I said, soaking up his fear and letting it fill me up, making me drunk with my anger.

  “You’re not a vampire,” he whimpered, curling up into the fetal position against the wall, dirt smeared all over his expensive suit, splattered with blood as it continued to drip from his echoing eye sockets, “You’re not healing either…I can smell it on you, the blood. I can smell it pouring out of you,” he spit the words at me as he cowered on the floor.

  “You’re right,” I said, “I’m not a vampire. But I’m not human either,”

  “What…what are you?” asked the Duke, his gouged eye sockets looking for me with eyes he didn’t possess, crying blood in place of the tears he could n
o longer shed.

  I didn’t like his question. I didn’t want anyone to really know. I liked this feeling shooting through me. The pain was nearly unbearable before this feeling. Now, it felt like strength, like power. I felt invincible where I had once felt helpless. The adrenaline raced through me even as the blood drained out of me. My every bone screamed in agony and yet…with every step the scream was a little quieter.

  Either my pain tolerance was growing or I was healing. Either way, I gritted my teeth and sucked it up, sucked up the pain, and let it blind me along with my rage. I had spent my fair time on the ground, in the dirt, getting kicked. And here I finally had the opportunity to kick back. And I did.

  I pulled my foot back, the pain shooting through my leg like tiny constant volts of electricity, and placed both of my hands against the wall as I looked down at the blood streaked, hollowed out eyes of the Duke. He brought his arms up to protect him. I didn’t make a sound but somehow, even without eyes, he could see me, sense me. I couldn’t stand his face. I hated the sound of his voice. I wanted to crush his skull and see the end of him for every kick he had landed on me.