by Luna Hunter
Zakra procures a chain and slips it around my neck. It cackles with electricity. Pain zips through my entire body a second later.
“If you’re going to act like a bitch, I will use you like one,” Zakra says.
I fight the pain, I grind my teeth and yank at the chain, but every movement only makes the pain more intense. Malak’s not around to save me this time… I gasp for air as the chain seems to choke the very life out of me.
“That’s right, beg for your life,” Zakra says. “We’re going to have a lot of fun, you and I. You will pay for your crimes, pink one. Pay dearly.”
24
Malak
Some Time Later
The hood is ripped from my face. I blink several times, and find myself sitting face to face with a familiar face. Lord Araval — the man who whipped Ezra and Gada. He’s sitting behind a large desk, looking mightily pleased with himself.
“Well, well, well. I bet you didn’t expect to see me again, huh?”
“Lord Araval,” I growl through my bruised jaw.
“I go by Warden now,” Araval says.
“What has brought you here?”
“Do you even know where here is, Malak?”
“Neralatos, I’m assuming.”
They’ve kept me blindfolded and tied up for days. My body is broken, but my will is in tact. Not even this inhospitable rock, this prison planet is going to break my spirit.
Even though there’s never been an escape from Neralatos before.
I’ll be the first.
“You are correct. After you so rudely fired me, I found someplace where my talents are appreciated,” he says.
“Good for you.”
Araval’s lips are a thin line. “You won’t be so cocky when my prisoners have had their way with you. You know who get sent to Neralatos, don’t you? Only the worst of the worst. I’m sure many of them want a crack at a royal. Yes, I’m placing you in general population.”
“Do what you must, Araval. You will get what’s coming to you.”
“You’re in no position to threaten me,” he thunders, his face scrunching up in anger. “Enjoy this moment, Malak, for it will be your last! Now get him out of my sight.”
I walk through the cafeteria with my tray of food-adjacent material.
No better way to describe it. With so many different species all locked up in here, all with different dietary needs, there’s not a lot of time and money left to make something edible. That’s why you get your intake in the form a grey sludge.
All eyes are on me as I sit down.
I ignore the stares and scarf down the sludge. It tastes just how it looks, but after a week of starvation I don’t have much of a choice.
“It really is you!”
That voice… it’s strangely familiar. I look up from my meal to see a reptilian stare back at me, furiously wetting his lips.
“I’m going to cut off your head and wear it like a trophy, Aegir bastard!” He snarls.
The entire cafeteria falls silent. Hundreds of prisoners look at us with bated breath. It finally hits me — he’s one of the pirates who attacked Emma and me. Fuck, that feels like a lifetime ago.
“Sit down and stop making a fool out of yourself,” I growl as I empty my tray. “You’ve still got your life. Don’t make me take that away as well.”
“Bastard!”
The reptilian charges me with a shiv clutched in his paw. Idiot.
I rise and deck him across the face with my metal tray. He hits the floor with a thud. I sit back down and finish my meal.
A shadow falls on my face. A massive Aegir blocks out all of the lights, his horns curling upwards like flowers blooming towards the sun. He’s got a large scar running diagonally across his face, right across his eye, which is covered with a patch.
“Are you next?” I ask. “I could do this all day.”
There’s more Aegir behind him, listening in on the conversation, but they are keeping a safe distance. Do they know something I don’t? This man has definitely seen battle before. He would prove more of a challenge than the reptilian though… the Aegir is in the form of his life, and my body has seen better days… but I will win, no matter what. I’ve got to win.
For Emma.
The brute sits down across from me. His knees barely fit under the table. “Tell me one thing,” he growls with a voice like gravel. “Is is true?”
“Yes, I am Malak, Prince of Nyrr.”
“No, not that,” he says. “Is is true what they say… about your yali?”
Fuck. I hope I’m not dealing with another xenophobe. “That depends. What do they say?”
“They say… that she is most beautiful creature to have ever graced our planet,” the brute says. “That she is the kindest and purest soul to have ever been; that she is the Goddess reincarnated. Is that true?”
The Aegir behind him all lean in, all hanging on my next few words. To say I’m surprised is an understatement. It seems word even travels to an inhospitable, distant rock like Neralatos.
“…I don’t know about the Goddess, but yes, she is beyond beautiful,” I answer after a moment’s pause. “And yes, she is kind, she is pure, she is… the single best thing to ever happen to me. But now I am here, and she is not, and I am… broken.”
The stoic male nods. “I understand. Word is that she will be mated to the Grand Archon of the Yagna Coven now. A kind soul like her should not end up with a weasel like him. It is not right.”
That’s a direct punch to my gut. That evil serpent Zakra, stealing my mate? That simply… that simply can’t be. I must escape. No matter what.
“I will die for her,” I growl with renewed conviction. “I must escape.”
“Yes, you must.” The male answers. “Leave it to me.”
He signals to the Aegir behind him, and they all split off into groups immediately. The rest of the population murmurs. It’s clear that something’s afoot. This man is not just thug. He’s a leader.
“Who are you?” I ask.
“The Grand Archon of the Yagna Coven stripped me off my name and titles long ago, when I dared to question his authority,” the man answers. “My people here know me simply as the Beast.”
“Why are you helping me, Beast?”
“The Aegir have long been ruled by false prophets and false gods. I believe that your yali is a message from the ancestors. A new dawn is coming.”
In the distance a window shatters. A guard barks orders. An Aegir growls. Gunfire. Screams. Explosions. Screams. The Beast seems unaffected.
“And there is a more personal reason as well, I must admit. The current troubles of Nyrr, they are… my fault,” he says. “For that I must atone. Freeing you will be only my first step on the road to redemption.”
My eyebrows furrow. “What do you mean?”
“There is no time to explain now, my friend. The revolution has begun. You will see your mate soon, Malak. I promise that.”
25
Emma
The big day has finally come.
The day of my mating ceremony.
The day the I’ve been dreading with every single fiber of my being.
The castle has changed completely. The entire staff has been replaced. All the familiar faces are gone. Yagna banners now line the halls. I barely recognize this place.
Even Malak’s comforting scent is gone.
I’m a mere husk of myself as well. I’ve cried so much, I don’t think I’ve got any tears left. Zakra has kept me in chains, torturing me with the shock-collar when he felt like it.
Perhaps I was a fool to think I could change a world as cruel as this…
The door to my room opens. Zakra stands in the opening, looking as smug as ever.
“You’re not ready.”
The dress he picked out for me is where he left it — draped over a chair. I’m in still in my pajamas, my hair a mess. I’m not going to dress up for this sham ceremony. I won’t look pretty for him.
“Fuck you,�
� I say.
Not a smart thing to say to someone who has been torturing you for so long you forgot which day it is — but I’m not going to submit to this bastard. Not now. Not ever.
The pain hits me a second later, and when I open my eyes again I find myself writhing on the floor.
“Still feisty,” Zakra says. “We’re going to have decades of fun, my human. Decades. And if you don’t want to cooperate… we’ll do this the hard way.”
Zakra grabs his knife and cuts my pajamas open, tearing the cloth from my body until I’m left naked on the cold, stone floor. He clips a leash into my shock collar and tugs hard.
“Are you going to be a good girl?” Zakra mocks. “Let’s show everything what an obedient bitch their queen really is.”
I grab the leash with both hands and pull as hard as I can, but before I can even move my harms the collar shocks me again, and again, and again. My body burns with the heat of a thousand suns. I can’t fight this pain… but I must. For Nyrr, for Malak, for myself. I won’t let this monster win. I’d rather die.
I fight, and fight, and fight, slipping in and out of consciousness, three, four, five times, until finally, the darkness takes me…
“Open your eyes, human.”
Light filters in as I blink three, four times. Is that Malak’s low growl I’m hearing? Is my nightmare finally over?
I stumble to my feet and open my eyes — and find Zakra’s beady eyes staring back at me. A leash yanks me forwards. And it’s not just chained to my neck this time.
No, it’s also attached to two nipple clamps.
Hot pain sears through me with every tug. Cruel laughter fills the room. Zakra leads me down the aisle — naked.
There’s a shrine full of Aegir royals looking at me, smirking, laughing. I recognize several faces; people Malak introduced me to, all those days and nights ago.
The same people who were eager to greet me then are now openly mocking me as Zakra drags me along.
We reach the alter, but Zakra keeps an extremely tight hold on the leash, the pain in my body never letting up. I close my eyes and pray for this nightmare to end, as I fight back the tears.
I won’t let them see me cry.
“Today marks the day that we take back what is rightfully ours,” Zakra says.
“Hear, hear,” a voice yells out.
“This small, pink one would have the people believe that they deserve more. As if our position wasn’t granted to us by our Ancestors?! As if we should change the way we’ve lived for a thousand years?!”
“Death to the rebels!”
“No, death would be too good for her. Just look at her body — not as beautiful as an Aegir female, no, who should be worshipped — but these humans are built for pleasure all the same. That is why I have good news, my dear friends. There are more humans on the way; a whole colony ship full of them.”
I feel sick to my stomach. He can’t be talking about…
“Yes, that’s right, my dear pet. I’ve activated your little homing beacon. Thousands of humans will flock to our shores, and the Yagna Coven will make sure that every House gets their fair share of fresh humans, their own stable to enjoy and use as they see fit!”
The royals rejoice, and the Grand Archon receives a thunderous applause as I start to black out.
Not only have I doomed Nyrr with my naiveté, but now thousands upon thousands of humans will endure a fate worse than mine. I couldn’t have screwed up harder if I tried. I thought I’d used up all my tears. I was wrong. Warm tears flow down my cheeks as the extent of my failure hits me.
“I have to thank you, human,” Zakra whispers in my ear as the royals still murmur contently amongst themselves. “The endless supply of fresh live-stock that is your kind will make me the most powerful man on the whole of Aegir, and it’s all thanks to you. I’m going to give you a mating ceremony you will never forget.”
I glare at Zakra. I concentrate as hard as I can to make him burst into flame using just my mind.
At that moment, a lot of things happen seemingly all at once.
The glass ceiling of the shrine explodes. Glass shards rain down on me. And yet, before any pieces of the sharp glass can hurt me, a mysterious blue figure rappels down at the speed of light, lands with the crack of thunder, and wraps his strong, protective arms around me.
I recognize his familiar scent before my foggy, pain-addled brain realizes what’s happening.
Malak.
Could it really be true, or is my broken mind playing cruel tricks on me again?
I look up at him, and my heart jumps into my throat from sheer joy. It’s him. He’s been through hell and back, he’s broken, battered and bluer than usual, but that’s my savior alright.
“Seize him!” Zakra’s shrill voice cries.
Our reunion is short lived. From all sides Yagna soldiers attack, striking at my mate with their ceremonial halberds. In one quick flash Malak unsheathes his blade. What follows next is a whirlwind of blood and death, of severed limbs and cut throats, as Malak dispatches his enemies one by one.
Meanwhile loyal Nyrr troops rush in from every corner and block all exits. It’s all happening so fast I barely know where to look.
My excitement is quickly halted when Zakra yanks me by my chains towards him. The sharp pain causes me to cry out as the Grand Archon places a knife right at my throat.
“I’ll gut her like a punir!” Zakra cries.
Malak freezes. Thick drops of blood drip down from his blade onto the tiled floor. His chest heaves up and down with every heavy breath, his eyes locked on mine.
He gives me a small, almost imperceptible nod.
It’s all I need.
With all the strength I can muster I smash down my heel into Zakra’s foot — and elbow him in the ribs as hard as I can right after.
Zakra cries out in pain and slashes towards me. I watch the blade creep closer in slow-motion, my heart beating its final few beats…
Malak rushes forwards and catches the blade with the side of his hand before it cuts my throat wide open. Blood gushes down his hand and his arm while his other hands balls up to a fist.
“You know what happens to men who try to hurt my mate?” Malak growls.
His fist connects brutally hard with Zakra’s face. I feel the crunch in my stomach as my tormentor staggers backwards, his nose shattered.
“I hurt them,” my savior says.
Zakra gasps for air while Malak removes my chains and snaps my collar. I wince when the clamps are removed, relief filling me whole. Malak wraps his cloak around me, covering my naked, vulnerable body.
“It’s you, it’s really you. You came back,” I whisper softly.
“You never doubted me, did you?”
“You had me worried for a little bit.”
“Then you don’t know me as well as you should,” Malak says with a gentle smile. “I will never let you get hurt, my yali. Never. I am sorry I haven’t returned sooner.”
“You are forgiven.” I stand on my tippy-toes and kiss him. “But never leave me again, okay?”
The royals in attendance have risen up in a furor, and are shouting over one another. “What’s the meaning of this chaos?!” an older Aegir in the front bellows.
Malak wraps his arm around me protectively and turns to the crowd.
“Your reign has just ended. That’s what happening.”
The royals all shut up as they stare at my mate.
“The so-called Grand Archon of the Yagna Coven sent me to Neralatos, where he thought I would rot. Instead, I made some new friends. Beast, step forth.”
A one-eyed Aegir, immensely tall and covered in scars comes forward out of the crowd of soldiers.
“You… you should be dead!”
That’s Zakra talking. He sits down on the floor, clutching his nose, yet he still refuses to surrender.
“Sorry to disappoint,” is all this mysterious figure has to say.
Malak clears his throat. “As I’m sure you
are all aware, there is a shortage of dun here in Nyrr. The most precious mineral on our world, the source of our prosperity… suddenly gone. Our mines are barren. Our economy weakened. Or so I thought. Until I met the Beast, and he informed me that it was the Yagna Coven who was behind the shortage all along. Their men infiltrated our mines, stole our shipments, killed our crew, and bled us dry, one lump of dun at a time!”
The mysterious figure nods. “And it is my fault. As a Yagnan Warlord, I was in charge of the operation. Until my conscience got the better of me, and I objected… and then the Grand Archon sent me to Neralatos.”
“Zakra almost got away with it… if it wasn’t for my mate.”
Malak grabs my hand and holds it up high.
“This is the face of future. Her kindness has galvanized the people into taking action. Yes, the common people — the ones you treat like cattle. They helped me break out, because they believe in Emma Fairheart of Earth!”
“See!” Zakra cries out as he climbs back to his feet. “It’s all this alien bitch’s fault!”
Malak balls his fist, but I place my hand on his arm.
“Allow me,” I say. “We have some unfinished business.”
“That alien whore is going to be the death of us all—”
I take a step forward and sock Zakra right on his jaw. He drops to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
A panic now takes hold of the room as the royals rush for the exits — but the Nyrr troops barr the way.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Malak growls. “You would all sit here, and laugh at my mate as she’s tortured? No, you are all going to the dungeon, where you will stay for the time being. Your own people will be your judge, jury, and depending on how what type of ruler you’ve been, your executioner.”
“You can’t do this,” a voice cries.
“I just did.”
26
