by Ramona Gray
“Gage says that Kila is afraid of her mother,” Silas said. “He thinks she even hates her.”
Quinn sighed. “Kila is afraid of her mother but she doesn’t hate her. She is a horrible woman but she is still Kila’s mother and she will always love her.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes,” Quinn replied. “My love for Kila has made it more difficult to do what I swore I would do. I’m no longer afraid but I’m still weak.”
He didn’t know what to say to that so he pulled her closer and rubbed her bruised back lightly. She nestled against him and they sat silently for a few moments.
“What will you do after you kill the queen?” He asked.
“Leave, if the others don’t capture me and kill me first.”
“You keep saying that leaving the safety of these walls would get you killed.”
She didn’t reply and he leaned back so he could look at her. “I’ll go with you. I’ll help you kill the queen and we’ll leave together.”
“It is a death sentence, Silas,” she said. “I won’t do that to you.”
“But you’ll let yourself die?” He said angrily. “Quinn, we have a better chance of surviving outside the walls with two of us.”
“No,” she said, “we don’t. Men are precious in this world and having you with me will only bring the other clans after us in greater numbers.”
“We can live in the forest,” he said. “We can - ”
“What of your brother?” She asked. “You would leave Gage? You would never see him again, Silas.”
Shame coursed through him. He wanted to be with Quinn and he hadn’t given a single thought to his brother. What was wrong with him?
“Quinn, I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely.
She cupped his face and smiled at him. “Do not feel bad, Silas. You should stay with your brother here behind the walls where it is safe. I will kill the queen and leave this place and you will forget me. It’s what needs to happen.”
“There’s one little detail you’re forgetting,” he said morosely.
“What?”
“I can’t seem to fuck anyone who isn’t you.”
Fear crossed her face and her hand tightened on his jaw. “You have to, Silas.
“It’s not that simple, Quinn,” he said.
“It is!” She insisted. “Have you not heard a word I’ve said? She will kill you if you don’t sleep with her. I don’t – I can’t stand the thought of losing you like that. You don’t have a choice.”
“What if I did?” He asked. “What if there was another choice?”
“There isn’t,” she said impatiently.
“The orb,” he said slowly. “We could use the orb to go to another world.”
“I already told you – that’s just as dangerous as living beyond these walls.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” he said. “We could be taken back to our world or we could find a different world that isn’t as awful as this one.”
“Or we could find one that’s worse,” she said.
“I’m willing to take that chance if it means I can be with you.”
She stared silently at him. “And what of Gage?”
“I’ll convince him to come with us.”
“Will you? He already cares deeply for Kila.”
“I know but I can convince him,” Silas said. “He barely knows Kila and I’m his brother.”
“Even if you could convince him and even if we could escape without the queen finding out, we don’t know when the next orb is coming,” she said desperately.
“Don’t lie to me, Quinn. I know about the majii, remember?”
She scowled at him. “There may not be another orb for months or years.”
“Or there could be one next week,” he said. “Lucky for us, we’ll know exactly when it’s going to happen. This could work, Quinn.”
“Another world could be far worse than this one,” she said again.
“It could be,” he said steadily. “But we’d be together.”
“This plan of yours would only work if there’s going to be another orb within the next couple of weeks. Plus, it would have to be an orb that takes not gives,” she said.
“That’s true,” he said.
“Silas, the odds of that happening are astronomical.”
“Probably,” he said. “But what if it did happen? Think about it, Quinn. This solves our problems. You don’t have to kill the queen and we can be together.”
“I want to kill the queen,” she said tightly.
“You did,” he replied. “Are you still so certain now? Can you live with Kila hating you forever?”
She hesitated and he squeezed her waist. “Can you talk to the majii? Can you find out at least if she knows yet when there will be another orb?”
“Aye, I could,” she said.
“Then do it. What harm is there in asking?”
“Plenty if the queen were to find out,” she said.
He didn’t reply and she tried to ignore the small trickle of hope that was filling her belly. The majii was in her debt and had been for many years. Quinn had never called in the favour but now…
Quinn! Have you gone mad? You can’t leave this world. Just kill the queen and take the throne.
Kila will hate me. I’ll lose her forever if I kill her mother.
You’ll lose Silas forever if you don’t.
“Quinn?” Silas touched her arm. “This could work. We can be together and away from that crazy bitch.”
She smiled bitterly at him. “I will talk to the majii, Silas. But do not get your hopes up. The odds of another orb happening is very low.”
He suddenly grinned cheekily at her. “It’s time for my luck to change, Quinn. This will work. I know it will.”
He cupped her breast and rubbed his thumb over her nipple. “How’s your back feeling, honey?”
“Fine,” she whispered.
He trailed kisses down her throat and licked a path over her collarbone.
“Silas,” Quinn tugged on his hair until he was looking at her, “promise me if this doesn’t work that you will sleep with the queen.”
“I don’t have to,” he said before nipping at her earlobe. “It will work, Quinn.”
“Silas - ”
He slanted his mouth over hers and kissed her deeply before threading his hand through her dark hair. “Enough talking for tonight, honey.”
He pushed her onto her back on the bed and covered her body with his own. She moaned quietly when he pulled her thighs apart and rubbed his erect cock against her pussy. She squirmed beneath him. Shamefully she was already wet and she cried out with pleasure when Silas pushed into her with one hard thrust. As he began a slow, deep rhythm, she closed her eyes and clung tightly to him.
Chapter 19
“You want to leave this world,” Gage said blankly.
“Keep your voice down, Gage!” Silas hissed before staring nervously at the man a few rows down in the garden.
“You really want to leave this world in the hopes of getting back to our world?” Gage said in a low voice. “When everyone here tells us that’s impossible?”
“I know we probably won’t make it back to our world but we can’t stay here, Gage,” Silas said.
“It’s not going to work,” Gage said. “We’d have to know when the orb is coming.”
“Have you listened to anything I’ve just said to you?” Silas asked impatiently. “Quinn is going to speak with the majii and find out when the next orb is. Once she knows we will sneak out and head to the orb.”
“What about Kila?” Gage asked.
“You can’t be with her, Gage. At least not the way you want to be,” Silas said.
“She’s going to fight for me every claiming ceremony.”
“What happens the first time she loses?” Silas asked. “She only won you this time because of Quinn. What happens when she doesn’t win and you have to sleep with another woman?”
“That’s
not going to happen,” Gage said stubbornly. “Kila is a good fighter.”
“It will happen. It’s only a matter of time,” Silas said. “Gage, I know you care about Kila and I understand that but we can’t stay in this world. The queen is crazy and - ”
“No, you can’t stay in this world,” Gage said. “Kila told me that the queen will pick you again once the month is over. You don’t want to sleep with her because you’re in love with Quinn.”
“I don’t want to sleep with her because she’s batshit insane and just as likely to kill me as she is to fuck me,” Silas said tightly.
Gage didn’t reply and Silas yanked out a few weeds before saying, “I’m sorry, Gage, but you’re coming with us.”
Gage stared at him in astonishment. “You think that you can just tell me to jump and I’ll ask how high? I’m at adult, Silas, and I can make my own decisions. If you want to leave me for some woman you just met, go ahead and - ”
“That is not why I’m leaving!” Silas snapped.
Gage sighed loudly. “Okay, fine, I know it isn’t. But don’t try and deny that you care for Quinn. There’s a part of you that wants to leave because you know that’s the only way you can be with her. I feel the same way about Kila. Why can’t you understand that?”
“Gage, I…”
Silas trailed off. This was going badly but he didn’t have a clue how to fix it. He thought it would be simple enough to convince Gage to leave with them but he underestimated how his brother felt about Kila. God, he was a fucking idiot.
“I’m not leaving Kila,” Gage repeated, “but maybe I can convince her to come with us.”
“What? Gage, no! Do not speak to her about this,” Silas said.
“Why not?”
“Why not?” Silas repeated in disbelief. “She’s the princess. If she goes to her mother and tells her that we’re thinking of leaving that bitch will kill us.”
“She wouldn’t tell her,” Gage said.
“You don’t know that for sure,” Silas said.
“I do. Besides, this plan has a few holes in it. Unless there’s an orb in the next few days you’re going to be in the queen’s bed,” Gage said. “After that, who knows who you’ll have to sleep with. Everyone in this goddamn place wants the chance to fuck you. You really think that Quinn can beat every one of them at the claiming ceremony?”
Silas ignored the wave of depression coursing through him. Last night while lying in the dark with Quinn’s warmth pressed against him it was almost easy to believe that an orb would come in time. But harsh reality had been slowly setting in all morning. He hid his melancholy from his brother and tried to give him a confident smile.
“There will be an orb, Gage. I know there will be,” he said. “If you don’t come with me we’ll be separated forever.”
Gage shook his head. “You think I don’t know that? You’re asking me to choose between you and the woman I love. That’s a really fucked-up thing to do, Silas.”
“I know,” Silas said quietly. “I’m sorry, Gage. I wish there was another way.”
Lutan was approaching them and Silas muttered, “Just think about it. Please, Gage.”
Gage nodded and squatted to pull more weeds. Silas forced himself to smile at Lutan as the younger man said cheerfully, “Good morning, Silas. I have not had a chance to ask - how is fucking the massina?”
* * *
Quinn knocked on Josana’s door. Her heart was pounding and her mouth was dry. She felt sick to her stomach from a combination of dread and hope. There was a soft noise behind her and she whirled around with her hand on the handle of her sword. The majii lived at the far end of the community and all of the stone houses surrounding hers were empty. The queen preferred to keep her in isolation because she believed it enhanced Josana’s ability. The street was empty and she scanned it carefully as the door opened.
“Massina?” Josana gave her a surprised look. “What are you doing here?”
She hesitated and looked up and down the street before saying in a low voice, “Do you bring another letter so soon?”
“No, Josana,” Quinn replied. “I am here to collect my debt.”
The hopeful look on Josana’s face died and she nodded in resignation. “Aye, come in then.”
Quinn followed her inside, closing and locking the door behind her. She sat down next to the fireplace as Josana added more wood before easing into a second chair.
“My bones feel the chill more deeply as of late,” she said.
Quinn studied the woman. She couldn’t be more than sixty but she looked closer to eighty. Deep lines were etched into her face and her long, silver-coloured hair was thinning. A white film was starting to cover her left eye. When Josana caught her studying it, she smiled wearily.
“My vision is going in that eye.”
“You should see Naveen,” Quinn replied.
“Aye, I have. There is nothing he can do,” Josana said.
“Does it affect your ability?” Quinn asked.
Josana shook her head. “The ability to predict the orb does not come from my sight, massina. It comes from within.”
Quinn leaned forward and clasped her hands between her knees. “Can you see other things, Josana?”
Josana made a sound of amusement. “All these years, massina, and this is the first time you have thought to ask that question.”
“Can you?” Quinn asked.
The majii shook her head. “No. There are some majiis who can predict more than just the orb’s arrival but I was not blessed that way. Much to the queen’s vexation. She searches for another. Did you know that?”
“What?” Quinn said in shock.
“Aye,” Josana replied. “She knows I grow old and that in time my ability will grow weak and fade completely.”
“You’re not that old, Josana,” Quinn said.
Josana laughed. “A majii’s ability ages us more quickly than most. I have often thought it to be unfair.”
“I’m sorry, Josana.”
The majii shrugged. “I have a few more years before my usefulness to the queen diminishes. Perhaps when I can no longer predict the orb’s arrival she will allow me to join the rest of the clan. It is a lonely life.”
Quinn didn’t reply and Josana gave her a small smile. “More likely the queen will have me killed and fed to the pigs. What point is there in keeping me if I can no longer see?”
“She won’t kill you, Josana. There will always be a place for you here in the clan,” Quinn said.
“The queen grows more unstable by the day, massina. She will destroy me when I no longer prove useful.”
“I thought you could only predict the orb’s arrival,” Quinn said.
“One does not need the gift of sight to see the queen’s madness,” Josana said quietly. She pulled a folded up piece of paper from a hidden pocket in her skirt and touched it lovingly. “Thank you for this, massina. It had been many months and I was starting to worry.”
“How is she?”
“She is well. The bala was born without complications.”
“Did she have a girl?”
“Aye,” Josana said. “The father is one of the breeders in their clan that she is particularly fond of. It is the first child he has sired and apparently he is quite smitten with her. Manda brings the bala to see him often.”
“Congratulations, Josana,” Quinn said.
“Thank you,” Josana replied. “I will never get to the see the child but the letters you bring me give me such happiness.”
A twinge of guilt went through Quinn. Once she left the letters would end. She closed her eyes. No, she couldn’t do that to Josana. She would arrange for Dacia to bring the old woman the letters as well as deliver Josana’s letters to the trader. Dacia was quiet and, more importantly, completely loyal to her since the day Quinn saved her from the vampire. She could be trusted to keep Josana’s secret.
“You are troubled, massina,” Josana said quietly.
Quinn opened her eyes an
d smiled at Josana. “Only tired, Josana.”
“Forgive me,” Josana said. “I prattle on and on.”
“It’s fine.”
Josana sat back in her chair and studied the fire. “For nearly thirty years I have been in your debt, Quinn. I almost believed you would never ask for payment of it. Tell me what you require of me and I will do it.”
“I want to know when the next orb will arrive,” Quinn said.
Josana frowned. “That is it?”
“No. I want you to lie to the queen about it. She cannot know of the next orb.”
“Why?”
Quinn remained silent and Josana shook her head. “Forgive me. It is none of my business.”
She stood and moved toward the doorway. “Follow me, massina.”
Quinn followed her down the narrow hallway. Josana opened the door to the last room and ushered her inside. The room was small and freezing cold but was lit with an eerie blue glow. The glow was coming from a basin of liquid that sat on a small table in the middle of the room.
“I have not looked yet today to see if there is an orb coming,” Josana said.
She stood in front of the basin and took a deep breath. The blue light washed over her and Quinn blinked in surprise when the old woman’s face changed. The deep wrinkles that were carved into her skin faded away as did the white film that covered her eye. She watched in fascination as Josana leaned over the basin and stared unblinkingly into the liquid. She began to chant in a low voice, a litany of words that made no sense to Quinn. The liquid in the basin churned rapidly and the pulse of light grew until it was so bright that Quinn was forced to squint. Josana spoke more rapidly, her voice growing in both pitch and sound as the liquid began to boil. There was another flash and the entire room was lit up in a pulse of blue light that nearly blinded Quinn. She shielded her eyes and waited anxiously as the light faded and the liquid calmed.
Josana made a grunt of satisfaction before moving away from the basin. She staggered and Quinn caught her by the arm, keeping her upright.
