by Ivy Clyde
I looked around the grounds as we headed to the main building up ahead. Someday soon, this would become my home again. My impatient dragon wanted me to claim it that very moment.
You’ve got to settle down, I told her. The time to kill and burn will soon be upon us.
Leaving our horses to a few servants, we headed inside the palace.
Ren led the way towards Helena’s quarters. I kept up with him but always remained several steps behind him.
He halted just at the corner of the corridor that would lead to her chambers.
“I will get rid of the servants and put her to sleep,” he whispered. “Stay outside her bedchambers until I call for you.”
“Fine,” I bit out.
While Ren went through the doors that were opened for him, I waited outside. The maids guarding the bedchambers stared at me from time to time but mostly kept their gazes straight ahead. Bruises and wounds marred the exposed parts of their arms and neck.
I wondered if they were administered by Helena. She was cruel enough to do that to her servants.
Helena’s wails wafted through the closed door of the chambers. Within seconds, three maids scurried out of the room and rushed away down the corridor. Her cries of agony were drowned down again. Perhaps, Ren was soothing her now, telling her pain would disappear.
After half an hour, Ren stepped out of the doors. A look of relief crossed his handsome features when he found me where he’d left me.
“Come in.”
I followed him through the door and closed it behind me firmly. Ignoring the figure lying on the vast bed, I looked around, hoping I could remember something from the time I lived in those quarters.
Nothing seemed familiar here.
The gaudy bed curtains of expensive gossamer and the ostentatious displays of gold and silver decorative items on every surface of the room told me the old décor had long been removed. The space belonged to Helena.
At that instant, I vowed never to use these rooms again.
“Over here, Daria,” whispered Ren, beckoning me towards the bed.
A sliver of annoyance crossed my chest. His whole attention was fixed on Helena. He didn’t even care how I was feeling being in a room that once belonged to me.
“Daria,” he uttered my name again.
I strode forward.
Reaching the bed’s edge, I peered at the woman that lay on the bed. Helena had lost a lot of weight since the last time I’d seen her. The burned side of her face was smeared with a foul-smelling paste. The scald was probably hidden underneath that.
“Please heal her,” said Ren.
His blue eyes were pleading. I wondered if I’d ever felt this torn over making a decision. It won’t take much energy to heal the burn on Helena’s face but would I be healing a tiger so it could go back to terrorizing other people and animals?
“You promised to do this one favor,” said Ren in a grim voice.
I met his gaze coldly. “You can never beg mercy for her again. Remember that well.”
He nodded.
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and lay the tips of my fingers on Helena’s clammy forehead. A burst of healing magic surged through me and suffused with her energies, causing a rapid repair of skin and facial tissues. Even without removing the paste, I knew the burn underneath had been healed.
“It’s done,” I said, opening my eyes.
“Really? That quickly?”
I nodded.
Ren stared at me with awe. Taking a wet washcloth from a brass basin nearby, he gently cleaned away the herbal paste from Helena’s face.
“Thank you, Daria.” His eyes shone as he stared at the healed skin on Helena’s face. She was completely cured. There would be no more pain for her, either physical or psychological.
“Make sure to tell her to watch her actions from now on,” I said, getting to my feet. “There would be no more mercy for her after this.”
“I will.”
“I suppose you want to wake her up now?”
He nodded. “I want to see the look of joy on her face when she realizes she is healed.”
It was hard not to gag at his sentiments for her. “I will wait outside.”
Once the doors shut behind me, I didn’t want to linger around to hear the sounds of Helena’s elation and Ren doting on her. Making sure the veil was covering my face properly, I strolled down the corridor. A little distance from Ren and Helena was what I needed.
Weak rays of the sun warmed a mist-covered garden nearby. It was still early in the morning and the fog hadn’t dispersed completely yet. Before leaving Ren’s house, I hadn’t even got the chance to tell the princes I was coming to the palace. It would have only made them anxious.
It had only been a single day since I achieved my true form. The energy between me and my mates was a palpable thing now. We had no one to fear in this realm except for Ivan.
While I remained buried in my thoughts, my feet took me further inside the garden. I might not have noticed which way I was going for a while had it not been for the screams and shouts coming from up head. I halted in my steps.
Two or three women were screaming and begging for mercy. A male voice shouted over them, drowning their pleas while sharp swishes of a whip cut through the air.
Heart pounding against my chest, I walked forward, making sure to take cover behind tree trunks and the shadows cast by the branches.
Within a minute, I came upon the sight causing the ruckus.
Zane was standing over three young women and whipping them mercilessly. It was hard not to miss out on the similarities between them all. They were all dark-haired, slim, and wore the traditional Baledonian kimono-style dresses.
“Take that!” he screamed, spit flying out of his mouth as his whip slashed through the air to hit the woman in the middle. “You will die for harming me.”
The woman cried helplessly, pleading for mercy but Zane was deaf to it. He proceeded to hurt the other women around him.
My fists were balled tightly at my sides.
Zane was re-enacting a scene from his fantasies with these women. They were supposed to represent me, the woman who’d snatched his manhood away. I was fortunate to be alive after my encounter with him. He looked thinner than last I saw him but there was a wildness in his dark gaze that wasn’t there before.
I was about to step forward to take him down when another hand wrapped around my wrist, pulling me back. A snarl morphed my lips but as my gaze fell on Ren, I calmed down.
“What are you doing here?” he whispered. “I told you to wait for me outside the room.”
“Let go,” I hissed, snatching my hand from him. “You should be satisfied with me after what I did for you today. From this point forth, I owe you nothing.”
Ren’s face softened and an anxious look came over him. “I’m sorry for making you do something that you hate so much.”
“I hate injustice,” I whispered vehemently. “The four kingdoms have seen enough of it. Today, you made me do it too. I am grateful for the help you gave me and my mates but from now onwards, we’ll owe you nothing.”
“Let us go back.”
“And leave these poor women to die?”
“You can’t expose yourself,” he said in an urgent tone, grasping my upper arm.
I jerked out of his hold. “Stay back.”
Swiping my hand over the long sleeve of the dress, I took out three long needles. They were coated with paralyzing poison. Taking aim at Zane, I shot them in quick succession. They hit him right on the forehead. The venom was strong enough to make him go rigid in seconds and drop to the ground in a stiff mass.
I was about to walk out from behind the tree trunk when Ren pulled me back. “What are you doing? Zane is down. You don’t have to show yourself.”
“Those women are close to death. I have to heal a few of their injuries or they will not make it.” Fixing him with a cold stare, I added, “You claim not to be part of this treacherous royal family, b
ut you do think like them. You want to use my powers only for your means. The needs of others don’t matter to you at all.”
Leaving him there, I marched forward. The women were gasping with pain and writhing on the ground.
“I’m here to help,” I whispered softly as they whimpered at my approach. “I will take away some of the pain but you must be brave enough to get out of the palace. Do you understand?”
They nodded despite the tears pouring down their cheeks.
I channeled my magic into each of the women, concentrating my energies on the most lethal wounds on their bodies. While I could heal one of them completely, my power was limited. It had to be divided between the three women.
“Thank you,” they murmured, slowly getting to their tottering feet. They supported each other’s weight, casting fearful glances at Zane who was watching the whole thing. He was paralyzed but his dark eyes were wide open.
“Go,” I told them. “Disappear.”
They were still in pain but they were able to walk away from their tormentor. Crouching down beside Zane, I pulled the veil away from my face. “Recognize me?” I asked him with a cold smile.
Only the widening of his eyes gave any indication to his surprise.
“You still haven’t learned your lesson,” I whispered. “Stop hurting innocent women. You may have lost your manhood but there’s still life in your body. Mend your ways or I will administer death to you. That’s what I’m really good at.”
I got to my feet while he remained in that awkward position on the ground like a frozen, twisted log. He didn’t even have the ability to move his tongue to threaten or curse me.
I swept past him, pulling the veil back over my face.
After some distance, I heard Ren’s footsteps behind me. Halting in my steps, I waited for him to catch up to me. By now, we’d come before a vast wall. Its tall, granite length brought back a tide of lost memories.
“Do you remember this place?” I asked just as Ren reached me.
“That’s the emperor’s private garden. We were always forbidden from going there.”
A small locked gate was the only way to enter through the impenetrable walls to reach the hidden gardens. I remembered a time when I threw a tantrum over the exclusivity of the garden. The young Princess Daria wanted to see the exotic flowers her royal uncle was growing there. But no matter how much I fussed, Ivan remained adamant. He would not share a glimpse of the garden with me.
“I am still curious,” I said, looking up at the high walls before me. “What has he been hiding in there?”
“It’s just an abandoned place now,” said Ren. “The emperor doesn’t even bother to guard this place any longer.”
I walked towards the low gate, the only entrance to Ivan’s private garden. A thick padlock hung from the iron bars.
Taking a pin from my hair, I began playing with the lock.
“We should really be heading back now,” said Ren from beside me. “There’s nothing to see there other than overgrown climbers over an abandoned garden.”
“Perhaps,” I said, continuing to coax the lock to open itself. “But the child in me wants to know what secret Ivan hid there.”
A few minutes later, the padlock opened with a satisfying click. The gates swung forward on rusty hinges, sounding loud in the quiet garden. Zane must have asked soldiers and servants not to disturb him while he was there to torture the women. It would be hours before he would have the ability to talk or move, giving me plenty of time to satiate my curiosity.
“Come along,” I said, proceeding to enter the place kept away from me for so long.
A disappointed huff escaped me as I stared out at the dismal scene before me. There was really nothing in the vast place other than a field of weeds with clumps of dried plants strewn all over the place.
“He was hiding this?” I asked, looking all around the field of weeds. The only thing noticeable about them was the tiny purple blossoms that bloomed on the reedy branches.
“I told you. This garden was abandoned ages ago.”
“How bizarre.” I walked forward, hoping to come across something. Walking through the field, I spotted nothing out of the ordinary. A breeze swept past me. A licorice aroma wafted through my nose. Suddenly, I felt the inner lining of my nostrils burning. A hacking cough overtook me. My throat was suddenly dry and itchy.
“Are you okay, Daria?” Ren was beside me in an instant.
I shook my head, the coughing getting worse.
I’d barely recovered from my heaving lungs when my hands started feeling itchy. I used my nails to scratch at my skin. To my astonishment, my skin came off, leaving bloody scrapes.
“What’s happening to you, Daria?”
A warm stream of blood poured down my nose as I continued to cough and itch at my bloodied hands.
There was only one possibility this was happening.
“I have been poisoned,” I managed to blurt through the coughing.
Through my streaming eyes, I watched Ren fussing over me. He seemed completely unaffected. Even if I was poisoned, why was I feeling the effect now? There was no way Zane could have done this to me. He was already down before I approached him.
“I am getting you out of here,” cried Ren in alarm. He swept me off my feet and into his arms. “I am taking you home now.”
I didn’t have the energy to argue with him. He rushed out of the garden, carrying me in his arms. My head swam with dizziness. Whatever kind of poison was in my body, it was steadily spreading through my blood.
Closing my eyes, I tried to determine what was happening to me. My internal aura was a dark indigo miasma, spreading through my veins rapidly.
However, I felt a slight change in my condition after a while.
Fresh air gushed into my lungs, relieving the dry itchiness in my throat. The coughing eased up.
Opening my eyes, I found myself leaning heavily against Ren. We were inside a palanquin that was being carried by a dozen men through the streets of Fuvaros.
“What happened?” I asked in a weak voice.
“I got you out of the palace,” said Ren. His face was set in a rigid expression of anxiety. “Stay quiet until we reach home. I’ll get a healer to come and take a look at you.”
“Don’t do that,” I said. “My symptoms are disappearing.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you could see the state you’re in right now.”
A slow smile came on my lips. “I am better now. Really.” I breathed slowly, afraid the dryness would come back but nothing happened. The air blowing in through the small window of the palanquin was making me feel much better already. “After you take me to my room, I want you to do something.”
“What’s that?”
“Go back to the forbidden garden and collect a sample of those weeds with purple blossoms.”
He looked at me like he doubted my sanity at the moment.
“They were the only thing in there. Why would Ivan bother hiding them? If there was really nothing to conceal, he would just break down the wall and make a garden out of it. Why is it still there?”
“You suspect something?”
I nodded. “Those weeds are poisonous.”
“But they didn’t affect me.”
“Perhaps, it only affects dragonborns?”
Ren stared at me, realization dawning on him. “It’s a possibility. In all these years, I haven’t seen him step into that place. He protected the area with all the power he could muster in your father’s time. One would think he would be attached to it, but no…he was hiding something that could be lethal to him too.”
“I didn’t think about it that far,” I admitted. “I just believe the weeds are poisonous but since you aren’t affected like me, it should be safe for you to go and pick them up. I want to study their properties and find out the mystery behind them.”
“I’ll do that, but for now, please rest. You’ve already lost a lot of blood and energy. The princes will kill me when they s
ee you.”
I chuckled but the look on Ren’s face told me he didn’t find anything amusing about the situation. To him, they were fearsome men who could turn into fire-breathing monsters in the blink of an eye. To me, they were my mates, the only people I trusted wholeheartedly to keep me safe.
4
Cain
That morning, people walked the streets with dark expressions on their faces.
Citizens of Fuvaros never appeared happy on most days but today, it seemed like a cloud of doom was hanging over everyone’s heads.
Since, Adal, Norvin and I were pretending to serve Prince Ren in his household, it was imperative we gave the impression of doing something for him. That was the reason I was pretending to purposefully stride around the streets.
For the past two days, we shared a single room and wore servants’ uniforms but no one really understood what we were there for. Ren told his people we were there for his “personal use”.
For now, Ren’s house was the safest place for us to hide. It was far from the palace and filled with people who were loyal to him. Staying at the inn had become dangerous with posters of our company stuck on every wall of the capital. We couldn’t let the innkeeper or the servers recognize one of us.
Reaching the main square, my gaze fell on the crowd gathered around the large notice boards that had posters of all our faces stuck there. It wasn’t something new, so I became curious whether a new notice had been put up there.
Blending with the crowd, I inched towards the notices. Stuck over our faces was a new announcement. A quick read left the blood in my veins frozen.
Prince Kurozeru and the other royal princes of Baledonia have been given the death sentence for their treachery. The Great Emperor already meted out justice yesterday.
The province of Dakuru has been burnt down for not paying taxes in over a year.
Citizens are urged to remain vigilant and show their loyalty by exposing any traitors among them. The Great Emperor is benevolent to those who are loyal to his rule but merciless otherwise.
