by Zizi Cole
“I was being one with my Lord. I wasn’t able to hear what was going on.”
Father Lopez didn’t look convinced, but he couldn’t prove that I hadn’t been in my room for the entire time. He turned and walked away. I watched him leave and noticed he was walking with a limp. I couldn’t remember him having a limp before.
I headed the opposite direction than the father had gone. Determined to figure out what was off with the priests here, I headed toward the basement. I figured the best place to start was from the bottom up. I would need to start figuring things out. Malina couldn’t stay hidden in our order forever.
Reaching the basement door, I opened it and quietly stepped inside. I wasn’t surprised to find the majority of the priests down there, talking. They were sitting at a round table in the middle of the room. There was a paper, which looked to be a map, laying flat in the middle. I stayed in the shadows, so they wouldn’t be made aware of my presence.
“We have to find the queen. She cannot be allowed to live,” one of the priests said. I couldn’t remember his name, but he was the one who had asked about the murder of the king before.
“Agreed. She is probably with that assassin that was lurking around, protecting her. She had to know that we are aware of what she was up to and hired an assassin as a bodyguard,” Father Johnson said, sneering.
“How would she know? We have never given an inclination of anything to tip her off.”
“I don’t know, but she is smarter than she seems. She managed to deal with that idiot, Luquin, for five years, so she has to be more conniving than we originally anticipated.”
My blood was beginning to boil as I realized that they were the ones that had set out to kill Malina. I had to fight to keep a cool head, in order to find out what all they were planning. It would be beneficial for me to know everything that was going on, if I were going to protect her.
“Lopez should have done it when he had the chance. He had ample opportunities alone with her,” a man on the far side of the table said. “I believe that he has grown too soft and subjective when it comes to the queen. Her power and influence reach far. She comes off as innocent and makes you put your guard down. She is anything but. Lopez may need to be taken care of as well.”
“You say that he has had opportunity to finish it, which he has, but how has your assassin done, may I ask? We don’t have her head sitting on our table, so I don’t think he has fared any better than Lopez. Plus, she has the Reaper on her side. It had to be him that killed all those guards single handedly. We just need to figure out who he really is, then we can get the queen.” Johnson tapped his fingers on the table as he spoke.
“What about Father Mahoney? Do you think that he could be the Reaper?” Father Darling inquired.
There was silence around the table, as they considered that option. I held my breath while I waited to see if they knew who I was. One thing was for certain, I didn’t plan on letting any of them walk out of this basement after tonight. It was going to be the end of the reign of these priests.
“No, Mahoney is too foolish to be the Reaper. It is obvious he is smitten with the queen, but I doubt that he has enough sense to be able to pull off the feats that the Reaper has done. He is a simple minded, travelling priest who will be out of the way soon enough,” the man I didn’t know stated. I couldn’t figure out who he was. I felt like I should have known him, and it was like a bell in my head. I just didn’t know why I knew him, or who he was.
“Mahoney still needs to be dealt with. He has been around too long and has seen too much. I heard Lopez slip up about some things that have raised suspicion. He never flat out told him, but he pretty much told Mahoney something was going on. We can’t have him asking questions. It’s imperative that he not know the truth.” Darling tapped a pen on the edge of the table.
The others nodded in agreement. I wished they would just talk about what was going on, so I could kill them and be done with it. I didn’t want to leave Malina very long. She would probably be upset to find me gone.
“Is everything in place?” The mysterious man asked.
“Yes, it is ready. We just need the queen to finish everything up. Well, we need her head anyway,” Johnson answered.
“Good. Once we activate it, we will be able to drain the electricity that is left from here and the surrounding lands, then we can put the main plan in place.”
That was good enough for me. I was tired of waiting and just knew that I wouldn’t be able to let them kill Malina. I came from the shadows and slit the throat of the priest closest to me. Everyone froze as they watched the blood spray out of his neck, all over the table.
“You! You are the Reaper?” Johnson asked in astonishment.
Instead of answering, I pulled a dagger out of my sleeve and threw it across the table. It embedded in Darling’s chest, and I knew I penetrated the heart. That caused the other priests to spring into action. It became a melee. I felt my adrenaline rush and I couldn’t help but enjoy the rush of the kills.
Once everyone was dead or dying, I took stock and realized that the man I didn’t recognize wasn’t in the aftermath. He must have slipped away when the fighting began. Pissed, I kicked a corpse.
I went up to the stock closet and pulled out wine and kerosene. I took them back down to the basement and systematically poured it over the bodies. Pulling matches out, I lit one and dropped it on the closest corpse. I watched as the flames shot around the room, hopping from body to body.
There were screams and cries from the priests that were still alive. I watched with satisfaction as they burned to death. Once the screaming died down, I walked away from the mess in the basement. Unfortunately, Malina still wasn’t safe because one got away. Now I had to deal with Father Lopez, then I could head back to the order.
I knew his routine well enough, that it wasn’t hard to find him sitting in the office. He sat there like he didn’t have a care in the world. He had a snifter of whiskey in his hand. I walked in and shut the door behind me. I wasn’t worried about anyone interrupting us, or him trying to get away.
Lopez looked up at me. “What is it, Father Mahoney?”
“I have questions, Father.”
“Go ahead.”
I walked closer and smiled. This was going a little easier than I had anticipated.
Chapter 12
“W hat is it you don’t want me to accidently expose?” I asked, sitting on the edge of a chair. I wanted him to think I was still the timid travelling priest at the moment. I was surprised he didn’t notice the blood on my clothing.
“What are you talking about?”
“After the incident with the king, you told me not to raise suspicion, and that you had been covering for me. What is it that you didn’t want me to raise suspicions about?”
He leaned forward and rested his arms on the desk. Looking me straight in the eyes, he said slowly. “I know you have been sneaking out of your room at night. I am sure that you have been meeting up with the queen during your times away. I wanted you to be careful of that. It would look bad for us, as well as you.”
“Cut the bullshit, Lopez.”
His eyes widened. “I don’t know what you are talking about. I’m not lying.”
I leaned back and pulled a knife from my boot. Cleaning the blood out from under my nails, I began. “I know that it was you who hired me to kill the queen, so stop trying to play me. I am anything but stupid.”
“How?” he sputtered.
“I’m the one asking the questions. You will answer me, not the other way around.” I looked up from my hands. “Why do you want Malina dead?”
“We need her help and she won’t do it willingly. It would be impossible to force her.”
“I see. So, what do you need her help with?”
“You don’t need to know that.”
I stood and walked around the desk to him. “You will answer my questions. I will ask again. Why do you need her help?”
He shook his head. I
grabbed a hand and laid it flat on the desk. Taking my knife, I chopped off the tip of his pinky. He screamed as blood spurted from the finger.
“I ask again. What do you need her for?”
He didn’t speak, just shook his head.
I shrugged and chopped the rest of his pinky off. I continued to ask questions and every time he didn’t answer, I chopped another finger off. After taking off all of the fingers on his right hand, I knew I wasn’t getting anything else out of him. I grabbed the cross that he had on his neck and yanked it off. The chain broke with a snap. I pressed on Jesus’ head on the crucifix. A blade shot out the bottom and I stabbed it through his hand, attaching it to the table. Lopez yelped and began to scream for help.
Leaning over him, I asked quietly, “Do you smell that? It’s not roast. It isn’t the ovens. It’s your friends down in the basement, burning. They are all dead. You should have heard what they said about you before they died. They thought you were worthless. You are about to join them, so keep that in mind.”
With that, I took the knife and slit his throat, from ear to ear. I wiped the blade off on his robes and walked away, without looking back. I had another task to do before I went back home.
I walked in and heard voices in the sitting room. Following the sound of the voices, I found Malina and Raynor sitting in there, talking. Scarlet was sitting in the corner, with her head down, mending something.
I leaned against the door jamb and listened to them talking, catching up. It was nice to hear Malina laugh and being more carefree than I had seen her since everything happened. I held the gift I brought home for her and wondered again if it was a good idea that I did it. It could go either way. She would love it or hate it.
I hadn’t felt this insecure in years and I hated it. I debated on slipping out of the room unnoticed, when Malina turned her head and looked at me. Her eyes widened; she jumped up and ran to me.
She threw her arms around me and gave me a tight hug. I held the silk bag in my hand as I returned the hug. She pulled back and smiled at me. “I’m glad you are back and safe. Raynor has been regaling me with tales of when you were a rookie in the guards. Some of which I actually remember.”
“I hope he isn’t telling too embarrassing tales. I was pretty stupid back then.”
“Was?” Raynor snorted. “Still are.”
I glared at him for a moment, then turned my attention back on Malina. “May I see you in my room? I have a present to give you.”
“Sure.” She glanced at Scarlet. “I’ll be back in a moment, Scarlet.”
She followed me down into my room. I held the door open for her and she walked in without a care in the world. I shut the door behind us and watched her roam the room. She looked around then looked back at me. “You don’t have anything personal in here, do you?”
I shrugged. There wasn’t much I could say. No, I didn’t but I didn’t need to really answer her question. My room spoke for itself.
“So what did you want to give me?” she asked, cautiously.
I held out the bag for her, my throat suddenly constricting, so I didn’t feel I could speak. I was afraid of her reaction when she realized what it was. I watched her open it and pull out the small glass bauble with different shades of blue swirling through it. She held the glass in her hand as she studied it.
She looked up at me with questions in her eyes. “It’s beautiful, but what is it?”
I swallowed to tamp down the emotion before answering her. “It’s ashes.”
She frowned. “Ashes?”
I nodded. I knew she would figure it out rather quickly and saw when the realization of what I had done crossed her face. She paled a bit and tears filled her eyes.
“This is?” She choked off the word as she fought the tears.
“Yeah. I figured it would be hard to leave knowing it may be a while before you got to go back, so I brought him to you. I had him cremated and a friend put his remains in that glass bauble for you. Then I made it into a necklace, so you could carry him around with you. I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
Taking the chain and slipping it over her head, she placed her hand over it. “Oh, Tobias. Thank you so much. I can’t believe you went back and did that just for me. You have no idea how much I appreciate it. I was tormented about leaving him and not having anything to remember him by. This is probably the best present that you could ever give me.”
I nodded and tried to fight back my own tears. Having him cremated had not been easy for me to do. I had done it myself, not trusting anyone to do it for me. Reaching into the bag, I pulled out the teddy bear and handed it to her as well. She embraced it and smiled at me. Then she set it on the dresser. Walking up to me, she kissed me on the mouth.
I sank into her mouth and took over the kiss. She wrapped her arms around my neck and I pulled her closer. I felt her fingers travel up, into my hair. She gripped it tightly and attempted to pull me even closer. It felt like she was trying to devour me.
I broke the kiss and pulled back a little. We were both panting. I was trying to gain control over the situation and my body. She blinked up at me, her eyes were glazed over. I tried to move her back a couple steps. She stepped back toward me and brought her mouth to mine again.
I could feel my control slipping. I picked her up and carried her over to my bed. Laying her down, I joined her. She kept her arms around my neck, so I couldn’t get too far from her. I broke the kiss again.
“Are you sure? I am losing all my control and am afraid of getting carried away.”
In response, she brought my mouth down to hers again. I didn’t have the strength to break the kiss again, so I deepened it. When her mouth opened for mine, I assaulted her mouth with my tongue.
She moaned into my mouth, urging me on. My hands travelled her body, refamiliarizing myself with it. She had more curves than I remembered, but she was also slimmer than she used to be. I began to unlace her dress.
As her dress began to loosen, I became more excited. She helped me by shrugging and wiggling until the top half of her dress was at her waist. I trailed kisses from her mouth, to her ear. I bit and sucked on it lightly. Her breathing picked up. I lowered the kisses down her neck, to her ample breasts.
Her hands lowered to my shoulders and I felt her nails bite into my skin. She urged me on with her hands and moans. I wanted to reacquaint myself with every inch of her body.
I looked down at Malina who was curled up around my side. She had her arms around my waist and her head on my chest. I stroked her hair while watching her lay there, content. She reminded me of a cat that got the cream. Sighing, she shifted closer to me.
“Are you okay?” I asked carefully.
“Yes, I’m fine.” She lifted her head and kissed my chest. I felt tingles where her lips touched me. “Wonderful, in fact.”
“Good.” I leaned my head back and shut my eyes. I could feel her kisses on my chest and I was relaxed, for the first time in years.
Her hands slid down my body. I felt myself tense with excitement. She trailed kisses up my chest, to my mouth. When she gripped me, I had to force myself not to buck with enthusiasm. Her hand felt like silk.
She let go, then replaced her hand with her mouth. I thought I would lose my control right then, but I managed to fight back the urge. She worked me to the brink of release and pulled back.
When her mouth left me, I opened my eyes to see her hovering above me. She leaned forward and kissed me again as she lowered herself onto me. I groaned. She was killing me; I was loving every second of it.
She released seconds before I did. Collapsing on top of me, she pressed a kiss to my collarbone. I wrapped my arms around her and tried to get my breathing under control.
My heart rate finally slowed as I rubbed circles on the skin of her back. “Wow, Malina. I’m not sure what to say.”
“Wow is good.” She nuzzled my neck, then lifted herself off me. Settling beside me, she toyed with the necklace. “Thank you for everything.”
I kissed her on the top of her head. “You’re welcome.”
The thoughts of the conversation between the priests ran through my head and I wondered if maybe she could answer the questions I still had. I knew she wasn’t involved in whatever it was that was going on, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t aware of the situation. She tended to know things that were going on before everyone else did.
“I have a question for you.”
She lifted her head and smiled. “What’s that?”
“What is going on in Tiven? What is the big secret that everyone seems to think you are involved in?”
“That’s two questions. But honestly, it’s a rumor.”
“What does the rumor say?”
She sighed and pulled the blanket up higher. “There is a room underneath the castle that is locked with a lock from the dark days. It is an eyeball scanner, but it was changed right before the wars, so that only the true ruler can open it and restore the electricity to the whole land, not just the one kingdom. It also says that inside the room is a great power that will give the person who opens it the power to control the entire world. There are supposedly secrets of old in that room. However, it didn’t work for Luquin and he had me try it and the door doesn’t open. I don’t think it works.”
“How are they able to determine who the true ruler is supposed to be?”
“That I don’t know. I think it has something to do with the blood. After doing the eye scanner, a thing pops out and it has a needle on it. It pricks your finger and draws a drop of blood into it. Again, I’m not sure how it works. Luquin was pissed when it didn’t work for me.”
That was something I would have to think about. I wrapped my arms tighter around Malina and let my mind wander. Now I was intrigued about that room and wanted to open it myself.
Chapter 13
I awoke alone. I looked around the room, to see if Malina was anywhere in the room. She wasn’t anywhere to be found. I stood up and pulled my pants on. Walking out of the room, I went toward the study to see if she was there. I wasn’t sure of the time, but I knew it was late.
