“You can’t— You have no authority!” Osira told me I can’t be with Darius. If my marriage to Silas is no longer in the way of being with Darius, I won’t trust myself to avoid him. And he’ll die.
“I will speak with the Queen,” Moriya chimes in.
“I share blood with the Queen! If you think your words will sway her over mine, you’re out of your mind, Moriya.”
“Come, Moriya, we will speak to the Queen directly.” Seraphina gathers up her skirts and Moriya follows. They can’t do this.
“Hey!” I walk after them, but they ignore me. “You won’t accomplish anything by doing this!”
“Then you have nothing to worry about,” Serpahina calls over her shoulder.
Suddenly, my muscles are shivering with anger. How close is Moriya to Hero? Will Hero nullify my marriage based on Moriya’s words? After what Osira told me, I can’t predict Hero. What if she’s just a liar? What if she really listens to them?
Darius’ hand touches my shoulder and I freeze. “Is this not a sign from the Gods?” His face is blank with shock.
Darius. Here I am, defending my unwanted marriage. In front of him.
“Keres, don’t you see? This is the answer. If Queen Hero annuls your marriage… you’ll be free. We can be together.”
“Darius—”
“This is what you want, isn’t it? To be rid of Silas.” He catches my hands in his. “Let them try and if they succeed, good. Run with me this time. Last time, you ran and didn’t look back, but I told you I was right behind you. Well, I’m still here, Keres. Come with me. We can hide out in the inn. They won’t even know.”
“We can’t just hide.”
“You’ve already given me so much.” He touches my body, shamelessly. “Why take it all back now? To give yourself to Silas— he doesn’t even love you! He didn’t come after you. I did!”
“Darius we can’t.”
“We can! We can go anywhere.” He smiles and tears rise to his eyes. “We don’t even have to go back to Ro’Hale. We can go away from all this and find some kind of happiness. Together.” He grabs my face, “You know it’s me. I’m not the one who took from you, but the one you gave yourself to.”
My heartbeat is pounding so hard against my ribs, I fear it’ll break through my chest. I can hear his too, matching mine. Tears brim in my eyes.
“You must have known from the minute you caught me in your bed, that I followed you here against all warning because I wanted you, Keres.”
“Not like this, Darius.” I glance around at the people passing us by on the road, eying us like they might run and tell the Queen too.
“But it’s true!” He laughs, “You’re the first girl to ever see me as I am. To feel what I feel inside.” He places my hand over his heart. “The pain, the anger, the passion, the power of what you do to me. Our hearts are broken but the pieces fit together.”
That earns a sob from me. “No, Darius.”
“Why?” He pulls back. “Why are you fighting me on this? Tell me the truth. Tell me what I see in your eyes! I’m not fucking blind, and I’m not a fool. You’re already mine, you just won’t admit it to yourself. You don’t belong to him no matter how loudly you swore it in front of the Gods. This,” His hands snake around my waist and latch on. “This.” He kisses me, biting my lip. “Mine.”
I stutter and gasp back my tears. One of his callused hands flies to my throat and the other wipes a tear from my cheek. “Don’t lie to yourself or to me. I told you before not to play games with me. And I laid you down in that orchard and made your body weak for me; you told me you were mine. You told me not to give myself to anyone else. Don’t take back what you fucking said, Keres.”
His eyes study my face and I close mine, allowing the tears to be pressed out.
Shaking me gently he says, “Please, be honest with me. Right now, Keres. Right fucking now, tell me the truth.”
“I can’t.”
“Tell me!” His grip tightens on my throat.
“Darius,” I swallow hard and recollect the shreds of my voice. “I have to go. You have to go. Osira said you would die—”
“I am not afraid to die. I’m not scared of Death Herself either.” He smiles and a tear escapes his eye. “I am afraid to live without you. And we have this one chance.”
“It’s not our chance.” I try to push out of his hands, but he holds me tighter. “We will never get the chance we deserve! And I will never take a chance on losing you—”
“Then don’t lose me!”
“Your life, Darius!” My voice comes out in broken sobs. “I have seen so much death. I have caused it. I’ve hunted, killed, and lost too many people. My mother. Katrielle. Your brother. I’ve failed them all. The Gods have shown Osira I will cause your death, and I can’t allow that to happen, Darius. I can’t lose you too. I am the worst part of you and you don’t see it, but I’m seeing it now for the first time. You should have listened to what people told you about me. That I’m dangerous, wicked. Isn’t that what you told me?” I feel tension in my neck. “If I’m free from Silas, I’m free to hurt you. I don’t trust myself to stay away from you if I’m unbound from him. It’s too risky. This time, this monster needs to stay in this cage.”
“You didn’t stay away from me when you were bound to him.”
“Exactly! I’m weak for you. You brought my heart to its knees and now I’m begging you to leave me.”
He tears himself away from me, running his hands through his hair. I count his heavy breaths. His shoulders rise and fall. I hear his lungs moving in his chest; his throat tightening. He lets out a sigh and lifts his hands to me. Open and waiting. Those ember eyes ignite with passion. Our tempers burn to the same degree as our desire.
“What am I supposed to do then, huh?” His voice thins. “Where am I supposed to go if I can’t follow you? I’ve lost everyone I ever cared about. Now you want me to give up the one person I have left? I’m not leaving, Keres. I’m not going to turn my back on you. Are you telling me you’re going to stay here? Or are we really supposed to go back to camp and go on living like you’re not Keres and I’m not Darius? Like we didn’t fucking matter? You’re delusional if you think I’ll allow that.”
“I don’t know where I’m going or what will happen to me. All I know is you have to be somewhere safe.” I flurry my hands, “You have to go…”
“Where?” He asks again. My mind reels with the idea of him being gone from my life. Osira said I must return to my people. He can’t come with me, but he’s right. How could we ever pretend? I want to go back to the orchard. I want to go back in time, before my wedding, before the nine, before—
“King Arias,” I step up to him and take his hands. “Go to the Moldorn, Darius.”
“What? No bloody, fucking way.”
“Please!”
He stops and his fiery eyes settle on me.
“Please, go. Take a message for me.” I remember Emisandre. You will give him words. I reach into his pocket for Pophis which had turned back into a small stick. I put it in his hand, and it transforms again into a staff. He watches it and realization dawns on his perfect face.
“Somehow, Emisandre saw this would happen. Something Other is at work here. Can’t you see it? I am giving you these words straight from the Oracle’s mouth.” He looks back to me and I look around to make sure no one is listening. “The one who killed Queen Herrona was her daughter, Queen Hero.”
“Is that true?” His brows shoot up.
“If it is, then it is also true that I will cause your death.”
He runs his hand down his face and clamps his delicious mouth shut. He throws Pophis to the ground and wraps me in his thickly muscled arms. Lifting me into his embrace, he kisses me passionately, desperately. I’m shattered. My resolve broken. Please, don’t let time move, I pray to some distant God as I revel in the taste of my sin. Let us stay here like this. But no comfort comes. My blood is chilled. Where there should be an unquenchable inferno of lust
and emotion erupting within me, there is a chasm yawning open and I must fill it with ice to stop a flood of pain from springing up. I will be the death of him.
“Darius, you have to go. King Arias awaits the message. Tell him about the court, about Paragon Kade, about Osira.” I look into his eyes, trying to bury all my feelings under a mound of snow within me. I fail.
“I’ll go. For you. I’ll do anything for you… except one thing.” He stays toe to toe with me and touches my face so tenderly it breaks me. “I will never forget you or stop looking for you. No matter how many times you tell me this bullshit prophecy about my death. I’ll never stop needing to find you. I will find you again. We will be together, and life will be different. We’ll conquer anything that stands in our way, stand by each other’s side, and keep fighting for each other. This is my promise to you, Keres. I’ll make good on it one day.”
I throw my arms around his neck and hold on for dear life. The only reason I let go is because of Death.
I should have listened to Osira.
Upon entering the throne room, my stomach turns to water. Hero looks almost naked in a mesh and skeletal bodysuit. Her face is smeared with blood, and her platinum hair is knotted and stiff with it. She’s dragging an axe behind her across the marble floor. The blade grates against it. A headless corpse is slumped over on the floor behind her, leaking blood. Still wearing their animal skins, the courtiers cling to each other and whisper prayers to the Pantheon. Armored guards line the edges of the room, towering over everyone in suits of gold armor like Paragon Kade’s.
“As you know!” Hero continues her sermon, “All those who defy me shall pay the same price as he.” She lifts the axe with one hand toward the body. Looking up briefly into the menagerie of courtiers, she sees me.
Osira claims Hero killed her own mother. Then why does she continue to do this? Is it a facade to distract from the truth? Is this merciless, murderous queen her true face? Is her mask the face of a vengeful believer? She smiles at the obvious confusion on my face.
Rydel croons, “My Queen, your Coroner has arrived.”
“I see her, thank you, my devil.” She flashes me a toothy grin and beckons me over with a red hand.
I pass through the wide-eyed crowd, closing the distance between her and me with slow steps and heavy regret. Her smile does not fade, her lurid eyes do not dim. She’s radiating bloodthirst. I see, for the first time, the face of the feared Queen who wears a crown fashioned of her people’s bones. Not a girl grieving the death of her mother. For the first time, I look at the face of a ruler who is enthralled by violent tyranny. And for once I do not know her at all. Should I really be trying to keep her on the throne? Is she any better than our human enemies?
“Come, cousin, show our people their Goddess.” She hisses and twirls her axe at the crowd. I walk to meet her at the foot of the Mirrored Throne.
“I wield my weapon like an oil lamp. It will burn endlessly, lighting my way to the truth, or it will consume you all!” Spit flies from her mouth.
The smell of blood is a heavy stench in the air. It’s an unrivaled assault on the senses; the kind that makes you see red when you’re not even looking.
“Here is our Coroner. Our Goddess of Death.” She holds out the axe, offering it to me. “The White Reaper.” She snorts back her laughter. She moves like she’s drunk, and I know it’s on blood, not wine.
Her offer wakes up the monster inside me. My palms itch for the axe. Though there is no wind here, I feel a familiar chill creeping along my bones. I swallow back a growing knot in my throat. The smell of blood is so heady and creates an ache in my chest that makes me want to drown in it. My peripheral vision darkens. I shake myself, trying to focus through the frenzy that’s creeping up my spine and into my head. Disturbia makes itself at home, burrowing into my skull.
This is my curse. This is my true nature. A dangerous, wicked monster that revels in the sights and smells of bloodshed. Death.
Thoughts of Darius barrage my mind. I would have been his downfall. I’m not worthy of love like his. I have been reborn as one of the First Children of the Gods, kinswoman to monsters. Dizzy and heartbroken, I want to give into what my Death Spirit is hungry for. I reach for the axe. I just want it all to end, to float away into oblivion.
“Her arrows do not fail; her blades do not miss. She cannot be equaled in battle.” Queen Hero’s words are like an incantation, summoning the beast inside of me. I close my eyes and wrap my fingers around the cold, steel shaft of the axe. It soothes my clammy palms. I tighten my grip and a bead of sweat rolls down my forehead. As she releases her hold on the weapon, my hand sinks with the full weight of it. It’s sticky with blood.
“She is the Hallow-World’s Hound!”
“A warrior.” A flame danced into life upon the candle wick.
Queen Hero’s chanting voice fades into the background and Ivaia’s fills the void.
“An instrument of the divine.” Ivaia waved the long lighting stick drawing with its smoke. “A Mage.” She blew out the flame. “A three-headed hound.”
Anger shook my voice in that cave. My desperation echoed against its walls.
“This life comes with a curse! You marvel at the monster the Gods have made me into, what the curse does to me. A three-headed hound, as you said. Still only a dog bid to do their will!”
A smile breaks my mouth open, and I open my eyes to see Queen Hero watching me. I hand her back the axe and take control of myself. A frown ruins her face.
“Oh! Divine Executioner!” She tosses it to my feet, ignoring my rejection of it. “Who here shall we have next? I’d like a pair of gloves.” She rubs one hand over the other, pointing at each knuckle.
I catch sight of Rydel. His countenance has fallen, eyes jumping from his beloved Queen to me.
“Coroner?” Queen Hero demands my attention again. “Are you not our Avenger?”
“She is no more than a common whore.”
There she is. Seraphina glides forward. “The Coroner is guilty of adultery.”
Queen Hero twists her neck to watch Seraphina approach. She curtsies, lowering her eyes to the blood and marble floor. Straightening her spine, she clasps her hands before her chest.
“She is as unfit to carry out Divine Justice for you, my Queen, as she is unfit to be married to my son. Her sin is of a nature which brooks no apology! I humbly beg you annul her marriage to my son, Silas. Your Majesty, please heed my testimony. I am a mother concerned for her only child. Keres is a depraved woman. A witch!”
Has she lost her mind?
Queen Hero doesn’t even look at me. The entire court is dead silent. Licking her lips, Hero picks the axe back up and rests it on her shoulder. Finally, she looks at me. She examines the blood under her fingernails before tilting her head at Seraphina. “You dare accuse my own cousin— blood of my blood?”
Poising myself beside Hero, I flash Lady Prycell a feral grin, and beckon her to come a little closer. Seraphina’s face creases and she lowers her eyes back to the pool of blood between her and us. I can’t believe she tried. Now, when the Queen is ravenous for blood and gristle. Moriya scuttles forward with her sister Faye at her side.
“We are not accusing without evidence!” She lifts her hand in supplication to her Queen.
“Oh, I see,” Queen Hero grins at her. “My little rabbit wants her lion. What evidence do you have?”
“I saw her lover in her bed chamber— I told you of this the day he came.”
“I was there,” Faye says. “When Moriya told you.”
“Enough.” Hero twirls on her toes, swinging her axe. She spins and points it at me. Spins and points it at them. Spiraling among us in a circle of decision.
“Kneel, Lady Prycell.”
Seraphina trembles as she kneels, hands knotted in her scarlet gown.
“Lean forward.”
“Your Majesty, I beg of you.” She bows her head forward and Queen Hero readies her axe. “Send for my husband. Let me see him,
I beg of you. I never meant to upset your Highness. I only wish to—”
The axe slips clear through her neck and clangs on the marble floor. Another burst of blood paints the white floors red. Moriya and Faye scream, along with many of the courtiers. I turn away and steady my breathing. My husband’s mother’s body thuds against the floor, and her head rolls to my feet.
All sounds dull in my ears from the shock, until Queen Hero points a bloody hand at Moriya and says, “You were sleeping with my cousin’s husband—”
“Before he married her!” Moriya interrupts, taking several steps back.
“Cadathan,” Hero snaps her fingers with her free hand. An armored guard steps forward. “Restrain my servant. She’s spoken out of turn.”
Moriya yelps as Cadathan’s hand lands on her shoulder. “Please, don’t hurt me!”
“Please! My Queen, let her go!” Faye drops to her knees. Blood seeps into her sky-blue gown. I scan the crowd quickly for the third bunny, but don’t see Nadia anywhere. Rydel paces behind us. Queen Hero approaches Moriya and levels the blade of her axe at her throat. I don’t like the girl, but I don’t want another person to die. Not over pettiness.
I thought Queen Hero liked Moriya. She defended her the other night when I spoke badly of her. She’s lost it. Should I stop her? Moriya hums to herself, whimpering as Hero touches the blade to her neck. I can hear Moriya’s heart fluttering in her chest. I can hear Rydel’s and Faye’s. Every heart in this court is beating like the leaves of the tree in the temple, pulsing fast and hard. Drumming a battle hymn. Except for Queen Hero’s. Her pupils dilate, her gestures slow. Her heart is steady and dull. I can hear the blood coursing through her veins as she considers spilling Moriya’s.
“You’ve slandered my cousin before court. You have no evidence of your claims, nothing I could stake my cousin’s marriage on. Aside from that, her husband is not here, and should the marriage truly be in question, it would be his testimony that matters. Not his mother’s or his former lover’s. Garnish it all with a little disrespect for your Queen, and it’s safe to say you’re asking for an execution!” She raises the axe to strike.
The Sunderlands Page 31
