by Eve Langlais
“How do you plan to find her? I thought you said she could be anywhere.”
“Anywhere, but if she had any kind of choice or say, there’s only one place she would go.” The one place she might feel safe and have a false expectation of aid.
“You think she went home. That should be easy enough to find out. Send her guardian Marduk a message.”
“Too dangerous.”
“How?”
“She naively thinks Marduk will protect her.”
“He’s her father.”
“Adoptive,” Desmond corrected. “And even if his blood ran in her veins, he’s king. His duty to his people will come first.”
The incredulity on Logan’s face went with his blurted, “You can’t think he’ll hurt her.”
“I think he already has.” Desmond scrubbed his face. “Listen, I didn’t say anything earlier because I wanted to be sure, but I did find one interesting item in Mustafa’s things. A bottle of wine.”
“What’s so important about some booze?”
“The brand. It’s a specialty wine that only the king of Babylonia serves. He keeps it for state dinners and on rare occasions, sends it out as a gift.”
“Doesn’t mean he played a part in what Mustafa did.” A weak defense.
Desmond offered a hard stare. “I hope for Erela’s sake, you’re right. Because if Erela fell into Marduk’s hands and it turns out he conspired against her…” Not good.
Logan frowned. “How do we find out if the Babylonian king has her?”
“I think I have an idea. A rash one.”
“Beggars can’t be choosers. How crazy is it?”
Desmond’s lips compressed. “Offer a sizeable reward for information leading to the apprehension of the Forsaken One.”
“Which will do what to help her?” Logan queried.
“Ensure people are looking for her. Once people start talking, we will hopefully figure out her location and mount a rescue. Quickly before her enemies converge.”
“What if whoever has her just kills her instead of presenting her?”
“Then it will be the last thing they do.”
Chapter Twenty-One
When Erela regained consciousness, she found herself hanging in a cell with no light, only the feel of cold metal manacles around her wrists.
A familiar feeling. A terrifying one, as well.
She yanked, her breath coming fast and panicked as the nightmare of her rape and abuse returned to haunt her.
No. Not again.
Like last time, her strength failed her. Her screams went unanswered. Her new magic didn’t come despite her demands. It, too, had vanished. It was just her and the memories of what could happen. The many ways she could be hurt.
Her head drooped. I don’t know if I can do it again.
She had no hope of rescue. No one knew where she’d gone.
Her tie to Desmond didn’t respond. Not even a faint trace of it remained. Just like Logan’s comforting presence was missing from its usual spot.
The horror of it brought hysterical laughter. Erela was still laughing when the door opened.
A robed figure entered, head bowed. “I wouldn’t have thought you’d have much to laugh about, Forsaken One.” The voice was entirely feminine.
“You’re not King Marduk.” The surprise in Erela’s voice didn’t come close to matching the reality.
The hood pulled back, and Erela stared with incomprehension at the woman revealed. Her thin features with the deep lines scoring them showed her as middle-aged. Her hair, pulled into a bun at her nape and netted, was the brown of a Babylonian. The lips bloodless and yet full. Her eyes a plain brown lit with a spark of hatred.
“Who are you?” Erela asked, even as she recalled Mustafa’s words. Was this the she responsible for everything?
A corner of the woman’s lip pulled into a sneer. “I am Lisandra. The king’s true daughter.”
“Which one? He has a few.” Erela couldn’t help but taunt. All of them bastards. She’d encountered a few over the years, not that the king ever acknowledged them. He had a male heir, a boy who spent most of his time serving in other courts.
“Real daughters, and yet he chose you for the honor of standing by his side. A half-breed.” Spoken with a sneer that took away any beauty Lisandra might have once had. Bitterness had a way of making people ugly.
But this Lisandra did have a point. It wasn’t fair that the king ignored his blooded daughters for an adopted one. Since Erela couldn’t exactly apologize, she changed the subject, her gaze caught by the robe, the insignia on it that of the tribunal. The people who had forsook her.
Erela asked, “Where did you get the robe? Who does it belong to?”
“The robe is mine.” Said with pride and a defiant tilt of the chin.
“You’re on the tribunal?” The incredulity pitched Erela’s words at a high note.
“Don’t act so surprised.”
“I thought—”
“It was Marduk? That pompous idiot would make a poor choice. He is too full of his own greatness to properly serve the needs of the people.”
“Let me guess, you know how to serve them.”
“Who better than someone of the people, living among the people.”
“Yet you’re not really like them. You’re a king’s daughter.”
“Unrecognized daughter. That privilege was given to an abandoned half-breed bastard.” Again, with the mighty sneer.
“I never asked him to become my guardian.”
“Yet he did adopt and spoil you. Don’t think we didn’t notice. Chosen as one of his elite guards. Given all the privilege of a royal-born. And then, as if that weren’t travesty enough, you fornicated with an Ifrit.” Lisandra’s lip curled. “It was a pleasure to finally see you pulled down to the rank you deserved.”
“You hate me,” Erela stated, trying to wrap her mind around it. “Yet I never did anything to harm you.”
“You existed,” the woman spat. “And no matter how many accidents were arranged, you didn’t die, which was why I sent that note and told that demon lord where to find you.”
“You sent the message? You conspired with Mammon?” She could barely say the words, the roaring in her head was so loud as Lisandra confirmed her involvement.
“The brother of your lover was most eager to help once he heard.”
“Help? Is that what you call his abuse?” Disbelief rocked Erela.
“Hardly abuse given your willingness to spread your thighs for those beasts,” Lisandra sneered. “And it worked. Mammon paid witness to your transgression, and you were forsaken.”
The rape was on Lisandra’s orders. Out of revenge for her father. It blew Erela’s mind.
“Everything that happened—”
“Was by my design,” Lisandra proudly declared.
Anger simmered within, but also sorrow. This was what hatred unchecked turned into. Is this what I would have become?
“I was tortured over and over because you were angry that the king didn’t recognize you? Do you even hear yourself speaking? And you would call the Ifrits monsters. It is you who is the evil one.” Spat with vehemence. Probably not the brightest thing she could have done, yet Erela couldn’t help herself. Attack with words remained the only defense she had left. There was a small satisfaction in seeing the woman flinch.
“Mammon’s actions were supposed to end after the ruling, but that idiot kept you alive.” Such a sour expression.
“I’m so sorry. Did the psycho you hired turn out to be a psycho?” Erela no longer cared what she said. She hammered Lisandra. “Why even go through the charade with the tribunal? Why not just have Mammon kill me if you hated me so much? It would have been quicker and more merciful.”
“Because if you simply disappeared or died, the damned king would have gone looking for you or demanded revenge.”
The man who played father while Erela grew from child to woman would have done anything for her.
W
ould have.
Now, the man who saw her as a detriment to his kingdom would probably prefer she died.
Erela didn’t reply.
Lisandra did. “When the king found out your perfidy, he had all your things burned. Your name banned.”
“But he still didn’t notice you,” Erela taunted. “Is that why you sent those monsters to attack me?”
“What are you talking about?”
The genuine puzzlement brought a frown. “Aren’t you the one who’s been after me? Sending the giant worm? The lizard that killed Mustafa?”
“Mustafa is dead?”
Erela clamped her lips at the surprised reply. Did Lisandra truly not know?
Could there be another player?
“It seems you’re not the only one playing games. Someone is looking to bury a secret. I wonder if they’ll come for you next.” Dropping that seed of doubt gave Erela a spurt of pleasure, especially with the way Lisandra’s eyes darted behind her to the door.
“On Earth, they have a name for that faceless monster that stalks you and waits for your most vulnerable moment. The bogeyman.”
During her surreal time on Earth, Erela had watched a strange movie with a skeleton playing the lead. Which might explain why she began humming a certain song.
“I see what you’re trying to do. Frighten me. It won’t work,” Lisandra spat. “And you’d better hope I don’t die, or they might never find your body.”
“I’ll escape.” A confident statement, yet utterly true. Dead or alive, she wouldn’t be tortured again.
“There is no escape for you.” The slim hands pulled the hood tight, and Lisandra turned to leave.
“What’s going to happen to me?” The weakness of her question almost made her hang her head in shame.
“You’re to face the tribunal for judgment.”
That surprised Erela. “Why? Why not just dispose of me? It is what you’re hoping for.”
“It would have made things simpler. But I didn’t find you first. Marduk did and had you marched out in chains on a stretcher in public. Gave some speech about being a law-abiding citizen of the tribunal.”
“I went to him for help.”
“And he forsook you. To the surprise of us all.” Lisandra’s smile held a hint of triumph. “Now you know how a real daughter of the king feels.”
“When am I to face the tribunal?”
“As soon as they can convene.”
“What will they do?”
“What should have been done before. As a Forsaken who has returned to cause more trouble and refuses to repent? You’ll die.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Despite the supposed urgency to bring Erela before the tribunal, hours passed, which rolled into days. Her captor—who surely won an award for most evil adopted sister ever—claimed that the delay was because they had to wait until all of the members could convene.
Each moment that passed without rescue chipped at the hope Erela had remaining. By the third day, in pain from the wound on her leg, arms strained and tired, hungry and morose, she had none left.
A robed figure entered, and she knew right away that something had changed. For one, a man with broad shoulders and more height now wore the robe.
When the cowl peeled back, she wasn’t surprised to see the king.
“Where is Lisandra?” The name of the sister consumed by jealousy, and angry at the wrong person. A shame, because Erela would have dearly loved a sister growing up.
Marduk tucked his hands and dropped his head. “Such a tragedy. While out riding at night, Lisandra’s horse threw her and broke her neck.”
The calm way he said it brought a chill. “You killed her just so you could take her place?”
“Surely, you aren’t accusing me of murder. As if I’d ever do such a thing.” A sly glance at Erela as Marduk put a hand to his heart in mockery.
Growing up, Erela hadn’t seen this side of Marduk. The dark side of her king. That came once she’d begun to serve as his personal guard. The blinders of loyalty fell away.
Which was why she said, “If it served your purpose, yes, you would kill.”
“I act for the greater good.”
“Your good. And even then, the ends don’t justify the means. She was your daughter!” A real daughter who just wanted him to pay her some attention.
“She was being demanding.”
“Or was it more like you wanted the power she wielded on the tribunal?” Lisandra’s death served more than one purpose.
“The woman never should have been given that power in the first place. I thought for sure when Lowcki died that I’d inherit the spot. But they skipped me for her.”
“The tribunal will have you executed if they find out what you’ve done.”
“They will never know. Don’t forget, the identities of the tribunal’s members are secret.” The king held up a finger and mimed hushing.
“If it’s secret, how did you find out about Lisandra?”
“She told me.” An expression of disgruntlement.
“And then you had her killed.” Erela shook her head. “Why not just throw her a crumb, acknowledge her? Use her to cement an alliance with another kingdom?” Because marriage still remained one of the strongest ways to serve one’s family. Man or woman, it brought wealth. “Why didn’t you acknowledge her then?”
“Did you see her?” The king’s lip curled. “A plain woman, and a bit of a shrew, just like her mother. Who would have wanted her?”
The disdain made her heart hurt and explained Lisandra’s actions. “What are you going to do with me?” Erela asked. “Kill me and claim an accident, too?”
“Not yet. There is much interest in you, Erela.”
“What do you mean?”
“Inquiries as to who you are. Where you came from.”
“Who asked?”
“That’s just it. I don’t know. The echoes of the questions are hard to grasp.” His eyes lost focus. “And yet the one who asks is familiar. When I close my eyes, she is there, whispering.”
“So, you’ll keep me alive because of a dream you can’t remember? What about not killing me because of the love you had for an adopted daughter?”
A chuckle met her words. “The thing about love is it so easily turns to hate. I didn’t even know I felt it until I learned of your perfidy. The shame of knowing my ward betrayed me with my enemy.”
“The Ifrits aren’t our enemy.”
“Then you know nothing,” the king spat. “They would take our land from us. Cast us out and rule in our stead.”
“According to whom?”
“I know it. I see it.” He paced, his eyes wild with hatred.
“They are not planning to attack.”
“Of course, they are. All the other realms conspire against us. They seek to rule over us.”
“You’re delusional. No one is trying to control us.”
“The Ifrits are. Why else would a lord be interested in you?” Said with disparagement.
“Because he loved me.”
The curled lip eloquently showed Marduk didn’t believe her. “What do you have to offer? While you might have been my ward, you had no land. No title. No wealth of your own.”
She didn’t come empty-handed. “I had my wits. My strength. My loyalty.” A devotion that needed a new master. Erela almost grumbled the complaint. The strain of her arms, tied overhead, stung nearly as much as her pride.
“Loyalty?” The booming laugh held a hint of bitterness. “A loyal daughter wouldn’t have spread her legs for not one but two of the enemy.”
“Mammon raped me.”
“But you weren’t pure even before that. Or will you deny fornicating with the Dark Lord?”
“We were engaged.”
“Your breaking of the rules almost destroyed our world. Almost made it come true.”
“What are you talking about?”
He looked at her in surprise. “Don’t they teach it anymore?”
&nb
sp; “Teach what?”
“The prophecy, the one written on the old walls of the keep.” The king tilted his head back and closed his eyes before chanting, “The pure maiden of the garden, whose eyes shine purple bright, shall lie with a mighty lord of shadowy heart. A deed forbidden. A love forsaken. The beginning of the end.”
“I don’t see what your poem has to do with me. As you just reminded me, I’m not a true Babylonian.”
“Perhaps not, yet you have those purple eyes. And you slept with that Dark Lord.”
“But he didn’t forsake me.”
“He also never rescued you from his brother. While you screamed, Desmond sat on his throne.”
Her stomach heaved. “You knew about the torture?”
“Not at the time, but Lisandra was quite forthcoming when she came to demand I hand you over.”
“So you understand how I was framed.”
“Framed?” The king sneered. “Lisandra only told the truth.”
“She was the one who had Mammon kidnap and torture me.”
“A tad more extreme than necessary, but not surprising given her love of this country and hatred of you.”
Her adoptive father must hate her, too, to condone anyone to that kind of pain and torture. “Only a coward would have the tribunal do his dirty work. Having them kill me while you—”
“While I protect my people.”
“From what?”
But he didn’t answer.
“Tell me, what exactly are you protecting your people from by killing me?”
“The end of the world, like the prophecy predicts.”
“You’re insane. It’s an old poem written on a wall.”
Eyes blazing madly with righteousness he spat, “And if it’s the truth? Do I dare take that chance?”
“If you believe it, then kill me. Now. No one is looking. No one will know.” Kill her now before something worse could happen.
His lips turned into one thin line.
“Can’t do it?” she mocked. “Is murder only acceptable if you’re not the one inflicting the killing blow?”
“Quiet!” The slap of his open palm rocked her face. It stung. The coppery taste of blood filled her mouth where her cheek was cut on a tooth.