Faces of Betrayal

by Daniele Cella

  "It's a secret. The gardeners prepare it for the greatest of lovers."

  She lifted one eyebrow. "You're teasing me."

  "When it comes to true love? Never."

  Rakesh pulled her into his arms, savoring the feel of her soft, lean body against his. She tilted her head back, smiling at him through the delicate white blooms that drifted from the peach tree above. He brushed a petal off her cheek, wondering how he ever smiled without her in his arms. "I've missed you."

  "And I have missed you," she whispered, relaxing within his arms. He relished the feeling of holding her up, and holding her close.

  "I've been busy," he said. "There have been more drills than ever before. Sometimes I don't even get a chance to eat lunch.

  "You are always busy!"

  "So are you!"

  She laughed. "It's true. But never too busy to steal away and see you."

  He glanced behind them when some leaves rustled, then stilled. "Let us hope that continues."

  "No. I can be as sneaky as a fox. They will never catch us."

  He tilted his head back and laughed, tapping her once on her elegant nose. "Yes, yes you can, you fierce Nari woman. No fox can sneak up on you."

  Her expression faded into concern. "Has anyone suspected what we're doing, do you think? My father would be furious if he found out."

  "Not that I have seen or heard, no, and I will keep an ear out if I can."

  The wrinkles in her face smoothed out. "Good. For a while I thought my brother suspected, but . . ." She trailed away, glancing behind them. When she pulled out of her thoughts, she smiled. "We are safe, I believe."

  "Your brother would be angry?"

  "On behalf of my father, yes."

  He leaned down, closing the distance between them until she put a hand on his chest. "Wait."

  He stopped a breath away. His brow furrowed. "What is it?"

  She reached into a small pocket at the side of her dress, extracting something that glinted. She kept it hidden against her palm, studying his curious gaze with a teasing grin, before opening her fingers one by one.

  Inside her hand lay a silver pendant in the shape of a flattened tear drop. She peeled it open. Inside, an emerald was flanked by one sparkling, single diamond.

  "If you open it, there is a surprise inside."

  "It opens?"

  She lifted her palm, and he accepted the pendant from her. He pried open the edges, and found a silky lock of her hair inside. Her name was inscribed on the inside of the pendant. The shaky, jagged appearance of the letters meant she had done it herself – no doubt, in the depths of night so no one would know.

  Rakesh touched her name with the tip of his finger, and felt a surge of protectiveness for her that nearly overwhelmed him. He studied the pendant, gently closed it, and pressed a hand to her face.

  "It's beautiful. Just like you."

  It’s yours. You will always carry me with you now."

  She grabbed the pendant and slipped the necklace over his head. The pendant dangled just over his heart. He tucked it under his shirt and pressed his palm to it for a moment. "Always."

  She slipped into his arms again, her head tilted back. Rakesh tightened his hold on her, memorizing the way her body fit against his. The way her hair fell in long, gentle strands down her back, fluttering over her shoulders in the wind.

  Rakesh lowered his face to hers. The warm kiss of her breath caressed his cheek. "I will always love you," he whispered.

  Her lips brushed his just as a heavy hand clamped down on his shoulder. Rakesh felt her breath hitch, heard a cry emerge from her throat as he was torn away.

  He whipped around, ducking a punch.

  "Azuma!" she screamed. "NO!"

  Rakesh quelled the urge to fight back as he stared into the livid eyes of her older brother.

  "You betray our family!" Azuma raged.

  Rakesh held up his hands. "I want no violence, Azuma."

  Ren rushed between them, holding her arms out. "Leave him alone, Azuma. I love him. I love him more than anything."

  Azuma grabbed her arm, shoving her behind him. Rakesh stepped forward with a growl.

  "If you harm her," he muttered, pointing one finger at Azuma, "you will deal with me then."

  "No, Rakesh. From here on out, you will be dealing with far worse things than me."

  White lights broke across Rakesh's vision when Azuma's fist met his face. Pain reverberated through his skull, sending him into blackness.

  Rakesh awoke to the sound of chanting. The words of an ancient language filled his ears with strange litanies.

  He was on his back, surrounded by four men in black robes and hoods too deep to reveal their faces. Metal chains held him tight to a gritty rock face, which ground into his back. Fear and pain rippled through Rakesh. He tried to scream, but his throat did not allow it. He had no energy to fight, no voice with which to call out.

  An old man in a wheelchair sat next to the altar, studying him. Rakesh felt the old man's stare upon him from where he lay. A toothy grin arose on the wrinkled face as the elder called out words in the same ancient tongue.

  For every sentence the old man spoke, the four men answered. The litanies changed, at once singsong and terrifying at the same time.

  "We have a strong life essence here," the elder croaked out, his feeble voice still strong enough to be heard through all the chants. "What a good thing for us! The dark lands of The Nothingness provide all that we need!"

  A strange sensation entered Rakesh's mind. His very body seemed to swirl in the air for a moment, drifting on an unseen cloud. His fingers turned numb.

  The paralyzing feeling rippled up his arm, creeping through his elbow, to his bicep, to his shoulder. He couldn't feel his toes, his ankle. Then, his knee.

  Slowly, one limb at a time, his body became numb, dead.

  His head felt lighter. Free. Was he floating now? Did the heavy chains still weigh him down? He struggled to keep his eyes open… No, too much work.

  Rakesh's head lolled to the side of his neck. Then an intense pain shot through his body all the way from his toes to his shoulders. His legs twitched. His body spasmed. He groaned from somewhere deep in his throat.

  The liturgical chants increased in energy and volume. Rakesh attempted to open his eyes to see the wizened old man once more, but all he saw through his barely parted lashes was a smoky, strange cloud hovering in the air above him.

  Blood.

  Blood flowed from the cloud, gathering in streams that parted ways and slipped into the men surrounding him.

  The old man cackled with glee. The chanting calmed.

  Everything was fuzzy…so distant.

  Then a heavy hand grabbed Rakesh's wrist, prying his fingers open. With the last of the life left in him, Rakesh jerked his wrist away. The pendant fell, dropping to the ground and opening with a clink. A single lock of bright red hair slipped to the ground, and the three letters inscribed inside were revealed to all who cared look.

  REN.

  Rakesh closed his eyes, his head turning to the side. One final whisper slipped from his lips.

  "Ren . . . "

  Ren

  Ren peered out her bedroom window in the Imperial Palace and focused her eyes on the rooftops in the Sunsan nation.

  This. This was her new home. With her parents dead and the world as she knew it having fallen apart, for sure she'd never return to her homeland.

  She had to make a new life here without a husband, and without parents – with only her siblings to love her.

  All around Ren, sunlight poured in through the windows and warmed up her body. Yet she remained lost in thoughts of her mother lying dead on that stone slab.

  Her mind then moved to the body of Isao, and how it had been so disfigured.

  She reflected on the fact that the bodies of hundreds of her people were now set in shallow, mass graves because there were too many to bury individually.

  How would she ever reign successfully?
<
br />   She knew nothing about the Empire as a whole. She did not know how to run it, or what to say when she tried. She didn’t even know who many of those in the Hiwan clan were!

  Rumors would spread about her inability to fill the void left by Sheng Saemon. Did she even care what they said?

  No.

  She only cared about him. Rakesh. Him whom she could never have…particularly not now.

  What would he think of this? How would she feel if he was here and wrapping his arms around her?

  She had started to long for Rakesh in unexpected ways. Fitfully. Desperately. Tinged with an aura of deep need that no amount of time seemed to lessen or erase.

  A loud noise from the courtyard below arrested her attention. She jerked out of her reverie – her memories of Rakesh’s soft touch and loving hands – to look.

  Three soldiers were forcibly dragging a man into the courtyard. She leaned forward and narrowed her gaze. The man was Nobu Ameya. A lump rose in her throat. The traitor.

  "You can't do this!" the Ameyan suddenly screamed. "You can't do this!"

  Horses pulling a caged chariot came charging into the courtyard.

  A pit opened in Ren’s stomach. After several moments of confusion, she knew what was about to happen. She recognized that chariot, understood the desperation that fueled Nobu’s words.

  She understand just who the three dark figures in the dark robes and masks were that stood beside the chariot when it came to a stop.

  The Yojin.

  She'd know the special unit assigned to patrol Iskawan anywhere.

  The last time she had seen them, they had helped rip the man who was her heart away from her. They had torn him from her body, and sent him away.

  That day, back in Anpu, she had lost everything….

  "Vile, filthy man. You put your hands on my sister? You defy your promise as a soldier? How dare you even look at her!" Azuma hollered as he stood in front of Rakesh, his face contorted in rage.

  Rakesh said nothing, just stared blankly ahead. It was as if he didn't see Azuma or hear the insults and shocked whispers shock rippling through the Nari court.

  "It’s death for you," Azuma hissed.

  Ren’s father Danjuro sat on the throne not far away, his lips tugged into a deep frown.

  Bramen Qin stepped up next to Rakesh, regarding him through mere slits of eyes. "The injustice you have done is unforgivable. You have broken your oath to serve the clan and have tried to take what is not yours. What do you have to say for yourself before you are killed for your actions?"

  Rakesh kept his shoulders back as he stood tall and proud.

  "Forgive me, my Saten, but I have no regret for the decisions I have made. If love is a sin, then I will die in the name of it. I do not regret any moment I shared with Ren, nor any of my decisions. I love her, and I will not take that back or pretend it is not true."

  Azuma sneered. "You’re not even apologetic."

  Bramen put his hands behind his back before he turned to face the Nari court gathered in the room. "You have heard the man’s confession. Death it is."

  "No!" Ren cried.

  "Ren," her father murmured. "Silence."

  "Father, please!"

  Ren jumped out of her chair and ran up to the throne. She threw herself at her father’s knees with a sob. Tears bubbled out of her eyes, dribbling down her cheeks.

  "Ren – "

  "Please don't do this. I love him. You cannot punish us for love! Not for love. Please, Father. I will do anything you ask. But don't kill him. Please, don't kill him. How will I live?"

  Bramen turned away so he did not have to view Ren’s tears. He knew her own father had a hard time meeting her gaze.

  In desperation, Ren buried her face atop her father’s knee. As she wrapped her arms around his leg, she felt his fingers gently stroke her hair.

  Then her father lifted her face so she could see him. He put a finger under her chin. "Ren, do you truly care this much for him?"

  "With all my heart."

  Danjuro swallowed, glancing behind Ren at someone in silent command. Someone padded up to the throne, reached out to Ren.

  "Ren," Yuna whispered. "Come, Ren. With me over here. Let them do their work."

  "No."

  Ren tried to shove Yuna away, but her sister wouldn’t be set aside. Yuna knelt down next to her, put an arm around Ren's shoulders, holding her firm to her side.

  Danjuro, ruler of the Naris, stood and stared hard at Rakesh. The man hadn't moved – hadn't even twitched – in the face of Azuma's vile put-downs.

  "For the sake of my daughter, I will spare this man’s life," Danjuro announced.

  Whispers expressing astonishment moved through the court. Ren gasped, catching her next cry and holding it in.

  "This man may live, but for breaking his oath, for touching my daughter without permission, the prisoner is sentenced to life in Iskawan."

  Ren’s knees gave out. No! That's not what she had meant. Not what she had wanted.

  The expressions of the spectator’s faces – even that on Bramen's – seemed to relax. As if all here approved of the punishment Ren’s father was meting out.

  Yet Rakesh’s sentence was far worse than the silence of the grave, Ren thought. The punishment doomed him to exile. To darkness. To an unforgiving world without happiness, without peace.

  It was a punishment as good as death, if not worse.

  "Father!" Ren shrieked. "No!"

  "Ren," Yuna whispered. "Calm yourself, please."

  "Take him," her father commanded three Nari soldiers. "Get him out of here. Send for the Yojin."

  "NO!"

  The soldiers flanked Rakesh, grabbing him by the arms. Rakesh offered no resistance.

  Ren lunged, desperate to touch her love one more time. To see his face, to look into his eyes. Yuna grabbed Ren’s arm; Azuma, her shoulder. The two held her firmly in place.

  "NO!" Ren protested.

  "Ren, calm yourself," Yuna murmured. "This is only making it worse."

  "Rakesh!" she screamed. "I love you. I love you!"

  The Nari soldiers whisked Rakesh toward the door, pulling him farther away from his beloved. They stopped momentarily at the door, where he turned around to face Ren one last time.

  She pulled against Azuma and Yuna, willing to go to the darkness of Iskawan just to be with her love.

  "Ren," he called in a soft voice, the words carrying through the silence of the room, "I'll be yours forever."

  With that, the soldiers pulled him away – and he was gone.

  Ren fell to her knees and heaved a sob. She wrenched her arms from her siblings, and looked to her parents, but they stared ahead with blank, expressionless faces. She cast about the rest of the room, seeking mercy but finding none. Everyone stared at her with a mixture of steep disapproval, or even pity, but no mercy.

  No one understood.

  Ren buried her face in her hands and lost herself to wave after wave of pain.

  "My Nishu Ren?"

  The sound of her handmaid, Naho, speaking in a gentle voice broke through Ren’s reverie. She blinked slowly, realizing she had fallen completely into the spell of her memories once again. Only this time, she'd remembered his final words.

  How had that happened? How had she forgotten his promise to be hers forever?

  Her heart ached. She pressed her hand to it, feeling the trickle of a tear as it traced down her cheek.

  Why now? Why did she suddenly feel this deep, aching chasm, this yearning emptiness, right now?

  Everything somehow felt…different. As if the air had shifted. As if the world had suddenly plunged into darkness.

  Her heart yearned anew, pain and agony surging through it again and again.

  "Nishu Ren?"

  With a start, she looked at her servant standing behind her. Naho with her softly red hair tied into a tight bun at the back of her head. So familiar. So loving.

  "My Nishu," Naho murmured, "please sit down. You are so pale."r />
  Naho put a firm hand around Ren’s elbow and steered Ren back to her bed, where she sat down on the edge. Pain had her entire body in its grip. The loneliness she felt was crushing.

  “Naho, a question?”

  “Anything, my Nishu.”

  “Iskawan,” Ren whispered. “Why would he go there? Why not a normal prison within the Empire?” Her jaw trembled. “Why not just kill him.”

  “They send the greatest of sinners to Iskawan. It’s . . . the tradition of the Empire. If they were to be killed or housed in prisons within the borders, their impure souls would spread into the air and corrupt everyone.”

  Ren’s brow furrowed. He was not evil or impure! Naho hesitated, but Ren met her gaze.

  “Continue,” Ren whispered.

  “When they die within Iskawan, their corrupted souls are swallowed by the eternal darkness and pose no threat or harm. It’s to protect everyone.”

  “They why feed them? A monthly delivery of food and supplies goes to them, does it not? If they are so vile,” she spat, “why sustain them?”

  “Iskawan is located near The Nothingness, my Nishu. The lands of eternal darkness. If the Empire keeps the citizens of Iskawan alive, they are the first shield to protect the rest of us. Then we would know that something was coming, wouldn’t we?”

  Ren’s nostrils flared. And when innocents went there to die? When a pure soul like Rakesh was so wrongly accused? Would it envelope his soul. Ren turned away, swallowing her fear and rage. Naho reached out, a tentative touch on Ren’s shoulder.

  "Are you well?" Naho asked.

  "I will be," Ren murmured. "Thank you for the information."

  "Your sister is here to speak with you."

  Ren drew in a deep breath as Yuna slunk into the room, her movements graceful as a cat’s. She smiled as she strolled up, but it wasn't a full smile. Sadness lingered in the corner of Yuna’s eyes.

  "Ren, you are so beautiful," she greeted.

  "Thank you."

  Yuna's brow furrowed. "Do you not believe it?"

  Ren turned away, toward the sun, bathing herself in light once again. How was it possible for it to be so bright outside when total darkness lived inside her? She swallowed back the lump rising in her throat. "Yes. I'm just tired."