by S King
Forgetting our food we grabbed our shit and got the hell out of the room; of course, we weren’t stupid enough to go out through the front entrance. If the HG were the ones behind the explosion, then they were going to level this motel in a matter of seconds while waiting for us to burst through the most obvious entry point. Then the fireworks would really start. In truth, Demir and I were quickly becoming Bonnie and Clyde 2.0.
Demir slammed his shoulder into the fire escape door and pushed me ahead after looking over his shoulder. “Gold and Silver,” he mumbled.
We ran down the stairs and forced our way through the back door right before another explosion took over the building and sent our bodies flying through the air.
My back slammed against a tree, causing stars to form in my vision. I had to make a quick assessment on my body to ensure nothing was majorly broken. A few cracked ribs, internal bruising, a little dizzy. I’d live.
Opening my eyes, I had to blink a few times in order to clear away the stars and gain my bearings.
“You ok?” Demir staggered to his feet, bracing more of his weight on his left foot.
“Yeah, you?”
He nodded, before he was speared through the stomach by one burly looking guard member. Snow exploded around the two men as they started rolling down the hill.
I took a step toward them to break up the fight when a flash caught my attention and sent me diving into my own snow drift. I stared at the sword embedded in a tree and thanked my lucky stars for having decent enough peripheral vision to duck.
My head snapped around to find J.T. from squadron seven of Silver; he was the same one who had been in the alley with Demir the other day. Forcing me to frown at him as I stood up.
“J.T. what the hell?”
His platinum silver eyes flashed with regret for a moment before he twisted his wrist, “sorry, sect leader. I have to, it’s by the order of the courts.”
“Why?” My whip was buried somewhere in the snow and left me without a weapon. As long as he had that sword in his hand, I was at a serious disadvantage.
He clenched his jaw for a moment, “you committed a series of serious offenses.”
“I won’t make excuses for my misdeeds.”
“Demir knows the truth about the situation, Luminous, so do a favor for both of you and just accept your fate.”
I wasn’t going to accept anything, but my mind was stalled on his first statement. “What do you mean, he knows the truth?”
“Everyone does, Lumi, but he knew before any of this happened. He was offered an ultimatum and right now he’s…” he shrugged, glancing down the hill and raised a brow, “he’s going to be on the board one way or another and all of that starts by your death.”
He knew. He fucking knew the truth and he didn’t say anything. Lovett was right. I didn’t need to debate with myself about telling Demir shit because the son of a bitch already knew everything and refused to tell me to my face.
My rage snapped forward and brought my mind from the diluted place it had been in for the last few weeks. I dove into the snow, out of the way of J.T.’s sword attack and grabbed the whip; being in an awkward position, I knew the whip wouldn’t connect with his flesh, but it did do enough to force him to jump back out of the way.
“This isn’t going to end the way you want it to, Luminous,” he warned, trying to track my moves before stepping forward.
I smirked, swinging the thing backward and snapped it through the air, “we’ll see about that.”
The leather and razor wire did my bidding, lashing across J.T.’s face and chest. Blood shot out of the wound, splattering the perfectly white snow.
He cried out in pain and dropped his sword in order to hold his face; I spun around, not wanting to lose momentum and cracked the whip again. The fatal blow landed perfectly, decapitating J.T. in a matter of seconds.
I stared at his body, lost in thought. So much so, I jumped when a hand came down on my shoulder.
“Whoa, hey,” Demir frowned and looked at the scene quickly before searching my face, “you look as if you’ve seen a ghost, Lumi.”
I ripped my arm from his grip and clenched my teeth together, “I’m fine, let’s go.”
“Luminous—”
“We’re not doing this right now,” I started through the snow, not even caring that we were leaving evidence behind.
As we trudged through the snow, I kept hearing Lovett’s and J.T.’s words circling in my mind. He knew over and over, I tried to find every reason there was to find fault in both men’s statement. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find anything wrong with the truth.
The sun broke over the horizon as we came into a clearing and stopped for a moment.
“Danger is going to find us out here in the open,” Demir grumbled, staring at the tree line in front of us.
“I laugh in the face of danger and dance with the man of death for a living,” I sarcastically said, glancing at his screwed look. “I take it you didn’t like that?”
“No,” he deadpanned and started toward the tree line.
I rolled my eyes, following a few steps behind him, “well excuse me for trying to lighten the mood.” Who was I kidding; I was trying to ignore the newest piece of this fucked up puzzle and if shooting off sarcastic jokes helped. Why the hell not?
He stopped and looked at me over his shoulder, “we’re on the verge of being killed by our respective guards and now.” His arms shot out in front of him, “we’re in some god forsaken woods, hungry, and sleep depraved. And you’re trying to lighten the mood?”
I narrowed my eyes on him and clenched my teeth. It was true the two of us were hungry, tired, and pushing the hell out of our muscular limits, but snapping at me after what I had just found out? Yeah, that shit wasn’t going to work for me.
“Don’t snap my head off, I didn’t tell you to come with me. As everyone keeps putting it, you can make it out of this situation alive.”
He grounded his teeth together, his face turning hard, “you think I’m here because I think you need some form of protection?”
“No, I think you have some type of hidden motive that you’re not telling me about.”
“Like what, Luminous? Anyone in their right mind wouldn’t be in the situation we’re in by choice and you know it.”
I pointed to the empty space behind us, “then leave. I can take care of myself.”
“I’m not going to leave you out here to starve and freeze to death.”
“Why not?” I snapped, wanting him to tell me the truth on his own conviction.
I didn’t want to have to pry it out of him. I wanted him to tell me I was wrong and what J.T. had said was nothing more than the ramblings of a dead man. Something to tell me, I hadn’t given my heart to someone hellbent on advancing in his guard and destroying what little bit of humanity I had left in me.
Demir growled in frustration, storming off through the trees and mumbled something under his breath.
Staring at his back, I stopped chasing after him and asked the simplest of questions ever known to man.
“Is it true?”
“Is what true, Luminous?” He spun around, anger dancing across his face like a lover running to their partner. Oh, the balls on this man was something to marvel at, I thought to myself before throwing down my gauntlet.
“Did you know about the plans of the courts and the guards before all of this,” I waved a dismissive hand around us, “happened?”
“I…” he trailed off, some of the anger draining from his handsome face as guilt started to seep into those dull gold-silver eyes.
The realization finally hit me and knocked the air from my lungs; I was nothing more than a fool this entire time. Every person around me had subtly said, in some form or another, Demir had known the truth before I did. Had been privy to the distinction between the harsh reality of our situation and the illusion I had formed in my mind.
“If you want to hate me, I wouldn’t blame you,” he fi
nally said and searched my face.
I was not going to cry at his hidden admission. I wasn’t going to do it; taking a deep breath, I backed away from him and shook my head.
“All of them were right? Rasmussen, J.T., Svenia, Heinz, Holt—everyone told me you knew before I did. You already knew I,” I clutched my chest and frowned at him, trying to wrap my head around the accusation coming from my mouth. “You knew I was specifically designed—created for you and you didn’t say anything?”
Being the cold hearted, somewhat honest bastard he was, Demir simply looked at me with his face closed off and his eyes void of any feeling I had seen in the past few weeks and answered.
“Yes.”
I shook my head, not wanting to hear anything else from him, but couldn’t stop myself for saying, “my entire life, from the beginning, has been nothing more than a scientifically designed lie and you knew about it since the news broke. You were in on it.”
“Lumi—” he reached for me but stopped when I jerked away from him.
“Don’t you fucking touch me,” I knew my normal harshness and warning were back where they had always been when he dropped his hands and adverted his eyes for a moment.
“Lum—”
“How did you find out?” I asked, only needing to know the how behind the situation I had found myself in.
Unfortunately, in his usual Demir Losett fashion, he remained silent. Even his face and eyes gave nothing away.
I smirked and shook my head, “you played along with their games to make yourself a prominent—if not the only member of Gold to become the almighty in the courts. The sad part is, I played right into your trap.” Finally I looked at him, his vision blurry from the tears threatening to fall from my eyes. Still, I pushed onward, ignoring the shattering sound my heart was making as pieces fell away.
“So, tell me Demir, how does it feel to know you’ve won in more ways than imaginable?”
“Luminous—”
I shook my head and started walking backward, “this ends here. If you try to follow me, I will kill you this time.”
He didn’t make a move to advance, didn’t pull his sword from its sheath, didn’t even try to stop me from walking away. He simply stood in the middle of the woods with his eyes glued on my retreating form.
Only when I was sure he’d have to run in order to catch up with me did I turn around and bolt. Bursting through the tree line, I took in gulps of air and tried to force down the bile rising in my throat. All of this time, I had been the idiot to believe his lies; I had thought he was something worth keeping close—something worth protecting. In actuality, I had been a pawn in his and the courts games. As the judges and scientists had said, I was nothing special and not something worth the consideration of sympathy.
My only saving grace, assuming there was one in this situation, I was able to get away from him with my life still in my body. Of course, my legs chose that exact moment to slip out from under me and send my bruised body flying down the hill.
When I finally stopped rolling, I stared at the white sky, trying to convince myself I was overreacting about everything. There had to be some reason behind Demir’s indifferent attitude toward everything I had just accused him of…right?
Pushing myself up in the snow, I looked over my shoulder to find nothing. Demir had heeded my advice and didn’t follow me; to say I wasn’t a little hurt by his lack of defiance would be an understatement. However, men tended to do what you told them when you didn’t want them to follow your direction.
Like a child throwing a tantrum, I slammed my hands in the snow. Great, Lumi just great. The only alley you had by your side and you told him to basically fuck off and never look for you again. I scoffed on my quick tongue and got out of the snow.
Dusting the frozen raindrops from my butt, I started down the hill again. I needed to get somewhere that didn’t have any guard members or a specific Gold Guard idiot to look at. Where that was going to be, I didn’t know. The only thing I could hope for at this point was to make it to my unknowing destination in one piece. Maybe then I could call Karina and find out where the hell she was in her quest to fulfill my wishes.
A shout of surprise forced me to spin around and narrow my eyes on the scene at the top of the hill. Demir was being cornered by six guard members; naturally, thanks to my somewhat poor sight during the daylight hours, I couldn’t tell if any of the members were from Silver, Gold or honor.
Demir was standing at the ready, preparing his muscles to attack when I caught sight of one member I’d have known from anywhere. Ash gray, blond hair, sharp eyes and a look of determination covering his face that couldn’t be rivaled.
“Lovett,” I breathed, taking a step toward the group of men surrounding Demir.
My once right-hand man said something before four other members pounced on Demir and ripped his sword from his grasp. The scene in front of me was like watching a movie in slow-motion. They were able to gain control over Demir in a matter of minutes, slapping cuffs around his wrists. However, it still took two of the members to haul him upright and start the military march away from the edge of hill.
Only then did Lovett catch sight of me and stood frozen in his place. He didn’t make a move, didn’t order any of his dogs to come after me, didn’t do anything. We were standing in a frozen wasteland with nothing but mere space separating us. In truth it was the perfect opportunity for him to act crazy and try to kill me himself. Two birds for the price of one.
I had seen Lovett in every different light possible, but I’d be an idiot if I tried to convince myself that the man, I was staring at right now was the same man I had grown up with.
Even with the distance between us, I could tell there was something different about him. Like he had gained some form of power thanks to my hellion driven attitude and disobedient nature.
His shoulders were straight with a confidence that hadn’t been there before, his face set in a hard look of determination and authority. Everything about him was completely different from the man I had once know, but I did still know one thing for certain. He was not going to do anything to bring me any ill-will. At least, that’s what I continued to tell myself as we stared at each other.
Lovett Joker O’Qhuinn simply nodded at me, in an unspoken warning and left the hilltop in the same direction the guards had dragged Demir off to. As his figure slowly faded from my line of sight, I let out the breath I hadn’t known I was holding and clutched my chest.
Sure, I had told Demir to go back to the guard and earn back his station; ok, yes, I was harsh in my statement about him knowing the truth about my existence. But never once did the malicious thought cross my mind about Demir taking the brunt of the punishment should we get caught.
I was a woman who took my lashings as they came and never once did, I expect him—especially not after our argument, to keep his mouth shut on my location. Maybe there was more to the Gold Guard sect leader than what met the eye.
However, as I started walking away from the hilltop, I kept trying to think of a way to save Demir from the wrath of the courts. For now, however, I needed to find somewhere to stay.
Soon the night would fall into blistering temperatures and turning back would only make me regret my next breath. I didn’t have Demir’s tent or Karina’s ability to make a fire. So, just for tonight, I was going to have to put me before anyone else with a prayer to the high heavens Demir could survive a night against the brutal punishment that was waiting for him in the tunnels of the courts.
§§§§§
In the early hours of the following morning, I had found myself at the edge of Castlehedge, hidden in the shadows of the tree line just behind the court’s territory. I had spent the entire night walking and didn’t know where I had ended up until I found a nice tree and slid to the ground in a heap.
Of course, thanks to the darkness I wasn’t able to see if Demir was hanging in the courtyard by his toenails or pinned to the retaining wall with spikes. Instead, I was gree
ted with a deathly silence within the courtyard. Nothing moved and nothing made a sound. A sick, pleasant feeling of knowing Demir wasn’t dead just yet crossed over my soul as I stared around the trees.
Honestly, I felt like a fucking fool, standing on the edge of the property waiting to see who was coming and going and if that person was Demir. The judges may have let him off during the first go around, but there was no way in this bloody hell they would let him off now. Not after everything we had done.
Demir had done absolutely nothing to deserve my patience or the current anxiety I was feeling; he knew about the problems at hand and knew moreover the end result should the tides turn. But still, I was here, waiting for him like a lost puppy. Hoping the judges would show him the same mercy as they had in the past. Then maybe, just maybe, we could try to work out our problems.
“What’re you doing back here?” Karina’s voice hissed from behind me.
Spinning around, I had to narrow my eyes to confirm what my ears had heard. Biting my lip, I pulled her to me in a bear hug and breathed a sigh of relief, she was ok and more importantly, she was alive.
“Ok?” She patted my back awkwardly and pulled back with a frown on her face, “what’s wrong?”
Shaking my head, I tried to form the words. Yet, they wouldn’t come, and I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the truth about everything that had happened in the last forty-eight hours.
“Lumi,” she pushed my hair out of my eyes as she stared at me. “What happened?”
In a shortened version, I told her everything that had happened since we last saw each other. I wasn’t able to keep the tears from falling; I was so tired of fighting, the constant back and forth of everything happening around me. I didn’t know how much more I could handle.
When I was finished explaining—in minor detail, of course—I wiped my eyes and looked at my best friend. Naturally, I had left the part out about just wanting to throw in the towel and walk into the black courts chambers and accept my death for what it was.
She made a face and chewed on her lip. It was a rare thing to see Karina at a complete loss of words, but now wasn’t the time for her to sit here and remain silent. Not when I needed some form of guidance to what I was supposed to do.