by J. E. Taylor
She studied my face. “You killed your friend.”
“You murdered him.”
“You could have saved him,” she said and stretched to her feet. “You had the power to change his fate, and yet you chose to let him die.”
I glared up at her. “You enjoyed killing him,” I said, but her words had crawled under my skin like a scarab beetle.
Her slow smile chilled me. “Ex mortuis resurrexerit credent,” she said as she raised her hand in the air. Black smoke flew from her fingertips and wrapped around Domino, seeping into his mouth.
His eyes flew open and his vacant stare choked a hiss from my tight chest. His reanimated form climbed to its feet and crossed to stand in one of the empty sentry spots.
The chains holding me rattled with the force of my shakes. My gaze traveled over the rest of the room. There were six vacant sentry posts. My gaze shot back to the queen.
“Perhaps a painful death will change your mind.” She snapped her fingers.
Another sack was dragged in. Simon came out fighting, his red hair matching the hue of his face. He got a couple of blows in before he was subdued. Struggling, he was dragged in front of me.
My throat tightened when he stilled at the sight of me. His eyes widened at my blood-covered clothing. Fury filled his eyes and his struggles resumed.
“You bloody arses! You hurt my princess!” One arm got loose, and he pounded the guard who still held him fast. He didn’t realize he couldn’t hurt the army of the dead with his fists.
The queen stepped out of the shadows and fisted her hand in the air in front of her.
Simon went rigid, and his eyes bulged. Then he began to scream.
It was so high-pitched and full of agony that I winced. I opened my mouth to speak, to beg the queen to stop this madness, but Simon shook his head, despite his continued scream. His gaze was focused on me, even as each blood vessel popped, spreading red over the whites of his eyes.
“Stop!” I yelled, and the queen’s hand relaxed.
Simon fell to his knees, gasping for breath. His hoarse whisper of “Do not,” and the sharp warning in his gaze closed my throat.
He knew what this room meant. They all knew it because they had seen just as many horrific things as I had within these walls before they stole me away.
“Will you give me your magic?” the queen asked.
Simon shook his head.
I clenched my teeth. Tears blurred my vision and heated my cheeks. “No,” I whispered.
When Simon’s screams resumed, another piece of my soul died.
By the time Simon passed from this world, I felt like I had been the one gutted. I hung in the chains, gagging between sobs as the smell of human excrement mingled with the sickly sweet stench of blood.
The queen crossed toward me and put the tipoff her dagger under my chin, forcing me to raise my gaze to hers.
“Are you ready to comply?”
“No.”
Ruse, Klen, and Wally were paraded in one by one, with the same horrifying and bloody results. Each more horrific than the last. And every one of them told me not to give in. Not to agree to the queen’s ransom.
I wished I had the time to tell them how much I loved them. Instead, I sobbed apology after apology until they all sounded as empty and hollow as I felt.
The queen sheathed her blade and stood in front of me. “You could have prevented their deaths.” She pointed at the five new foul-smelling sentries whose bodies continued to purge the last vestiges of their humanity.
Her stomach rumbled, and I glanced up at her with a glare.
“This killing business always makes me ravenous,” she said and crossed the room. As she stepped into the doorway, she said, “There are still two more, but I will save those until after I satisfy this hellish hunger.
Chapter 12
Hours passed, and my gaze kept falling on the sentries. The dead remains of my friends had reanimated at the queen’s command. Death surrounded me. And I knew there were two more to come before my time ran out.
I forced myself to my feet and blinked the last of my tears away. I prayed my magic would hold off my demise long enough to figure out how to get out of these chains. I unclenched my tight fists and winced at the stiffness. Slowly, I stretched my fingers, biting down on a groan.
I needed my hand to work. If I was to cut down the queen, I needed to be able to hold a weapon, and right now, I had my doubts I would be fit enough to strike a death blow.
I continued the slow motion of stretching my fingers and then tightening my fists until the blood flowed into my tingling fingertips, warming the muscles enough to be loose. Thankfully, my mother had pierced my left shoulder and not my right one. I still had my sword arm if the opportunity presented itself.
My gaze rose to the windows, and the colored streaks of the early stages of sunset painted the sky. I steeled myself for the next onslaught. I would not let my friends die in vain. I would avenge their deaths, and I would release them to move on to whatever lay beyond.
Just when I thought I had myself together, the door opened, and Bernard was dragged in. His exposed skin carried the colors of bruising—green, blue, and deep purple. When he looked up, revealing gouged eye sockets, I gasped. Blood steaked his face, and his normally wispy white hair hung in tangled mats.
He was brought to the center of the room and dropped to the floor. He crawled to his hands and knees and stayed still. His breathing was as labored as mine.
The click of the queen’s heels dragged his blind gaze in her direction. Fear filled his features.
I clenched my jaw and blinked the sheen of tears that blurred my vision away.
Queen Odette grinned at me. “Since I had the chance to eat, it is only right that my newly acquired soldiers get to indulge in a feast.” She snapped her fingers and waved at Bernard.
The five dwarves descended on Bernard like a pack of jackals.
I dry heaved as his screams echoed against the rock walls. I would never unhear the wet sounds of ripping flesh or the grunts as the undead had their fill. It was the most gruesome of the deaths and the one that nearly undid me.
I dropped to my knees and hung my head. I didn’t look up as the queen snapped her fingers. But I did glance at what was left of Bernard. Bones glistened with rusty-red streaks. He looked like something left out in the wild, picked nearly clean from the scavengers. When Queen Odette’s spell reanimated the skeleton, I closed my eyes.
“Now that was exciting,” Queen Odette said.
I looked up at her. “You vile bitch,” I hissed.
Her palm connected with the side of my face, swiveling my head to the side. The sting was immediate and reminded me I was still alive, and I still had my magic. But the raging heat inside my skin didn’t feel right. It felt tainted and blackened and evil. As evil as the queen herself.
She glared at me and then turned towards the guards. “Bring the last prisoner in.”
A group of four guards marched out of the room.
“The trolls were so cooperative,” Queen Odette said as she waited. “Handing over your friends as if it was a bargaining chip. The instant we had them in our possession, I leveled their kingdom. The entire mountain collapsed, and not one of those double-crossing heathens survived.” She smiled.
I forced myself to my feet, blinking at her words. Hope flared in my chest. Henry had not been inside the troll’s castle. He had not been within their caves. Only the dwarves had been, and while I mourned each of them, it would not be the same as if Henry were dragged in front of me.
I would not survive Henry’s death.
Footsteps echoed in the hallway, and I braced myself for the next gory killing.
Chapter 13
The door creaked as it opened, and two leading guards stepped inside. The rattle of chains darkened my already morbid disposition.
They yanked on a lead as they crossed into the room with the rest of their squad. The guard handed the queen the rope, and then they all s
tepped aside.
Henry stood in the center of the clan of guards in shackles. His hands were chained behind his back. His chest was bare and clear of bruises. The only bruise he had encompassed his right eye and crept over his temple into his dark hairline.
I could not draw a breath. Every moment we’d spent together flashed before my eyes. Hope fled as fast as the strength in my legs. I dropped to the ground.
My movement drew his attention, and the hardness in his features softened. His soulful eyes captured me, tearing every last piece of my heart to bits.
The queen sauntered over to him and ran her fingers down his chest. “Such a sexy thing. It’s such a shame.” She grabbed the front of his britches and squeezed.
His green eyes narrowed at the queen.
She released him and circled around him, running her hand up his chest and pulling his head back only to lick the side of his throat.
“I’ll make you a deal. I’ll let you live for another day if you promise me a night I will never forget,” she purred.
He cringed and shuffled a step away from her. “No.” His voice was as steady as a rock, and his gaze locked with mine.
Anger sparked in his eyes, and I couldn’t tell if it was the queen’s request or if he was finally coming to terms with the fact that I’d left him after he gave me the exact thing the queen was bargaining for.
She wrapped her arm around him again and rubbed the front of his pants. “Oh, come now. You didn’t have a problem with it when you thought I was her.” She smiled at me. “He was a wonderful stallion to ride.”
His jaw clenched, and his cheeks filled with a red hue.
My stomach roiled at the thought.
She took a handful of his hair and dragged him to the spot where she had killed Domino. She kicked his knee, and he dropped in front of me.
I love you, he mouthed.
Her blade pressed against his throat. “Your magic or his life.”
Every last piece of my resolve crumbled. Beyond her, the full moon crested above the windowsill.
Tears blurred my vision as a sob escaped my chest. The blade pressed harder into his skin, and a bead of blood slowly rolled down his throat.
“Fine,” I screamed. “You can have my magic, but only if you let him live.”
“No, Maggie!” he yelled.
“Yes. I cannot do this. I cannot watch you die, too. She can have it all as long as you live.”
The guards dragged him away and clasped the chain to the wall.
He didn’t know my magic was already tainted with death. I had run out of time. This was my only hope. Perhaps the poison running through my veins that was once pure magic might just be my saving grace.
If I died, she would be able to control my magic through my reanimated form. Either way, she was going to get the magic. This way, I might still have a chance to strike her down.
She crossed and put her hand on my head, closing her eyes. Her nails dug into my scalp, and she hissed and stepped back. The glare she delivered sent a shiver down my spine. She fisted her hand.
Henry screamed.
“Stop!” I cried.
She squeezed tighter, and Henry dropped to his knees.
“The iron.” I raised my hands. “I will give you my magic, but I can’t with the iron shackles!” Panic made my voice shrill and shaky, but my words seemed to penetrate the queen’s anger.
Her hand opened, and Henry dropped to the ground, gasping for breath.
Hot tears poured down my face. “Please don’t hurt him anymore,” I said. “You can have it all. Please.” I hung my head. Sobs ripped from my chest as the last piece of my sanity broke.
She had been right. Physical torture would have never broken me. But Henry had been her ace in the hole. The rest of the dwarves were just a sick primer. Something to feed her greed of stealing life. I was sure of this as she stood back with a smug smile.
Guards unclasped the iron from my wrists and ankles. The remains of my mother grabbed my right arm, and one of the other undead grabbed my left arm. They brought me to where the deepest rivets ran to the pool and forced me to my knees.
I harnessed my magic as best I could and bowed my head, glancing sideways at the sword in my mother’s other hand.
My thoughts ceased the moment the queen’s hand landed on my head. Burning pain gripped every cell, and instead of trying to hold on to this festering poison, I catapulted it out of me and into Queen Odette.
A wave of dizziness overcame me as the queen stripped every ounce of magic. She took a shaky step back, and I glanced up, smiling at her as my fingers blackened with death.
She pulled the knife out of her sheath with fingers of the same color. The black death my magic had claimed inside me had been passed on to her as well.
I lunged for my mother’s sword, my sudden movement shocking enough for neither guard to recover before I gripped the handle, ripping it from my mother’s dead hand. I ducked and rolled as the queen’s knife sailed where my head had been seconds ago.
I screamed a guttural roar, and with the last ounce of my strength, I thrust the sword up while the queen was still off-balance from her attempt to finish me off.
The blade pierced through the queen’s chest, slicing her evil heart in two. Her piercing scream echoed, and her knife clattered to the ground. She reached for the blade protruding from her chest and stared at her blackened hand. She raised her gaze to mine, and stumbled back, tripping on the stairs to her bloody pool. She fell backwards.
I dropped to the floor.
“Gravis ad vos,” I whispered.
I tasted dust just before the world faded out.
Chapter 14
Cold scraped against my cheek, and I rolled to wipe it away. Wetness covered my skin. I pulled my hand away, opening my eyes. Tacky rust colored my fingers and I blinked. The background behind my hand sent a raw chill through my form.
The queen’s kill room.
I scrambled to my feet, stumbled backwards, and gasped. The entire place was coated with blood from ceiling to floor, and the pool was nearly empty. My mother’s sword stuck straight up from the bottom of the pool. The glistening steel was as pristine as it had been when I took it from the wall at home.
I blinked and then the slow roll of memories of my last couple of days replayed in my head. My gaze shot to where I’d last seen Henry. A blood-covered lump lay on the ground, but nothing else remained inside the room.
I stumbled to him, dropped to my knees, and touched his shoulder. “Henry?”
He stiffened before lifting his head from the ground. He stared up at me with wide eyes before glancing around the barren room. A crease appeared between his eyes. He sat up and slid back against the wall.
His gaze hardened. “I’m not falling for this again,” he growled.
I closed my eyes and hung my head. How could I show him it was me and not the queen pretending to be me? I rose to my feet. The motion stretched the fabric across my back. I winced, and an idea formed.
I slowly undid the buttons on my vest, then the shirt underneath and peeled them off, hissing at the bloom of pain in my shoulder and all down my back as I pulled the fabric away from the raw skin.
Henry’s gaze landed on the cut on my left shoulder. His jaw tightened, and he glared at me.
My shoulder injury wasn’t enough to convince him. I turned, praying that the cut doled out by the dead still traversed my back.
The chains rattled behind me and I turned.
Henry was on his feet. His breathing became ragged as a tear slipped from his eye. “I thought I lost you,” he whispered and hung his head. Tears cut clean paths through the grime layered on his face.
I closed the distance and wrapped my arms around his neck, holding him as tight as I could. He nuzzled his head in the crook of my neck. We stood like that long enough for me to start shivering. I pulled away and put my blood-soaked shirt back on.
“Think you can unchain me?” he asked and turned, holding his hands out
expectantly.
I stared at the steel holding him in place.
He looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow.
I met his gaze and sighed. “The queen took all of my magic.”
He slowly turned towards me, blinking like a million dust mites were attacking his eyes. “But...but I thought when she stole magic, it killed the mage.”
I wiped my face. “So did I. But for some reason, she couldn’t just steal my magic. She needed my permission to take my magic.”
His jaw dropped.
“Apparently, I was far different from any of the others who came before me. As it was, my magic kept death from spreading through me and turning me into one of those vile things the queen commanded. She didn’t know I had been struck by one of her dead minions.”
I turned and crossed to the area in front of where I had been chained and crouched down, feeling my way through the disgusting layer of blood-soaked ash. My throat tightened on a gag. I could have sworn this was the spot she had dropped my lock picks.
“She didn’t know I was fighting a battle even more deadly than she was. So, when I finally agreed to let her take my magic, it was already as tainted as I was. I pushed it out of me as forcefully as she tried to take it. I think the transfer shocked her enough to give me that opportunity to strike her down.” I crawled in circles while sifting through the ashes of my friends. Talking seemed to be the only thing stopping me from dry heaving.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for my picks. The queen found them while I was passed out. She dropped them just out of my reach before she had my mother run the sword through my shoulder.”
His silence settled on the room.
I glanced at him and met his gaze. “You weren’t the first one brought in here.” I pressed my lips together to stop the sudden swell of mental anguish. I needed to focus on getting Henry out of the chains before I could deal with all that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. “My sacrifice paled in comparison to what our friends sacrificed.”