by Aimee Moore
One of the men laughed, his hand on a woman’s backside, worked under her garb. “Your staff are pleasant, to be sure, Karne,” he said.
She gasped as his hand went deeper, a flush creeping up her cheeks. A woman afflicted by allure would be helpless to such ministrations, but she showed no such ailment. I let loose the breath I was holding, realizing that there was no allure here, and my escape would be easier than I thought.
The other man spoke. “This is comfort matched only in Niall. If we can be assured of this comfort throughout, then I see no harm in advancing your vision, Karne.”
Karne laughed that seductive laugh that had sent heat into my veins in the past. “All the comforts of Niall can be found here with some careful planning.”
The woman with a man’s hand in her clothing let off another gasp as they walked, and then they disappeared around a bend. After another minute, I slipped out and continued my search. My blood pounded, making the glass in my hand seem heavy. There had to be an exit here, had to be some order to this twisting, grandiose madness. I heard footsteps approaching again, so I ducked into a dark doorway. The footfalls brought whispering voices with them as they neared.
“No, she had to be sent away. He unleashed, and she begged for the bond.” A firm voice.
“Stars know, I’d beg for either. It’s like some part of me needs it to breathe.”
They stilled in my doorway.
“You don’t know what you’re asking for, Jamet. There’s no bond in sight for us.”
Make the first move. Cut them.
“Imagine being crippled by such a thing, though? Keeper knows, if Karne asked it of me I’d comply. I hold out hope.”
The stern-voiced woman muttered, “He’s never asked it.”
I seized my opportunity and dashed out of the shadows, sticking the glass blade to a woman’s throat. The black shard in my shoulder sang in agony, and I hissed with pain as I held the woman in my grip. The other one I had not accosted, dark skinned and gold painted, stared at me with wide, orange eyes.
“Yasmil!” The one in my arms squeaked. Whatever she was, she wasn’t powerful enough to disappear at will like the other Nialae I had encountered.
“You’re awake,” the one called Yasmil said in a stern voice. She was taller than me, lean and muscled. She would outmatch me with ease; and so the simpering fool in my arms would level this match.
“See to my freedom or blood will paint these halls.” I growled, hiding my head behind the woman.
“Jamet has not harmed you in any way, release her,” Yasmil said in a collected calm.
I tightened the glass on Jamet’s neck, and the woman trembled on a whimper.
“Take me to an exit,” I said.
“Yasmil, please!” Jamet whispered in my arms.
Jamet’s begging only fed my feral desire to do more harm. Blood and command, these were the colors of my world right now. Wetness was seeping from the shard, making my left half cold and slippery.
Yasmil hesitated as her orange gaze traveled over me, and I pushed the glass harder into Jamet, who sagged with terror. “The exit,” I said.
Yasmil’s sunset orange eyes raised from my bloodied shoulder to my face. “The exit isn’t far. Come.”
“You first,” I said. “Walk normal. Do not let others see us or she dies.”
Yasmil gave a short nod and headed toward the door. I pushed Jamet forward, and she complied with ease. A sob escaped her after a moment, followed by the tapping of tears on the rug. Whatever this place was, the servants were soft, unaccustomed to… Me.
Yasmil stopped in a large doorway, glancing in. She turned that penetrating gaze back to me. “This is the closest exit. Wait here.” Her gaze touched Jamet’s once more, then she disappeared into the door.
“Do you think she’s being careful with your life right now?” I growled at the trembling woman in my arms.
Jamet’s voice shook the glass in my hand before she could finally force out a “Yes!”
I tensed anyway, ready to drive the blade of glass into the woman’s throat. Moments later, a great clatter of pots and pans rang through the room, shouting ensued, and then murmuring, and finally silence.
Yasmil returned and gestured me inside, ever calm and observant. I pushed Jamet into the kitchen, following Yasmil as we skirted the steaming, oily soup on the floor.
Slice the worm’s throat. Open the festering maggot before you and let the heat of her blood coat your footsteps.
I tightened my fingers on the glass as we exited my captor’s lair.
Nothing in this life or the next could have prepared me for what was beyond the doors.
Green hills rolled as far as the eye could see, a herd of fluffy white sheep splashed upon them here or there. The familiar smell of sun-warmed grass and sultry sheep wool wafted at me. My hand relaxed on the glass as I stared at what used to be Butcher Garon’s shop and home with his mead shed in the back. The outline of the building was still the same, but it was as Boris had been. Sparkling white stone comprised the walls, and scrolling silver held windows and doors in its curled grasp.
The warehouse for wool was equally elegant, alive with laughter and the coming and going of Nialae and humans alike. Every building I touched my gaze upon was the same, achingly familiar, and yet twisted into some delusion of Nialae beauty.
I knew this place like my own reflection. Its footprint was so concrete to me that I could navigate it with my eyes closed. That would mean that the large castle of a building I had just escaped, was…
I looked behind me. My house. It was the same size, the same build. Except, made Nialae, like everything else. But inside was the size of a small fortress, I was sure of it.
My gaze flew toward the field where I had seen my sister, my best friend, get cut down. Was she still there? Or had nature taken all that she had left to give? The grass waved in the gentle breeze with innocent secrecy.
A keening whine was penetrating my roaring mind, somewhere far away. Pressure was irritating my arm, and then I realized that Jamet was crying hysterically, pushing against my arm which had tightened against her body, shoving the glass blade into her throat. Yasmil was tugging at the glass, promising Jamet that salvation was only moments away.
I shoved at Yasmil, backing away with Jamet. “The most unguarded way out of here,” I said. “Which way.”
“You would abandon my house after my generous hospitality?” Karne’s voice came from behind me.
I turned with a snarl, yanking Jamet with me. “I’m leaving this illusion.”
My victim sobbed louder. “Please, Karne, please save me. Please, I know you can, only you. I’ll do anything. Anything for you.”
Karne’s gaze flicked to Jamet before he gave me an amused smirk. “Illusion? Don’t tell me you don’t recognize your home. Humans are sentimental creatures, this should please you.”
“Lambston was massacred over a year ago. For all I know, these slaves aren’t even real.” I shoved at Jamet and she blubbered wetness onto my arm.
Karne frowned at me. “This feral animal is not you, Seraphine.”
I laughed, low and flat. “Even you aren’t arrogant enough to pretend you know what I am.”
Karne analyzed me with a frown, the moment tense until Jamet wept more pleas.
“Please, Karne, I love you. Don’t let me die. Please, I’ll do anything. Be anything. Please.”
“Shut up,” I said in a harsh growl. Then I glared at Karne. “You will let me leave this place, or she dies.”
“You wouldn’t kill her. You abhor the idea of treating life as disposable.”
“You’re a fool,” I said.
I pressed harder, and Jamet’s sobs turned into open yelling, her words tumbling over one another in panic. “I’m bleeding, I’m bleeding! Karne, she’s cutting me!”
Pathetic. “I have killed for less,” I whispered.
Karne gave me a condescending smile. “If you had wanted to kill then you would have done it by now
.” He started walking toward me. “Come with me, Seraphine, and we’ll talk.”
I jabbed my fist into Jamet’s neck, the glass meeting little resistance as it sliced, until crunching against the bone of her spine. Her blood rushed down my marked arm, hot and sticky, and her body thumped to the floor, twitching as wild eyes rolled toward Karne.
Yasmil covered her mouth, muffling a scream as she jumped back, and Karne scowled at me.
“Your tantrum is wasteful,” he snarled.
I turned to Yasmil before they could recover, raising my left palm and cocking the glass in my right hand, ready to throw as Lianne had taught me.
Yasmil’s eyes went wide for but a moment, then she squared herself with a glare.
“She dies next if you do not crawl back under whatever rock you’re from,” I hissed.
Karne curled his lip at me. “But then who will tell you of the fate of your Dal? Or perhaps your trusting and stalwart Lianne?”
The glass in my hand twitched as Patroma’s blood haze faltered.
“You are free to leave when you wish, Seraphine, I had no intention of keeping you captive. Though killing members of my house; that is going to make me angry, and you will find me much harder to deal with then.”
“Your anger isn’t my problem, you strutting coward. I care only for my freedom, and I’ll take it now or I’ll kill anyone who stands in my way.”
Karne rolled his eyes. “I’ve had enough.” He flicked his hand toward me, and then I was in a hideous red room. Binds pinned my arms and legs to the wall, spread, while the ring around my neck bit into my flesh as I struggled. The plush red shouted from the walls and spilled over the bed. Human Seraphine would have blushed. Kraw Seraphine raged.
“Karne!” I roared. My shoulder throbbed as more hot wetness gushed from it.
“Next time you yell my name, I want it to be while I’m taking you,” a soft voice said from my right. I turned my head to see Karne seated in an opulent chair. “You didn’t really think you were in control of that situation, did you?”
“You didn’t really think I believed you when you said I was free to go, did you?” I snarled. Dizziness tilted my world.
Karne laughed. “You were free, until you killed Jamet. I liked her, you know. She would plunge her fingers into my hair and shudder with her whole body when she came. Rarely do I see a woman come undone like that, it’s delicious. And now she’s gone, thanks to your puerile tantrum.”
“You make the mistake of thinking I care about your bed slaves. If I am really free then unchain me. This room is an assault on my dignity.”
Karne cut me a scowl. “This room is only an antechamber to my true bedchamber. If you ask nicely, I may let you see it one day.”
I ignored him, scanning the room for weapons.
“You will be unchained. However… I’m not sure you want to be wandering about the land with that in your shoulder.”
The cold wetness sticking to my left side was fast becoming more than a nuisance. “I don’t care. Dal will take care of it. Let me go.”
“Ah yes, your Dal…”
My breath stilled in my desperation to hear every word, Patroma’s ferocity fading from my mind.
Karne watched the look on my face with a sly half smile. He got up then, stalking toward my chained form to lean in close. “Who else is in there with you, I wonder…” He murmured.
I glared. “Where is he,” I demanded in a flat, dangerous voice.
Karne continued to frown at me. “There’s no mistake, you’re as fragile as any human.” He flicked at the black shard in my shoulder, and I growled with pain as darkness began to shroud the outer edges of my vision.
“Yet, there’s more here,” he murmured, straightening to run a finger down the blood smeared tattoos on my arm. “Pieces of you that nothing can touch.” His gaze lingered on my markings for a moment, then he turned away. “Perhaps one day you’ll trust me enough to speak of them.” And then Karne waved his hand at me in a careless gesture, and the binds were gone.
I stumbled forward, catching myself before I landed on the black shard. Exhaustion made each blink of my tired eyes a seductive call to sleep.
“Where,” I panted as I stood, “is Dal?”
“I tire of your sycophantic determination. I don’t know where your grunt is at,” he said simply, turning away to pour a glass of water. He strode to me and held the glass out. I stood up, willing myself not to wobble as I glared. I slapped the water out of Karne’s hand, and it hit the plush rug with a crack, splashing water on our ankles.
I made a fist and took a swing at Karne, but my reflexes, already unremarkable, were sluggish now. Karne caught my wrist and turned me roughly, hauling my backside up against him as he restrained me.
“I am losing patience, Seraphine,” he whispered into my ear.
My body trembled against my will, lighting up in anticipation.
Karne inhaled deep. “You like it rough,” he murmured. “That’s been your secret all along. You’re one intriguing discovery after the next.”
I called my gift on instinct, but only pain answered. I willed myself not to breathe as my flesh betrayed me, even without his allure. The terrifying realization that I was completely helpless shocked me to stillness.
But then Karne let me go, and I stepped away, scowling at him.
“Let’s try this again,” Karne said, a note of warning in his voice. With a wave of his hand, the glass righted itself and flew into his hand, no longer cracked, and now full of water. He handed it to me with a penetrating gaze.
I accepted and held the glass out in front of me with a scowl.
“Don’t be petty,” Karne said in a bored voice, turning back to the table with the water, “if I had wanted to kill you then I’ve been afforded copious amounts of time to do so. If I had wanted to use you for sex then I’ve had time enough to do that, too.”
Fear jolted into me again as I realized that I could have been unconscious and at his mercy for hours.
“And no,” he said, turning to me with a glass for himself, “I haven’t laid a hand on you, except for just now. My staff have dressed you in that lovely shade of white which you’ve ruined with your savage display of dramatics.” He took a long pull of his water.
I sniffed at my own glass, never taking my eyes off of Karne, then took a tentative sip. Unable to stop myself, I drank deep, not bothering to thank him when he refilled my glass with a wave of his hand.
“I need to get back to the university,” I said. “Remove this shard so that I can go.”
Karne frowned at me, making both of our glasses disappear. “Are you not used to asking for favors? Because in any world I’ve been to, demanding favors in such a thankless fashion is rude.”
“Kindness is for people we trust,” I said with a glare.
Karne cut me a grim look. “I’ll send you back when we can get that shard out of your shoulder.”
“What do you mean when?”
“I can’t remove the shard. I’ve tried, but the more I try, the more blood spills out of you, and then your life begins to slip.”
Slip? “Someone has to get this wretched thing out. I’ll be damned if I’m going to meet my end at the hands of silent foes like infection or blood loss.” I crossed my arms.
“Come now, we both know that’s not for you. Whatever that thing is, infection doesn’t set. When you halt your barbaric displays, my healers tell me that it’ll cease bleeding in time. I’m sure we’ll find a way to remove it.”
“Fine. What happened last night in the vault?”
“Last night? It’s been two days,” Karne said.
My world tilted. Dal. “Please take me back.”
Karne seated himself on the bed, reclining with grace. “See? Manners are delightful. And no, I will not send you back. Why would I waste such a lovely gift by sending it to its death? So you can die of cold? Bleed out completely? Perhaps starvation is your poison of choice, since you haven’t eaten in days.”
“To hell with me, I need to know what happened to Dal!” I yelled.
Karne frowned at me, a slight catch of disappointment in his lip.
I forced a harsh breath out of my nose. “Either you can take me back, or I’ll stop at nothing to get there on my own.”
Karne considered me for a time before rising. “Come,” he said, gesturing to me with both arms open.
I didn’t move. “I don’t need a hug, I need answers.”
Karne gave an eye roll. “Once again, you spit on my kindness. I am offering to take you there, which is no small feat on my part. Few Nialae are powerful enough to ferry you about at your whim, and those of us who are have far more important things to do. But since my time seems to matter little to you—"
“Alright. Let’s go,” I said.
“Come here.”
I glared.
Karne spoke as if I were a child afflicted with stupidity. “I cannot take you with me unless we are touching. I need to use both hands to bring you. I implore you to stop thinking about the sanctity of your fragile flesh for a few moments so that we can move on.”
I set my jaw and marched – limped – toward Karne. “Fine.”
I tensed as he set both hands on my hips and smiled down at me. “You must be touching me as well,” he murmured.
“That wasn’t part of the deal,” I hissed.
Karne gave a smoky laugh. “I can make you want to touch me. Or would you like to spit on the kindness of your free will, as well?”
“It’s still extortion,” I said with venom, putting my hands on his arms.
“Oh, let’s make sure you don’t get lost,” Karne said. He pulled me against him roughly, and before I could warm at his closeness, the world sucked away from my awareness and then I was back in the vault. But no, I had been in a space with thousands of colors and sounds and pops of lights and times, for forever, right? No, it was instant.
I shoved Karne away from me and stumbled from the disorienting travel.
“Ungrateful,” he muttered.
But I didn’t pay any attention to him. The only light in here was the small sliver of light shafting in from the fox hole, high above in the antechamber outside. It illuminated the wreckage of the room, but no bodies.