Kitabı oku: «Slave, Warrior, Queen», sayfa 12

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

Horrorstruck, Ceres stood by the window in her room overlooking Delos, the skyline filled with putrid black smoke rising from burning homes. Clamors filled with unspeakable pain reached all the way to her tower, and families with little ones rushed by in the street below, their faces obscured by panic.

For the past hour or so, she had done nothing but cry – cry for her people, cry for her friends, cry for her brothers, for they could be dead. And Rexus? It was more than she could bear to think about.

Unable to watch the dreadfulness unfold any longer, she walked over to the bed and sat, but just a moment later, she had to return to the window, thinking if she didn’t remain there, she was somehow betraying her people.

This? This was what Thanos was fighting for? She was still as furious with him as she had been when he left. He had somehow gotten to her, weaseled his way into her heart, made her care. She had hoped he was different from all the other greedy, power-hungry royals, but when it came down to it, he was the same, and chose to fight for the inequality and injustice that cursed this land.

There was a knock at the door, and Anka opened it.

To Ceres’s surprise, and great irritation, in walked Thanos.

“May I have a word in private?” he asked.

“No you may not,” Ceres said, glancing back out the window again.

“Please. It is of utmost importance,” he said.

After a few moments of hesitation, Ceres nodded to Anka, and the girl left, closing the door behind her.

Ceres stood immovable beside the window, her gaze still on the street below.

“Ceres,” Thanos said.

Unwilling to face him, she kept looking out the window.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“I realize you are upset with me for leaving, and I remember you said you never wanted to talk to me again. But can we for just a few minutes set our differences aside?” he said.

She glanced at him, considering his comment.

“I have something important to discuss with you,” he said. “What I have to say may save many lives.”

“All right,” she said.

She walked over to the chair in front of the fireplace and sat down, and he followed after, taking a seat straight across from her.

She could see he was anxious, his eyes shifting nervously about as if he were carefully considering what to say, but it did nothing to make her less angry with him; she simply couldn’t forget that when he had left to fight, it had crushed her and destroyed all trust they had built.

“Well?” she said after he hadn’t said anything for a while.

“I need you to listen with an open mind,” he said. “And heart.”

She stared back.

“I just came from a meeting with the king and queen, and they believe there is a way to end all the fighting.”

Now her interest was piqued, although her guard was still very much up.

“They suggested a marriage between a commoner and a royal,” he said.

Ceres nodded.

“I can see where that might work,” she said.

Thanos’s shoulders relaxed a little and his face lit up.

“You do?”

“If there is a union between the common people and a royal, perhaps the people will think there will be a change.”

Ceres looked him in the eyes, and even though she was as livid with him as she had ever been with anyone, and wanted to wring his neck in a fist fight, she also wanted to be closer to him, for him to close the distance between them and kiss her on the neck the way he had before.

She looked away. Those thoughts, those feelings – she would quash them with every fiber of her being until she could no longer remember them ever being there.

“Did they have anyone in mind?” she asked, thinking perhaps Anka since she had just come from the rebellion.

“Yes,” he said.

He stood up and strode two steps, vanquishing the distance between them. He knelt down before her, and it puzzled her why he would do such a silly thing.

“I have something for you,” he said.

From a small leather pouch hanging around his waist he pulled out a golden bracelet with a charm in the shape of a swan. Handing it to her, he smiled softly.

“It was my mother’s,” he said.

Even with how mad she was, she didn’t want to offend him and refuse the gift he had just offered her – it was probably the most valuable thing he owned. But did he expect her to forgive him because he gave her a present? How shallow did he think she was? How easily did he think she would forsake her principles? She would not be bought, not ever.

She opened her mouth to speak, but he spoke first.

“Ceres, it is you and I they suggested.”

She stared back, floored.

“I would be honored to have your hand in marriage,” he added.

She couldn’t speak, for suddenly there was a lump in her throat. She would not cry, no, she would not. He might think her tears happy, when all they were, were tears of sadness and resentment, of lost trust and lost friendship. There was no way she could say yes, she knew.

She thought of Rexus, fighting for freedom, risking his life day in and day out in hopes of offering liberty to all. Thanos, he fought against all that, and she could not love someone or marry someone like him. And here Thanos was proposing to her because the king thought it would lull the citizens into believing it might lead to equality. She knew it would not.

“It is not under ideal circumstances, but you have to know, before they suggested it, I had already fallen for you,” he said. “I meant what I said on the roof. More than anything, I want you.”

She looked away, still hurt and unable to open her heart to forgive.

“I went out to fight, Ceres, but when I did, I couldn’t get myself to kill the revolutionaries.”

She glanced at him, the news melting some of her anger away.

“I saw Rexus. I pulled him into the alleyway with me and knocked him on the head so he wouldn’t be killed by the Empire soldiers,” Thanos said.

“Truly?” she asked.

He nodded.

“But there’s more.”

Ceres nodded, now willing to listen, now feeling ashamed she had been so hard on him.

“I saw your brother Nesos.”

She reached for his hand and he took it.

“You did?” she asked, hope filling her chest.

“We fought on the roof top. I didn’t know it was him. I didn’t…”

“What happened?” she asked.

Thanos paused, and looked up at her with tears in his eyes, and she knew. She knew that look, the look of holding dreadful information from a loved one. The look of pain before it had been shared.

“He fell onto his sword and it stabbed him in the abdomen. I told him I didn’t want to hurt him, but he – ”

She shot to her feet so fast, the chair behind her screeched across the floor. There was simply nowhere to put the pain that was overpowering her, nowhere to contain something so mighty, nowhere to hide it or store it. It was everywhere all at once.

“MURDERER!” she shrieked, unable to stop herself from crying. “MY BROTHER!”

He stood there, looking dazed.

“I hate you, and abhor everything you stand for!” she yelled.

His eyes flinched, and he exhaled a defeated breath, the hand holding the bracelet falling into his lap.

“Now get out!” she said.

“Ceres, please don’t do this,” he pleaded.

“Get out!” she yelled. “I said I never wanted to see you again, and I meant it!”

Her chest tightened, her throat clenched shut. She had fallen for him, too, but her heart was foolish, she knew, and this more than anything proved it.

He rose to his feet and stood still for a moment, sorrow canvassing his face.

“I’m sorry, Ceres.”

He walked away, leaving the door open behind him.

She turned to the window and wept. Nesos. Her brother. Gone forever. She could hardly breathe with grief.

Hardly had she caught her breath when she heard a sound behind her. She spun, assuming Thanos had returned, preparing to shout at him to leave – but was shocked at who she saw.

The queen.

She stared back haughtily, an evil grin upon her face.

“Hello, Ceres,” the queen said, walking into the doorway, eyes rumbling with menace. “How did the proposal go?”

She grinned, stepping closer.

“As Thanos’s future bride, your life belongs to the monarchy. It is my responsibility as your queen to see that you are protected. For starters, you will not leave this room unless you are permitted, and for now, I forbid it.”

The queen suddenly turned, walked out, and slammed the door shut. Ceres heard a key being thrust into the keyhole.

Enraged, she ran to it and wrapped frantic hands around the door handle, pulling on it with all her might.

But it was too late. The door had been locked, and there was nothing to do but give up, she realized.

She fell to her knees with uncontrollable sobs, slamming her fists on the heavy oak, Nesos’s name spilling from her lips.

And yet, amidst her cries, unbeknownst to her, she sometimes confused his name with Thanos’s.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Ceres didn’t know exactly how long she had been sitting on the stone floor in her chamber – it could have been minutes, or hours – tear after tear trailing down her face. It was eerily quiet outside, the riots having ceased. Likely, the news of her and Thanos’s marriage announcement was pacifying the leaders of the rebellion. She doubted it would last long.

Oh, how she wished she hated Thanos; and yet her heart was a villain, betraying everything she ever held dear. Sadness overwhelmed her, and she tucked her knees into her chest and sobbed quietly for a moment.

This is what I deserve, she thought as she sat up straight and wiped the wetness from her cheeks, staining the silk sleeves. She hadn’t played her cards well, she realized, in this royal game of power and intrigue. And it was becoming clear that if she were to remain at the palace and marry Thanos, she would have to learn how to beat the royals at their own game.

Had she made the right choice in rejecting Thanos? She thought she had, but why then, whenever she thought about his forlorn face when she had rejected him, did it feel as if everything was wrong?

On the other side of the door, keys rattled, and then someone inserted a key into the keyhole. Expecting the queen or an Empire soldier, she scuttled away from the door on hands and knees and dried her tears.

When the door opened, Anka stood in the doorway. She strode into the room and shut the door behind her.

Ceres hopped to her feet, a feeling of elation rushing through her. She ran to Anka and threw arms around her, squeezing tightly.

“You need to get out of here before we are discovered,” Anka said. “Go seek out Rexus. The rebellion’s new headquarters are down by fisherman’s bay, inside Harbor Cave.”

Ceres knew the cave well, having played there many times with her brothers growing up. She looked at Anka, so small and lovely, and she could not bear to leave her friend here alone amidst the wolves.

“Come with me,” Ceres said, grabbing her hand.

“I cannot. I must stay here until my mission is complete,” Anka said. “But here, take this.”

Anka slipped her gray hooded cape off and draped it around Ceres’s shoulders.

“How will I ever repay you?” Ceres said, embracing Anka again.

“You owe me nothing,” Anka said with a smile.

Ceres nodded, remembering speaking those exact words when she rescued Anka from the slaver cart.

“On second thought,” Anka said with a smirk, “join the rebellion and make them pay for every person that was ever forced into slavery.”

“I will,” Ceres said.

Just before Ceres left, she snatched her sword from beneath the bed and fastened the scabbard around her waist. She drew the hood over her head and darted down the stairwell, thrilled to finally be joining the rebellion from within, to stand beside Rexus in the fight for liberty.

She ran down the corridor, eyes peeled, ears alert, her heart galloping. She knew exactly where the guards stood watch, and as she maneuvered through the palace, she made sure to avoid those areas. Moving swiftly, quietly, and above all, in the shadows, she made herself invisible. She reached the kitchen and weaved through boxes of food and past cooks and servants busily working on the royals’ next meal.

Stepping into the courtyard, she slunk behind crates of wine and carts of food, passing slaves and Empire soldiers who had their attention elsewhere.

Just as she exited the side gates, she saw an Empire soldier holding up a scroll, speaking from the platform right in front of the palace, dozens of citizens huddling around.

“It has been declared that Prince Thanos will marry the commoner, Ceres. Due to this union, King Claudius and the rebellion have agreed upon a truce. All citizens are hereby commanded to cease and desist any and all opposition to the Empire, which includes…”

His voice faded as she skirted around the corner of a building.

For a few moments, Ceres became breathless, paralyzed, her heart pounding in her throat. The marriage was being publicly announced even though she hadn’t agreed to it.

Ceres ran as fast as she could, sprinting down the street. Panting, lungs on fire, she flew by carnage and wreckage southward toward the ocean, the breeze streaming against her body. She cautiously followed the back roads leading to the bay.

The rocky shore was difficult to maneuver, but Ceres dashed as fast as she could towards Rexus’s cave. On she ran, hopping over large boulders, stepping on small stones, the sun a globe of fire on her head, causing her to sweat. Even when her legs demanded she stop, and her mouth became parched, she continued on past fishermen and boats, the seagulls above soaring against the blue sky.

I will rest once I am at the cave, she told herself, and with every stride, the excitement in her bosom grew. So much had changed since she had last seen Rexus, and even though it had only been days, it felt as if it had been months. Would things be the same? She needed to share her mourning of her brother with someone, someone who would understand.

By the time she reached the cave the sun had started to set, and the cavern in the mountainside was a gaping black hole behind warped vines and slimy mosses. Other than a handful of scouts hiding on the cliffs and behind bushes, watching her, the outside looked abandoned.

Ceres found herself stopped by flaming arrows shot to the ground right before her feet. She looked up, irritated that they didn’t recognize her.

“I am here for Rexus. Nesos and Sartes are my brothers! I am with the rebellion!” she yelled.

Two watchers climbed down from the mountainside, bows strung with arrows, approaching Ceres.

“I must search you for weapons,” one said.

“I have a sword, but you will not take it from me,” she insisted, opening up the cape, revealing her father’s sword.

“Then you will not be allowed inside,” he said.

Had they not heard her?

“My name is Ceres and my brothers, Nesos and Sartes, are with the rebellion,” she said with an irritated voice. “I am with the rebellion. Rexus sent me on a mission to the palace and I am here to report. Go ask him. He will vouch for me.”

“You’re the girl who is supposed to marry Prince Thanos,” the other watcher said, mockingly.

She didn’t want to waste time explaining to them that, no, she wasn’t going to marry Thanos and that she had refused him. Rexus would vouch for her once she was inside.

“Go tell Rexus I am here to report,” she said, her voice stern.

One of the watchers headed inside, while the other held her at arrow-point. After a few minutes, the watcher returned.

“Rexus will not see you. He told me to tell you to go marry your prince charming, and to stay away from the rebellion,” he said.

She gasped, bursts of pain, but also wrath clenching inside. He would not see her? He thought she had agreed to marry Prince Thanos?

“I demand to see him at once!” she shouted, her body rigid.

“Get lost,” one of the watchers said, nudging her with the tip of his arrow.

Ceres realized standing here and arguing would not make one difference.

She spun around, clipping one of the watcher’s feet from underneath him so he fell to the rocks with a thud, and before the other watcher could react, she had already drawn her sword and knocked him unconscious with her hilt.

With not a second to waste, arrows raining down at her, she sprinted into the cave. She zoomed by dark, glistening walls, her eyes on the lit torches in the distance, her hands fumbling to get her sword back into its sheath.

“Stop!”

Yells came from behind her, but she would not stop. She would see Rexus, and as soon as she would be given a chance to explain, he would understand that she loved him, and she would know she loved him too. More than Thanos. More than anyone.

“Rexus!” she yelled, slipping on the slimy rocks.

She reached the end of the narrowing, and when she stepped into the larger space, hundreds of eyes were on her, menacing expressions causing her to want to shrink.

“Seize her!” someone yelled.

“I need to speak with Rexus!” she yelled.

A mob of men gathered around her, grabbing her arms. One took her sword and it vanished into the crowd of men and women.

“Rexus!” she yelled.

The mob opened up, and Rexus was standing there before her, his blond hair gleaming in the light of the torches. He looked so forlorn, Ceres thought.

“Rexus,” she said, tears in her eyes.

She wrestled free from her captors and threw herself against his firm chest, embracing him so tightly, he grunted.

After a few moments, she noticed his arms were still by his side, limp, not embracing her in return. She pulled back a little and looked up into his gorgeous face. It was as hard and cold as ice.

“I didn’t send you on a mission to marry Prince Thanos. I sent you to gain the royals’ trust,” he said, his eyes burning with hatred.

“I refused to marry Prince Thanos, but the queen pushed it through anyway!” Ceres said.

“What made the prince think he could marry you in the first place? Were you encouraging him?”

The crowd went silent, waiting for her answer.

“Can we please go somewhere quiet to talk,” Ceres asked.

“No. I want everyone to witness this.”

“Rexus, you know me. You have known me for years! Why are you doing this?” she asked.

“There must have been some reason he thought he should ask you.”

“What? Rexus, I denied him!” Ceres yelled.

“Of all the people to betray me, I never thought you would.”

“But I – ” Ceres started.

“One of the princesses at the palace sought me out and told me she had seen you and Thanos in the library gardens, kissing,” Rexus said.

“Stephania?” Ceres asked.

Rexus’s eyes flared just a tad, then softened, and she hoped maybe he would finally listen.

“So it is not true?” he asked, a look of slight relief on his face.

“Stephania was supposed to marry Thanos, but when the king and queen saw their opportunity to create peace in the Empire, they broke off their engagement and – ”

“First, answer my question. Did you kiss him?” he pressed.

She couldn’t lie to him, but she could explain. Or at least try to.

“Yes. But – ”

“And was it of your own free will and choice?” he continued.

She couldn’t respond to that. She just couldn’t, for so many reasons.

Rexus nodded, knowingly, his nostrils flaring, his expression hard again.

“So how can I then believe that you declined his proposal of marriage? Maybe you have even been sent as a spy here?” he said.

“No!”

“Get her out of here. And let it be known to every revolutionary that Ceres is banned from joining the rebellion forever!” Rexus said.

He swiveled around, but then stopped and glanced back at Ceres one more time, his expression disturbed.

“And I thought you should know. Nesos endured to the end. He gave his life for the rebellion while his sister was off flirting with the enemy.”

She collapsed to the ground, her grief crushing her heart so thoroughly, she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t see, her eyes overflowing with tears.

As the revolutionaries dragged her out of the cave, she called her brother’s name again and again. Everything she had was now lost to her.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

“May I have a word?” Thanos asked Cosmas in the library, his hands shaking like leaves caught in a storm.

Cosmas looked up from reading a scroll, his expression worried, but loving.

“Of course.”

They walked together out into the palace gardens and sat on a bench in front of the marble fountain, beneath a cloudy sky.

“What can I help you with, son?” Cosmas asked.

Thanos huffed.

“The king and queen commanded Ceres and I to be wed to restore the peace in the land,” he said.

“So I heard.”

“She rejected me.”

“Ah, that, too, I heard.”

Thanos took a deep cleansing breath.

“I have fallen in love with Ceres, but she believes I only proposed because I was commanded to.”

Cosmas nodded, paused, and brought a hand to his chin.

“Have you spoken to her, opened your heart and let her know how you feel?” Cosmas asked.”

“I told her some things, but I didn’t tell her I loved her,” Thanos relied.

“Heavens, why not?”

She had been so angry with him, he remembered, but that hadn’t been why he had held back.

“When I was on my mission, I fought with her brother and he fell onto his sword and died. I told Ceres what happened, but she was so furious with me, it was as if she believed I had killed him.”

Cosmas nodded, pondering.

“You told her the truth, and she will be devastated and angry and hurt for a time. If you had remained silent, and she found out, she would never have forgiven you. You did the right thing.”

“But she hates me now, even though I tried to save her brother,” Thanos said.

“I have known you your entire life, Thanos. You are a good man.”

Thanos moaned.

“How am I a good man when I am ready to run away and leave everything behind?”

“Running away might offer you a new start, but soon the ghosts of the past will come to haunt you,” Cosmas said. “You must talk to her, and then she can decide.”

“She will not speak to me.” Then Thanos had a thought. “Will you try and talk some sense into her?” he pleaded.

Cosmas bushy eyebrows grew heavy and he huffed.

“Very well, but only if you promise me you will tell her you love her.”

Thanos nodded. “I promise.”

*

Ceres ran back through the palace, dashing up the stairs three at a time. She tore past Empire soldiers who tried to arrest her, and darted toward Thanos’s chamber, her feet moving so fast they barely touched the marble floors. Thanos was the only one who could help her at this point, she knew, and if he refused, she would drag him back to Harbor Cave bound and gagged if needed. Thanos needed to tell Rexus that she indeed had declined his proposal, and to allow her a chance to join the revolutionaries.

When she stormed into Thanos’s room, she was sorely disappointed to find it empty.

She sprinted toward the palace gardens, looked in the royal practice arena, and even checked the blacksmith’s chalet. But he was nowhere. It was as if Thanos had vanished into thin air.

The library, of course! she thought.

As she shot back through the gardens, she saw the queen standing on the veranda, eyes like a hawk, a hint of a conniving smile on her lips. And then four Empire soldiers rushed out from behind bushes and trees, arresting Ceres, their grips around her arms so tight it was painful.

“Thanos!” she screamed, thrashing legs. “Thanos!”

But he did not come.

The Empire soldiers dragged her upstairs to the queen’s chamber, and threw her onto the shiny marble floor at the queen’s feet. Two stood in front of the door, blocking it, while the other two marched past the stone statue of a couple embracing, and out onto the balcony, through the open doors.

“Come with me,” the queen said to Ceres.

The queen walked out through the flowing purple curtains onto the veranda, overlooking the ocean. Shaken, but still angered, Ceres climbed to her feet and followed after.

“I still don’t know how you managed to get out of your room,” the queen said, her steely eyes gazing into the distance, a golden wine goblet in her hand. “At first, I thought you found a way to climb out the window and down the side of the tower, but there would be no way to do that and not fall to your death.”

Ceres pinched her lips, not willing to offer up that Anka had freed her.

“So someone in the palace must have opened the door for you, and when I find out who that person is, I will personally skin them alive,” the queen said, her voice flat but strict.

“It’s not that difficult to unlock the door from the inside,” Ceres said, hoping the queen would believe she did it on her own.

The queen glanced at Ceres, squinting.

“I doubt that is what you did,” she said.

The queen turned away and peered across the ocean.

“When I was your age, I thought I could do whatever I wanted, too. Youth has a way of making one naïve and irrational,” she said.

“I am neither of those things,” Ceres said.

The queen took a sip of wine.

“Of course, you are, my dear. Your returning to the palace proves it. You should have stayed far away, Ceres. Here, we have your entire life planned out, and it will not be to your liking.”

“I won’t marry Thanos, if that’s what you mean,” Ceres said.

“You will, and as the new princess, it will be your responsibility to produce babies. Lots and lots of babies. You will never be seen. You will never be heard. Your children will not know you, for the instant they are out of your womb, they will be ripped from your arms to be raised by a nanny, far, far away.”

“I won’t marry Thanos.”

“You have no choice, Ceres. You will wed him and once you have produced enough children, you will be killed off and replaced by another girl, a woman of royal blood, someone deserving of the title princess.”

“Thanos would never let that happen. He’s not like the rest of you barbarians.”

The queen chuckled.

“Do you really think he cares for you?” she said, tsking. “Oh my. You are even more naïve than I thought.”

Ceres’s shoulders grew tighter with the queen’s words. Had he only pretended to hate his family and the royals to gain her sympathy? Had he shown affection to try and make her fall for him when in truth, he didn’t care for her at all? No, she didn’t believe it. His touch and his kiss had been too real.

“Thanos told me a secret, and I must say, he is even more of a barbarian than the rest of us,” the queen said.

“I doubt that,” Ceres said, her guard up.

“I suppose he didn’t tell you he was the one who sought out and killed your brother, Nesos?” the queen said, a glib smile on her lips.

With all her might, Ceres tried to keep her face free from expressing the pang of grief she felt on the inside, tried to force her eyes not to fill with tears. But she could not hold it all inside and fell onto hands and knees as racking sobs tumbled from her lips.

“Why…why are you doing this to me?” Ceres asked, her voice cracking. “How can you hate me so much when you don’t even know me?”

The queen walked toward Ceres, stepping on Ceres’s filthy dress.

“I don’t need to know you to realize that you are a very useful pawn to the Empire,” she said.

“I will never be your or anyone else’s pawn,” Ceres seethed.

The queen ignored her comment.

“Because of this marriage, peace will prevail through the land, allowing the Empire to maintain power. And when you have fulfilled your purpose, make no mistake, you will be discarded.”

The queen nodded toward the Empire soldiers behind her, and they grabbed Ceres’s arms and pulled her to her feet.

“Take her back to her room,” the queen said. “And make sure both her wrists and ankles are shackled this time.”