Page 25 of Her Dark Promise

A chill ran through me as the room shifted, and my own father took the place of the man behind the desk for a split second. His face was cold, and distant, staring at me as if I were a creature. A beast.

I shook my head, and the memory went back to normal.

“Then save her,” he begged. “Throw her to the forest. I’ll find her, and take her somewhere else. I will run away with her.”

“You will not,” he ground out. “You are needed here.”

“If you think I’m just going to watch you kill her—”

His father surged to his feet, walked around the desk, and punched his son so hard that he fell to the floor. His father stoodover him as he yelled, “I expect this piss poor behavior from Soren, not you. My word is law!” Spit flew from his mouth. “Now leave.”

The man walked back to sit at his desk, his face still red from what his son said to him. He picked up some papers and shuffled them around as he said, without looking at his son. “Before I forget, you are to meet with Boniface’s daughter, Mary.”

“No.”

The man stopped mid-lick of his thumb to turn a page and asked, “What did you just say?”

“I will not marry that woman.” The hunter spit blood onto the plush rug. “I will no longer cower beneath you. I will not allow my sister to be your next victim in your inconsequential quest for power.”

“You are my successor, the next head of the town council, and will marry a woman of equal status. Either you choose within the month, or I will choose for you.”

“You are a coward,” my prisoner said as he stood, wiping the blood that dripped off his chin with the back of his hand.

“I think it is humorous that you believe you have a choice in any of this.”

He scoffed. “I do have a choice. And I am choosing to go out and find this beast of yours and kill it. I will even bring back its head so you can mount it on your wall of trophies.”

The man’s eyes narrowed. “I can see that your mind is already made up. You are as stubborn and pig-headed as your mother was.”

I could feel the anger radiating off of my prisoner, energy so thick that it could rival my own. “Donotspeak ill of her.”

His father quickly stood, slamming the book closed. “Remember who you are speaking to.” My prisoner lowered his head in submission. A look that stirred something deep inside me. I looked over at his father, who continued fiercely, “I amwarning you, if you decide to do this and something were to happen, nobody will come looking for you. I will make your brother the head of the house and you will be nothing but a stain on the family name.”

“As you wish, Father.” With that, my prisoner turned sharply around and stormed out of the room.

I was shaking with anger. This was the man who was responsible for the last set of children. Not because he truly believed in the myth but because he wanted to control the people of his village. I was so angry that I could hardly breathe. My heart was racing, thrumming violently inside my chest.

Before I allowed the memory to fade, I strode over to the man and punched him through his chest, ripping his heart out. “I promise you this. I will find you and I will kill you.”

The memory faded, and I was back into the main part where his memories were stored.

I was seething and yet confused. My prisoner seemed to loathe his father and despise the Reapings. If he was that against it, why would he team up with Merrill and Claude Or…maybe he didn’t.

Panic swept through me at the thought. I couldn’t believe that. I hurried and swiped through the memories until my face came into view at the gate.

No…

It couldn’t be.

There was not one trace of Merrill and Claude anywhere in his memory. But, how could that be? I was sure that he had something to do with Mariam's death. He had arrived not a day later than them; it couldn’t have been a coincidence. He couldn’t have been telling me the truth.

But, if he was, then…I just tortured someone that didn’t fit the criteria. I had just tortured an innocent man.

I dropped my hands from my tight grip around his temple and stepped back. He hung his head the moment that I let go, and Iwas, for the first time in centuries, at a loss for words. His body slumped to the ground. He had passed out from the rest of his remaining energy being completely drained.

I hadn’t slept at all that night.

I could have sworn that he had something to do with both of those murderers, that there were others.

---