Page 9 of A Broken Promise

Though not a flick of fire was in sight, I could still feel the burning ashes in my lungs, the screams of the villagers loud in my ears, Tuluma’s lifeless body and complete and utter despair.

I might have survived their massacre, but they destroyed a part of me that day.

Brita continued, adjusting pillows on the bunk beds.

“I am so sorry dear, I thought you realized that. Every time he comes, Lord Inadios tries to win him over by gifting him mages. Usually though, he sends over much younger girls and boys.”

My mouth went dry at those words.

No, don’t say it. Don't say it, Brita,my heart begged as she continued.

“We’ve almost always prepped little children for him to take.” She shrank at her own words.

I held onto the towel tighter, my knuckles turning white as I glanced at the room a second time.

The reality crushed me like a tiny bug.

A small, worn-out teddy bear lay on the neatly made bunk beds, a little carved horse right next to it. The narrow beds and the small blankets...

It was all for kids.

Children.

My blood heated like molten lava. Mages didn’t even get their powers until puberty.

They were innocent.

They were pure children, cursed by blood tinged with magic.

I stopped mid breath as the old maid’s request to cut my nails short to stop from scratching replayed within me.

There was no salvation for whoever he was.

I took another look at Brita, my eyes not hiding the shock, begging her to say this was all a lie. But she didn’t return my stare.

No, damn them all. They stood there, complicit, aschildrenwere tortured and destroyed? I closed my eyes, summoning the calmness and letting that anger, that hatred, simmer deep in my soul.

Tears didn’t come. They wouldn’t come, because the atrocities didn’tscareme.

Theyscarredme.

I opened my eyes a second later, replacing shock with determination. In that single blink, I promised myself, the universe, the gods above, and the cruel Lady Fate that I would kill him.

I wasn’t sure how or when, but I would kill the Destroyer General.

5

Ididn’t speak with Brita for the rest of the night. She left shortly after dressing me, locking the door after her.

Everything suddenly seemed so mortal and vain. My brain drowned in boiling anger and rage. I sat motionless on the round, wooden stool by the tiny vanity. I hadn’t seen my reflection in well over a year and I looked more hideous than ever. My constantly sunburned skin was covered in large freckles and sunspots. My overgrown eyebrows that were now perfectly waxed, looked out of place on my worn-out face. My cheekbones poked out noticeably. Previously full cheeks were sunken, making my round face look deformed. Even with Brita giving me the balm for my lips, they were still cracked, and that one new large freckle on my bottom lip made them look diseased. I ran my thumb down the smile lines. I had aged so much, I realized, as the small wrinkles were now permanently embedded on my cheeks and my forehead. I might have been only twenty-two, but I looked far older than that.

Life had a way of leaving its mark.

I harshly smiled. A worn-out shell for a broken soul. A fitting union.

My eyes trailed to the distorted-looking moon in the small window.

Guards. Dimitrii. Destroyer General. Children. Viyak.

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