Page 47 of Hopeless Kingdom
“Who do you think will be in possession of your mother once you are no longer here, my King?” My lips snap shut as I stare hard at this little sniveling man.
One step after another I come closer and closer to him but he refuses to back down.
Call it stupidity, call it noble, he isn’t shriveling away from me.
“I have the power to harm what is near and dear to your heart, my Eminence.” The quiet voice isn’t nearly as commanding as it should be as she repeats the words I once threatened her with.
My spine stiffens. I turn toward the sound of her quiet voice.
The king’s mother shuffles into the light with someone I hadn’t expected to see; Ryder stands in front of her, his eyes held on mine. He towers over her small height, his bulky body too tall for her to really maneuver. The king’s mother holds a dagger to his ribs in an amateur like way. She holds it like it’s a vegetable she’s about to carelessly toss into a soup.
What the hell is she doing and, more importantly, why the hell is Ryder indulging her pretend dominance?
To find me.
He’s letting her lead him here to find where I was.
Hmm, perhaps the prince is smarter than I typically give him credit for.
Suddenly there are too many people in the room, too many statistics that could go wrong.
I lower my sword and the tension in the woman’s shoulders eases but she doesn’t lower her weapon.
A look of surrender is all I give them, slowly I drop to my knees, the sword still held firmly in my hands. My head hangs low and I consider every option I have.
“I told you, she’d never destroy our world, Mother. She is our salvation.”
Gods above, is he wrong.
I’d burn this place to the ground if it meant the four of us could find our freedom again.
Specifically, I’d burn this place to the ground just to find a sense of peace for what this woman did to my father.
My fingers sweep across the ground, the fine particles of debris shifting beneath my touch before my fingers slowly wrap around one of the iron bars covering the well. I fist the cold metal in my hand. My teeth grind together and my muscles constrict as I give the bar a hard pull.
With more strength than I ever knew I was capable of, the bars tear from the solid brick ground. Heavy breaths heave through my lungs and in a flash, my wings span the room. They open like a kite on a spring day. Flashing open and catching the minimal amount of air in the small room. As if I’ve flown my entire life, I fly up with powerful magic coursing through my wingspan. With me, I bring up the rest of the bars covering the Hopeless realm.
It shakes the ground. Brick tears up from the well. The stones topple into the swirling inky water and disappear to whatever lies beneath it.
I keep my balance as I hover above them like a watching angel staring down on the sinners of the world. The bent and deformed bars fall from my hands, the well eating them up until they swirl into the dark depths of the waters. My black wings beat with aggression, shoving too much wind into the small room. Her hair twirls around her aging face and she’s all that I see. Smoky strands of black and gray twirl around the aging lines of her piercing blue eyes.
She’s the reason I’m here. She’s the reason I am who I am today.
And I don’t even remember her name.
It’s the last logical thought I have before I swoop down on her like an eagle snatching up its prey.
Ryder leaps to the side just in time as I collide into her frail frame. I physically feel the smallest fracture of her arm as a bone snaps beneath my touch. Her back’s shoved against the wall and I hold her there.
“My name is Zakara Storm, daughter of the Royal Swordsman, Tomas Storm.” She gasps against me, her sapphire eyes shining with fear. My father’s name is probably just one soldier among many in her mind.
Faceless. Forgotten.
Her hand grips the dagger and she sinks it into my shoulder but I don’t even feel the sting of the blade, only the hot feel of my blood sliding down my arm.
“What you don’t realize is you already took what I held nearest and dearest to my heart.” I can’t resist the rage that’s furling within me. Pain shoots through my jaw as I hold it tightly closed.
My heart thunders to life. I consider all the agony this meek, mortal woman has brought me. The cries of my father will forever echo through my thoughts.
