Chapter 18

W hat was death like , she wondered. A blackness and loss of consciousness, and then…what? For a single, terrible, delicious moment, she thought of gaining peace from the searing pain that sliced her body. Death would be a release .

His fingers traced across her shoulder. The touch sent a wave of fresh agony through her lacerated flesh. Her answering scream echoed upon her own ears as if from a far distance.

He spoke and his tone was firm and kind, oddly belying the smear of blood his hand carefully wiped from his pale lips. "Guards?"

Someone trod around her prone form. A cold, slippery wetness spread across her back. Medicinal magic. The healing came swiftly. Her numb muscles reknit, her skin reattached, blood lay oddly dripping from her now clean, unmarked back. Only her dress still hung in scarlet tatters, red boot-prints patterned the paving stones, and the metallic stench of blood and burnt flesh cloyed the frozen air, stark reminders of the torment.

"She needs to drink something to replenish her blood loss," the emperor's voice sounded in her ears. "And put her coat back on before this cold kills her."

The guards hauled her from the table, supporting her useless legs. Even the healed back felt odd, a slab of flesh that tingled with freshly grown nerves learning their placement and importance to her body's functioning. Her knees buckled as they flung the heavy coat around her and she crumpled to the floor before a soldier roughly pulled her upright. How she wished that her legs were stronger so she could stand and match Luiximor's hateful eyes. But her body was a traitor and her mind, still red with pain. It felt too raw and horrible. The blood caked on her arms, his wire cooled to singed steel, the way her thoughts still crept backwards, seeking escape and somewhere to die, even though the violence that had jarred them into thoughts of death lay healed.

He approached then, and his fingers trailed down her face and neck. The guards stood beside her, impassive. She wondered just how many prisoners they had dragged back to their cells after Luiximor beat them. That is, if they were allowed to survive.

She shuddered at the touch and he appeared deeply grieved. "Still trying to avoid the inevitable. What…will you kill yourself out of spite and try to ruin me? I always think of everything. If you try to end your life, then someone you love will die."

"I told you, I don't love him," she whispered with a heavy tongue.

"No, not the assassin . His life is already forfeit to me whether you wish it or otherwise. No, I refer to someone else. What if I were to say that Corina has made an excellent prisoner."

Corina? Was that the voice she had heard earlier?

He cruelly smiled, enjoying her shock. "Oh yes. We captured your friend some days ago. Now, I want you to think hard on what I say. I own you. I decree your every living moment and the exact hour of your death. If you try to harm yourself in any way, shape or form, she will burn and burn slowly."

"I don't believe you." Her voice was a whisper.

Luiximor beckoned to the guard who returned, hauling a prisoner. The black hair lay matted upon her face and the flowery dress was filthy, but Vala immediately recognized her and cried out before she could stop herself.

"Vala, you really do find the worst parties." Corina sounded scared but…defiant too.

Vala blinked away tears. Even in the middle of this horror, Corina was forever a fighter to the end. Unlike her. She was weak and stupid and utterly not fit to live.

"Darling, I do hope by tonight's end, you remember your priorities." The emperor turned to the waiting guards. "Lock them up together."

Vala knew that Luiximor thought hanging out with her friend would better incentivize her to save the world for him. He really did not understand friendship. She needed no physical reminder of Corina's existence to want to burn the world down for her. And Janie too, but she had failed to save her.

Her bitter thoughts were interrupted by Corina squeezing the breath from her with a big hug. "Are you alright?"

No, she was not alright. She had never been alright. Sometimes, she wanted to scream so loud, the sun would burst and destroy the world with spears of flame. Then, perhaps, everyone else would feel what she had felt every day for as long as she could remember.

But when she opened her mouth, all she said was, "I'm fine."

Corina's eyes narrowed. "But, what's with all the blood? I heard you screaming like something awful. It smells like burnt hair and rusted metal around here and what happened to your dress?" Her hands lifted the coat, revealing the bloody shreds of lace dangling from Vala's naked, freshly-healed back.

Vala drew away from her and bundled herself again. She did not want to be thought of as weak. "It's nothing. I got it dirty on that table outside."

Corina shuddered to see the reddened table. "Gods, whatever happened to that poor prisoner? I don't even want to know."

Vala decided to distract her since her friend would never understand. "How did they find you?"

"I returned to the apartment and saw them take away her body…oh… Janie's dead. " She sniffed and took a deep breath.

"I know." Vala clenched her fists tighter.

They fell silent as a guard approached. He slid a platter of food under the grating—a mound of cold porridge and two cups of fruit juice.

Corina gulped down her drink, struggling to regain composure. "What in the world did you do?"

Vala sipped the juice—she needed her strength—but the sight of the food made her stomach twist. One of the guards sloshed a bucket of water over the table, cleaning off her blood. The other guard complained about getting their cards bloody, as if her whipping was nothing more than an inconvenience. She wondered how many other prisoners had sprayed their insides within these walls and shuddered.

"I have something the emperor badly wants."

Corina pursed her lips. "Whatever it is, I'm not surprised. There was always a secret edge to you. Janie and I couldn't figure it out and you never said much about your prison time or why you needed a guardian afterward. I wish you had confided in us. We could have helped you."

Vala felt every muscle in her body tighten as if she were caught in a trap. "There's nothing you or Janie could have done. This is the fate of my runes. I'm going to die tomorrow."

"Wow," Corina tasted the porridge with distaste, " Wow. You're literally the only person who can save us and you're just pouting and feeling sorry for yourself."

"I'm not pouting." She muttered, too loudly because a guard looked round.

Corina rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you are. Janie died because of whatever it is they want from you and I don't think they plan to release me."

Vala wrung her hands. "He's too powerful. If I could open the Dynn, maybe we could escape and hide in that world. But I can't. I don't know what to do."

The other woman made an exasperated sound. "What about the Masked Man? He's a Dynn Knight and a solid fighter. Can't he help us?"

The name sent a jolt through her. Just last night, he had visited her and she had stood before him naked as he kissed her. Their parting words had been awful. And he had been right. He was not Luiximor. He tried to warn her and yet she refused to listen. But then magic had compelled her mind. Was that a good enough excuse or had she just fallen for the lies that Luiximor had fed her? She had so badly wanted to believe that she was useful and worth something in this world.

She looked at her hands. "We had a huge fight last night. He said goodbye and left…I think for good."

Corina's fingers gripped her arm. "Wait, he's here? In the palace?"

"No, he found me through the Dynn." Vala unhooked her hand and clasped it earnestly. "Please stop worrying. There's nothing to be done."

Corina absorbed this with a grimace. "But doesn't he like you or whatever? You just can't give up like this!"

Vala sighed and slumped against the wall. "Look, it's like this. You are my friend. I know you. I can't trust anyone else. Not even him. I mean, I don't even know his identity."

Corina chanced a glance at the guards before continuing barely above a whisper. "He tried to warn you in the first place, remember? He wanted to take you away. How can he mean you harm if he tried to protect you in the first place?"

Vala did not know what to say. Corina was still innocent in some ways, despite being raised on the streets. She could still hope and dream. Vala knew better. Once the prison gates slammed, they never reopened without a price. Forces too powerful for her to fight had stifled any potential rune growth and her future merely unfolded according to their dictation. No one, not even the Masked Man, could save her now.

"No, we are on our own. The emperor?—"

Corina made a face. "—Is a total lunatic. I can't believe I used to consider him sexy. Of course, Ericc always hated him."

The mystery man of tumulus clouds, rubies, and parrot tales. "What happened to Ericc?"

Corina licked her fingers. "Oh, I have no idea. He probably survived the raid just fine."

"You're so calm, I thought you cared for him." Vala sniffed, wanting to talk about anything but her problems for a moment longer.

"I love him. It's just…like, whatever. Shit happens. Maybe I'll never see him again, you know? I can't work with the runes like you can. You have the brains to get us free."

Vala drank her juice with nervous gulps. Just thinking about freedom made her tremble. The pain of the lashing felt like some terrible nightmare that lingered within her memory, cloying and dank with evil.

"I'll try. I'm sorry. I'm just so tired. Of fighting, of being scared…everything."

"Come on now, that's just your blood sugar talking. Eat some goop. You'll feel better." Corina slapped a wiggling chunk of porridge into Vala's lap.

Vala managed a wan smile.

Her friend handed her the spoon. "Don't give up, Vala. If you do, we're both dead. And, I really, really don't want to die."

Vala slowly nodded, not daring to speak.

After they ate, the women curled within Vala's dirty coat. Soon, they fell asleep. Or, at least Corina slept, her gentle breath puncturing the air with frosty puffs. Vala lay with eyes wide open, thinking hard. Corina was right. She had to form a plan. Even if she were meant to die, Corina was stuck with her and at no fault of her own. She owed it to her friend —and to Janie—that Corina walked free. If one good thing resulted from her strange, unhappy, and short life, it was to save her last remaining friend from a terrible fate. If she accomplished that, then perhaps she could die with a smile on her face tomorrow.

How prophetic her reasoning had been on that bus ride from the Hotel Isla. But even as she knew the truth that she had sought lay obscured in shadow, who could have imagined all of this? And the blackness had deepened, sucking all light within its hungry, ever-feeding depths. She saw no end in sight. No glimmer of a dawn.

The emperor intended to steal her runes and use them for himself because they were the opposite to his and would grow strong and powerful during the eclipse while his runes weakened. Her life would end once they were traded into his holdings but what if the trade…didn't happen? Would Luiximor die tomorrow and she survive? After all, his rune death in the Noventury was the natural, predetermined future he was trying so hard to circumvent and no one, not even gods, could survive without a future.

If she could open the Dynn, perhaps she could attempt to rescue her runes, but he likely had multiple Dynn dragons and battalions of soldiers watching her rune plants. No, her future was gone. Her death was just something she had to face; a part of life attached to her like a bad dream, waiting for tomorrow's nightfall. She controlled nothing. Even her body, he had used at his whim. He had whipped her and then healed her to forcibly prune her runes back to what they had been before she had ever arrived at the palace. Her runes were compelled to grow a certain way and—she adjusted the coat, angling for better warmth.

A roll of paper fell to the floor. She stared at it, remembering Greeta. Picking it up, she unraveled the paper and studied the scribbled runes. They were bold, asking for the release of Greeta's entire rune plant from the service of the empire. Greeta, who, judging from her runes, had only a few weeks left alive. Certainly not enough time to settle anywhere and enjoy the sunshine, despite what she said. Vala pressed her lips together.

If Greeta could demand change in her runes when her life was about to close, then she could also figure out a way to influence her own runes. Or at least exact such vengeance through them that no one would ever think about treating someone else in a similar way ever again.

Revenge.

The idea grew within her, at first a budding sensation of dark joy that expanded into a curiosity over its fruition. How could her rune knowledge destroy Luiximor tomorrow? Her runes were to be used to save his future but…if she could sabotage them in some way, then his future would no longer be so glorious and assured. No, if she had her way, his future would be completely damned. But how? Certainly, she could try to kill herself so that Luiximor had no ‘great short' come tomorrow morning. But her runes were pruned in such a way that she could not permanently harm herself unless the empire wished it. No, she had to be clever—indirect—with the intention sent to her runes.

The answer came swiftly. She may be denied entrance to the Dynn, but that had never stopped her from building trades for the Exchange. She must find a way to persuade Luiximor to let her go to the Exchange tomorrow. Then, she must unleash a trade upon her runes. A trade she must set up in advance and enact with precision at the eclipse's darkest moment. A trade that would flow through every trading center in the world.

For a long while, she sat, blood pounding, as she contemplated what may happen. She had never been to the Exchange, let alone know how to put a trade of that magnitude and importance into the trading systems at the right time and without getting caught. If she were discovered, she and Corina would face a torturous death for treason against the emperor himself. But her death was a part of her future and there was no escaping it. Either way, no matter how she looked at the problem, she ended up dead, whether tomorrow or from eventual illness or age.

At least, this time around, there would be no reincarnation. She did not know how to manipulate the runes to be reborn and she did not want to. This life had been a mistake and the next one, if there could be another life, would certainly be even worse. No. She preferred her own method of departure from this world, dying with the taste of vengeance on her tongue, dragging Luiximor by his silvery locks into the afterlife.

Corina shifted and stirred within the coat, her cheeks rosy with slumber. She tucked in the coat around her friend, feeling Corina mumble in return. She could not perform the trade alone. She needed help—an accomplice who could access the trading mechanisms of the Exchange.

She had a pretty good idea who that could be.

Some hours later, echoing in the stones above her, she heard footsteps descending the winding stairs. Someone approached. She knew those elegant, slow steps like the heartbeat of doom. Luiximor.

Vala shook Corina. "Wake up."

Her eyes flew open. "What's happening?"

Vala bundled the coat around Corina. "You're going to need this to stay warm."

"But what about you?"

Vala ignored her and approached the cell door, clasping the bars.

The freezing air chilled her face and body while the gentle brush of tattered lace upon her back was a stark reminder of yesterday's torture. She felt that she would die of pain if another whip sliced her flesh apart. Not technically, of course. Not after just one cut when she had lived through so many. But the memory of the pain shook her to the core.

"Is someone coming?" Corina sounded half-asleep.

Her friend was not a morning person. "You need to promise me something."

Corina hauled herself upward, bundled in the fur, and trundled over. "Uh-oh. I know that look. What are you going to do?"

Vala pushed her against the wall. "I need you to stay back here. Do you understand? Promise me. No matter what happens, stay out of the way and say nothing."

"Okay?"

"And, Corina, when they let you go, don't ever stop running."

Corina looked argumentative.

Vala turned to face the hall and heavily exhaled. "I am so sorry you were dragged into all of this."

"It's fine. Really, oh gods, he's here?—"

The emperor strode into view, flanked by several guards. His silver hair flowed loose upon his black robes. A thick circle of platinum rimmed his brow. She met his steel gaze, shivering despite herself. But she had to take action and give him a predetermined idea before he read her raw, plotting mind. What a splendid figure, she begrudgingly thought to him. If he had not been so cruel, she would find him irresistible. She would fall in love with him and forget every other man existed.

A smile crooked his jawline. His fingers beckoned the guards to retreat, even as his gaze drifted over her lace dress. Possessing every part of her. Owning her. She shivered despite her resolve and he looked pleased.

"How glad I am to see you improved now that your runes are trimmed back to their original path. Scholars have always said a person is happiest and most amenable when they follow the future laid out for them within the Dynn."

"Pompous ass," Corina muttered, so low that Vala barely caught her words.

If Luiximor overheard, he paid no heed. From his outstretched hand, flames curled through the cell door's lock. With a heavy clank, the door swung open.

Vala stepped forward, slowly and stiff as a pillar. "Luiximor, I want to negotiate a deal with you."

Surprise quivered his elegant face. "You…negotiate with ME ? Has yesterday's whipping taught you nothing? I own your future. There is nothing for you to command." He stared upon her lips and neck. That desire and claim upon her body in his eyes. He felt that controlled her and the thought made her sick because it was mostly true.

She twisted a smile for his awareness. "I think when you hear the terms, you'll agree."

A curl of steel rolled from his sleeve into his hand. So that was where he hid the whip.

"Or perhaps another session will help correct your mind." Flames ran along the wire.

Vala heard Corina gasp.

She dragged hungry eyes over his chest, suppressing her terror. That honed, bare chest should fall upon her naked breasts in the cold darkness of his bedchamber, she meticulously thought. "But you'll only waste precious time. You need me. Otherwise, you wouldn't be standing here, on the dawn of your Noventury, about to command me to the Exchange to fix what you have done."

He loomed over her; breath cold upon her brow, eyes hard and unforgiving. "Fix what, darling?"

She took a deep breath, deciding to hate the word darling until the end of time. Had he only called her such because he knew the Masked Man had used the term on her in Sandy's? Was everything he had done a lie? "You know that you should never have brought me to the palace. It was better for the police to capture me…for a sunship to take me away…really, anything would have been better except for my coming here. All the volatility that has run through my precious runes ever since messed up a lot of other planned trades. You may have corrected my runes by whipping me but your trade strategy is still failing and the computation machines can't keep up. The great short that my rune path provided is falling apart on the morning of the eclipse. That's why you came back for me. The markets open soon and you're desperate. You know I'm the only person fast enough with rune calculations to help you navigate today's black hour."

She stepped closer to him and placed her hands upon his unyielding chest. Behind her, Corina gave a small gasp of outrage.

"You may torture me but I'm immensely stubborn and you have run out of time to repeat yesterday's beating and further correct my runes."

"Maybe I'll whip your friend to death." He smirked.

She carelessly shrugged. "Perhaps. But then I'll be in a bad mood and even more likely to deny helping you. No, Luiximor, you need me. And you need me to freely, willingly help you. So how else can you persuade me?"

His eyes furiously glowed upon her, his body stiff with rage. "I applaud your quickness of thought. But in one thing you are wrong."

She shuddered as his lips met her mouth in a crushing embrace. How cruel and angry that kiss was. As if he could drain her blood with a single, hungry bite. Forcing her stomach to unclench, she kissed him in return, feeling the cold twist of his mouth against hers, the heaviness of his hands upon her naked back. She could feel Corina's shocked gaze smack her head. Please, Corina, don't do anything stupid, she prayed.

He pulled away, studying her eyes with increasing eagerness. "Your free will means nothing. Today, you will serve me in the Exchange, faithfully and with no demands. My future will occur exactly as planned."

She struggled to keep elation from her thoughts and face. Convincing him to let her enter the Exchange had been far easier than she figured. Just how much had her recent rune volatility messed up the Exchange's plans for today? Obviously, the situation was bad enough for him to so quickly agree.

"Will it occur even with the deviation I caused by coming to your palace?" She raised her face for his famished mouth.

Being this close to him, caught within his immortal presence, she felt her body chill several degrees. She had been so desperate, so lonely, and so in love with him. He greedily stared upon her, absorbing her prepared thoughts, while his arms enfolded her tight.

"It does not matter. The macro future outcome is always the same. I know how to run my empire. You may be quick with the runes but I have the world's best minds on my payroll. They will monitor your equations and review and enter all your trade inputs in case you have any rogue plans. And," his mouth brushed her neck in swift, angry embrace, "Do recall, I have your friend. A hint of betrayal and I will ensure that she dies before your eyes. You know what it is like to see people burn. Your parents…Simon and Petunia Flowers. Tell me, do you ever sleep without the nightmare of their deaths? Deaths YOU caused?"

She wildly struggled to contain the memories of their final scream. That final look before their faces glazed and succumbed to eternity. Did they know it had been an accident or had they spent their final moments horrified that they had given birth to her, a monster ? Tears welled in her eyes but she had to focus.

"So Corina survives. But what of me? Let's say that I agree to help you in the Exchange and the empire is saved from the eclipse. I will die all the same. How does your triumph help me ?"

Luiximor remained silent.

She snuggled deeper within his arms, willing her thoughts to wax fearful and confused. For this love, harsh and deadly, was everything she had ever truly wanted. She met his silver eyes with longing. "Luiximor, you know I have to die for the short to work."

"Yes…but I never wanted you to be the sacrifice. If I could turn back time and build a better strategy…and with someone else, I would give my soul to do so. Vala, it has to be this way. My future is the sole pivot upon which the empire will be guided through the eclipse. No price is too high to pay. There is no question of whether you will save the day. The Dynn has destined that my future will reign supreme. We merely put oars into the rushing current to better glide downstream."

She sniffed and closed her eyes, leaning against his chest as though his strong body was a pillar rising from a terrible ocean. His weakness, of course, was not any love for her. He wanted power. Absolute and eternal power.

Corina tried to move, but Vala's swift glare sent her shrinking back.

She straightened, gathering her thoughts in the frozen air. "You need me to willingly decide to help you. This is not something you can force. I can form the equations but I must have full access to my mind to do so. If you command my brain, you will not be able to feel the right pattern because you don't know how the runes work. You don't know which ones to pluck and combine from my brain to form the equations needed."

His fist clenched and she flew backward, her back slamming into the cell door. Her newly healed back split as she slid down, only for the emperor's hand to catch her fall.

"There, are you finally pleased?" His whisper sank like molten silver into her shrieking brain. "Have you not learned that I own you, body and soul?"

"Don't hurt her!" Corina ran forward.

Vala wanted to turn, to shout a warning but his grip was too strong, cutting off movement and her voice.

The emperor flung out a hand and Corina thudded into the wall. She sank to the floor with a sharp cry, clutching her arm.

Vala made a strangled cry as Luiximor pulled her to him, clasping her bleeding back with careless hands even as his furious whisper caressed her. "Look at what you made me do. And now you have been hurt, much to my pain."

"No," Vala gasped within his arms, watching Corina's face quiver with tears and shock, "I know that. I'm sorry. Please."

He appeared mollified and released her. She staggered forward, grabbing the cell bars for support, unable to face him, her thoughts in jangled disarray.

He sneered. "Good. This is how today is going to unfold. You will be taken to the Exchange. Depending on your service today, you may yet survive."

Vala felt a stab of relief. Good, he had fallen for the first part of her plan. She needed to protest so that he did not suspect her. "How is that possible? My death is the certainty that assures your future strength."

He smiled down at her. "I will prove to your arrogant soul that nothing is impossible. After your work is done, I will marry you whether you will or not and you will survive with me and learn to love me as you did before."

Vala sank to her knees. Her back hurt terribly; waves of pain coursing through her body and shredding all conscious thoughts from her mind. How could she bear this pain for the entirety of her plan today? But she had to keep going, to make the pain worthwhile, to ensure she didn't die for nothing. She must act thankful now to mollify his anger. "Please, I am not worthy of such kindness."

"Then prove to me your intentions are true. Show me today at the Exchange how much you care to be my empress."

Tears spilled upon her face. She hated this abasement. It made her sick to her heart. But the plan was working. He gloated and therefore he did not think . He did not realize he no longer controlled her. Not like that . "No, not empress. That is too kind. I will be your slave."

His eyebrows raised. "Oh?"

She clutched his coat ends with nerveless hands. "Yes, I will be yours. My rune path is utterly owned by you but I assure you this. I will willingly do whatever you command of me. I have much to atone for and I will prove my love to you."

"Then we have a deal after all." His eyes glowed in a way that made her heart pound. He liked the idea of her serving him. Perhaps her past selves had done just that for all the miserable years of their existence. She felt like throwing up at the thought.

But she had to keep on going. "Describe to me what I will do. I know it is in your heart. I remember it from years past. You said I would crawl on all fours like a dog."

He surveyed her for a long minute and dark lust shone from those immortal silver eyes. "We may yet have some fun. You will sleep when I allow you, drink and eat only when I decide, and come to me whenever I desire you. You will want death and yet you will learn to love me, the one who gave life to you. You will think back to your seven years in that island prison, trapped alone in that cell with no company save your own screams, and recall with fondness the freedom you had."

Vala bowed her head. "Yes, and in return for my lifetime of servitude, Corina will be set free."

Corina's eyes popped open. "Have you gone insane?"

Luiximor pulled Vala's chin to him, forcing her trembling legs to propel her upwards. He pressed one final kiss upon her lips and she stifled a scream as his fingers clutched her bloody back. "I am glad that we finally see eye to eye." He snapped his fingers.

Two guards appeared.

"Take this prisoner and get her ready," he turned to Vala. "Be sure to do your finest work today. The world is watching."

Luiximor strode away then and left them.

Corina grabbed for her but the guards flung her back into the cell and slammed the door. "What are you doing? He's a monster, please, don't. NO!"

She kept yelling long after they dragged Vala out of sight.

They hauled her into some waiting area down the hall to where another guard sat behind a table piled with clothes. Her back hurt terribly from the cell door but she was used to dealing with pain. She needed to compartmentalize it; shove the pain into an experience so that her plan could still be carried out. Corina must be rescued and Luiximor destroyed. As for herself, she had grown accustomed to the idea of counting down the hours to her final moment, fading into eternal blackness, falling into the great ocean of death.