Chapter 11

The eruption of hysteria behind me alluded to Death's dramatic departure. He'd let everyone watch as he coaxed my father's soul from his fallen body while the powerful magic, stronger from his close proximity, no doubt, receded, leaving me in a state of shock, exhaustion, and suffocating numbness.

Somewhere in the commotion, my unfortunate betrothed had ordered my capture. The hurried noise of people scrambling was drowned out by the buzzing in my ears. I willed my legs to move, but they did not obey.

The guards, those dressed in purple and the ones in green, closed in, but I had no fire. Even when I could hear Ro in my mind, screaming for me to fight, to rise. To run. Nothing worked. Not until a solid shoulder collided with my stomach, my feet left the ground, and I was hauled out of the temple like a rag doll.

"So help me gods, if you don't put me down?—"

"Yes, I know. Threats and violence and long-drawn-out murders. Be silent. You lost, Maiden."

Orin.

I landed a well-placed punch to his kidney, and he winced with a shout before overcorrecting and falling to the pebbled earth. Guards and courtesans and their bonded spouses poured from the temple behind us.

Orin jumped to his feet, lunging for me with far more grace than he'd had last night and no limp in his left leg. Fucking liar all the way around.

"Keep your hands off me!" I screamed as he snatched me around my hips from behind.

I cracked an elbow into his face, but he didn't budge. The guards were closer now, and I'd never be able to fight them all. He leaned back, lifting me from the ground as he tried to run, but I wouldn't be taken prisoner. I kicked and flailed, fighting like a wild animal, until his grip slipped, and he dropped me.

"I'm not going to pretend I'm sorry about this… Wife." The final word dripped from his hateful mouth like poison as he struck me solidly in the back of the head with the hilt of a sword. I hadn't even seen it coming.

"I've never knownanyone to sleep ugly."

Deep, resounding echoes of pain ricocheted off the walls of my throbbing mind as the blurry world righted itself. A surge of fury washed over me, amplifying the disorientation caused by the unfamiliar space.

Orin Faber leaned against a dusty dresser across a foreign bedroom, with his arms folded over his chest, glaring at me as if I'd been the one to ruin his life.

"Go fuck yourself," I groaned, untangling my feet from the lacy edges of my tattered wedding gown so I could stand, though the world tipped, and an ache raced down my spine.

"Steady there, King Slayer. I've never been good with poisons."

I grabbed my stomach to keep from hurling as the room spun. Poison… I should have known. "I've been taking heavy doses of poison to build a tolerance since I was fourteen," I slurred. "You'll have to try better than that."

Three of him now stood where one did moments ago. I blinked, willing my vision to right itself.

"Looks like it." He flipped a knife in his hands, the familiar ruby drawing my attention, even while battling poison. My blade. Chaos.

"I'll be taking that back." I stumbled forward, throwing an arm out for balance.

"Come and get it, first-timer."

I'd heard that name before. My head snapped up to look into eyes I hadn't recognized. The masked performer from Misery's End. One of the Maestro's bound men. "You… Gods, of course. You work for him."

He took a step toward me, lowering his chin. "For someone who throws her ability to kill around like she's planting a fucking farm, you're not very smart."

"Neither are you."

He'd stepped too close. I lunged, fighting the disorientation enough to snatch Chaos from his loose grip, whirl behind him, and point the tip directly into his back, though my stomach rolled in protest.

"Now, tell me who you are and why I'm here."

He lifted his hands into the air and shifted forward, but I moved with him, keeping the dagger pressed firmly against his spine. "More poison next time. Noted."

I scoffed. "This is the last time you're going to see my face until I'm standing over you for the kill."

"You enjoy it, don't you? The kill? Acting as Death's whore? Throwing threats to make sure everyone hates you. We know. We get it. The victims of this world are warned from birth to stay the hell away from you."

"You know nothing about me."

He turned in a flash, his hand gripping mine as it held the blade. "Do it. Kill another person for your own glory. Do they keep a tally in Death's court? Of all the lives taken? Those with the highest numbers live eternity on some kind of fucking pedestal?"

I paused, anger coiling as I stared into his furious eyes. "Who was it? Who did I take from you?"

He leaned closer, hunching over the blade, not bothered by its proximity to his abdomen, as he growled. "My brother. My father. An old woman who used to live across the street and helped my mother feed us when we had nothing. You are the single enemy of this world."

"I am not your enemy."

He swiped the dagger away and grabbed my throat, slamming me against the wall. "You are my enemy."

My eyes fell to his lips. If twenty-four hours hadn't passed, I could break the bond.

He squeezed, knowing exactly where my mind had gone. "You're too late, Maiden. You've been asleep for two days."

The gods truly had abandoned me.

Shoulders heaving inches from my face, I didn't fear him. He couldn't kill me. He had no more weapons to hurt me. His fingers pinned around my throat barely stole my breath.

"Are you eager now, Wife? Now that the whole world knows you're nothing but a desperate, hateful murderer who couldn't be counted on for one honorable task to save this world from war?"

Coiled rage exploded within me as I remembered his words from the temple. The embarrassment. The way I'd begged before everyone and still murdered my father. The single moment Death had touched me so intimately for all to witness. I swallowed against his fingers. "I'm going to give you one chance to back the fuck up, and then this is over. How it ends will be up to you."

His grip tightened until I was sure I would bruise. "Shall I count to ten?"

Swallowing the new wave of nausea, I drew the blade and shoved it forward, barely missing him as he jumped away, venom dripping from his hateful glare.

"You're going to have to be faster than that, Maiden."

"I have a name."

"I know. It's annoying to say."

I lunged. He spun, swiping a dusty floor lamp from the corner and swinging it at me with full force. Taking the heavy base of the lamp right in the gut, I doubled over, confident anger was the only thing keeping me from throwing up.

The impact of the floor lamp sent a shockwave of pain through my body, but it only fueled my determination.

Gasping for air, I straightened myself and narrowed my eyes at Orin. Hatred simmered within me, boiling over in a torrent of words. "Get your shit together. I've seen more strength in a stableboy."

He smirked, his eyes glinting with malicious delight. "Oh, I'm well aware of your exploits. But a high body count doesn't make you invincible, only more undesirable. A nightmare."

I lunged again, this time with a swift and precise strike, though his hurtful words were their own kind of weapon against me. My fist collided with his jaw, sending him stumbling back against the dusty dresser, a discarded vase of wilted flowers shattering on the floor. With a surge of adrenaline, I launched myself at him, unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks, some landing and some blocked, though considering the poison, the playing field was nearly level. Occasionally, I surprised him, but not often enough.

Orin retaliated, his movements fluid and precise. We clashed and circled each other, locked in a dangerous dance of violence. The room became a battleground, with shattered furniture and scattered debris bearing witness to our shared rage.

"Shall we consider this our wedding night, Wife?"

"You fucking talk too much," I spat, wiping blood from the corner of my mouth.

I threw a fist into his face. He kicked my thigh. Each blow landed with bone-crushing force, but neither was willing to yield, stubbornness and anger driving us beyond reason.

He'd taken me. He'd fooled me. He'd stood at the back of that temple and ruined everything. He'd made a choice when I had none at all. There was nothing in me that could care anymore. I'd tried that. I'd relented to my father on the mere chance of having someone give a shit about me. Someone forced to remain on this side of the mirror.

He paused as new fury swelled within me. As every single piece of life as I'd known it fell to the floor with my realization that I had nowhere to go. My father had disowned and stripped me of my title in front of the whole court.

"You giving up already, Nightmare?" Orin held a fist in front of his face like a true fighter, ready to block as he bounced on his toes.

I was done. Done with everyone and everything, but especially that smug grin as I stalked forward, hauled back, and threw all my emotions into one solid punch that sent him flying backward and crumpling to the floor.

"Nightmare, huh? Sweet dreams, asshole."

Setting the edge of my dagger in the hollow of his throat, I let my eyes drink in his brutally handsome face. I should have watched for a breath, the rise and fall of a rib cage, anything that might indicate I hadn't already killed him, but as strange voices called up the stairs beyond the doorway, there was no time. And despite my fury, I couldn't find it in me to press the blade home.

I took a second to glance around the room, taking in the destruction we'd wrought before grabbing the damn lamp and sending it through the floor-length windows across from the bed, letting the glass shards scatter.

Securing Chaos to my thigh, I pressed my back against the wall, my breathing ragged, my heart pounding in my chest. I summoned every bit of anger, hurt, and resilience, allowing them to swirl within me, a storm of emotions that fueled my determination. Out of desperation alone, I launched myself toward the broken window, leaped over the threshold, crossed the balcony, and jumped over the railing.

The world blurred around me as I descended through the open air, gravity pulling me mercilessly towards the ground. There was no safety net, no comforting presence to catch my fall. I braced myself for impact, knowing it would be bone-rattling.

As the ground rushed up to meet me, I tucked into a protective roll, instinctively absorbing the force of the fall. Pain reverberated through my body, threatening to incapacitate me. But I gritted my teeth, refusing to surrender to the breathtaking agony.

I could be weak when I was alone and safe, and, though I didn't know when or where that would be, I limped away from Orin's prison, wondering if I'd just sealed my husband's fate, if that final strike had been his ultimate demise.