Chapter 27 - ROSA
814 Words
The Shadow is gone. I didn’t even have time to ask what Celeste’s story had to do with what’s happening in the Dreamscape now. Did it think the story would help me? I didn’t know. The most the story has done is confirm my belief that Eric is…
Celeste was planning to report him…
I push the thought away. It didn’t matter. Numerous Fairies before Celeste had tried the same thing. Myself included. Yet Eric is still around, plotting and planning, using the charges to fill his s******c appetite.
“And he will be here for a long time.” My skin crawls at the silky voice in the doorway. I look up to see the golden glow of his armour and sword. They light up his green eyes.
“Your thoughts are perhaps the most unguarded things in the universe.” He laughs. “No wonder Siren pounced on you like a lioness on her prey. You could use a bit of cunning and strategy.”
“Like you?” I can’t resist. If I could I would have punched his face. “Like a snake or a jackal?”
“This is indeed an odd way to treat someone who just saved your life.”
My skin crawls as he draws closer and closer. I see him lift his hand, see the tendrils of smoke curling around his fingers. A bolt of fear slashes through my mind. I know what he is here for. I know what he has been given authority to do.
“She’s allowed you to interrogate me, hasn’t she?” I ask.
“Oh, it’s more than that.” He chuckles. “I have been placed in charge of your Cleansing. Two days you are going to be with me, while I determine if the Ceremony will be too much for you.”
“That has never happened before.” I cry out. The possibility of him having that power over me makes me throw all caution to the winds. “Siren has never allowed any sort of delay-”
“Oh, she has this time.” Eric laughs. “And I believe, my dear, that you are not so dangerous as to be tied up like this. You will be taken to my mansion.” His green eyes glow. “Two days…You have two days to convince me not to end your pathetic life.”
The terror that grips me is so great that it takes quite an effort not to curl into a ball and whimper. I have seen what the Golden Guardian is capable of.
STOP! STOP! SHE CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!
Siren’s orders say otherwise, Rosa.
I don’t care!
Oh, you don’t care that Siren wants punishment befitting the crime?
She just spoke to a girl! I’m sure she just wanted to make a friend!
Make a friend? Next thing you will say that humans are our equals.
I’m pretty sure Siren only said to strip her of her magic and throw her out.
Oh…She allowed me to have my fun as long as I don’t go too far…
YOU HAVE GONE TOO FAR!
Have I?
A glint of a golden knife…The scream of a child as the word Traitor is carved over and over on her body. Clothes slashed…Blood soaking a tiny body…
“Having a walk down memory lane?” Eric says. “Now, imagine those things happening to you.”
I take a deep breath. “You are welcome to do to me whatever you want. I will die gladly rather than cower before someone like you.”
“Bravery in the face of fear. HOW. VERY. NOBLE.”
Chains made of smoke erupt from his raised hand. They wrap around me, squeezing me so tight that I can hardly breathe. A delicate-looking thread of smoke wraps around my mouth and chin.
“That’s better,” Eric says. “Now, I think you should have the first taste of what will happen the moment I get you into my mansion.”
The knife gleams in his hand. I writhe and wriggle as he brings it close to my cheek.
“What word would you like on your cheek?” He smiles.
My cheek burns in pain. My scream is caught in my mouth. I try to shut my eyes but Eric mutters something under his breath and my eyes are forced open.
“I am going to have a lot of fun with you.” He hisses in my ear. The knife twists in my cheek and I feel like he is writing an S.
- Writer
