Ari’s pain.
Shetorturedmy man.
“Fucking bitch!” I scream as I storm forward.
Claw her eyes out. Rip at her hair. Scratch her skin until she bleeds. Leaping across the water, I hope to reach her face. Fuck up her perfection.
But I freeze. Mid-air. Impossible to move. Struggling leads nowhere. Every muscle I activate just burns as it is controlled. This realm has its own rules.
The Queen’s smile melts away.
“You’re an animal, like the rest,” she says, her sweet tone evaporated. “I tame animals like you, break them. I reshape them.”
I try to activate my throat to respond, but it won’t budge. I can only breathe. The Queen regains her honeyed voice as she glides around me.
“I know what you’re thinking, sweet child. ‘Oh, but you tortured my Ari.’ Such a cocky slave.”
She strokes my cheek. Every instinct tells me to pull back from her touch, but I’m immobilized. Stuck in stone. The Queen continues.
“Ari is not yours to keep. He is mine. You have no idea what such men cost to raise and train. It takes decades, my dear. He longs to return, you know…”
My heart stutters. Ari is not a free man… he’s a weapon. A bred weapon. I’ve been such a fool. Her claim coils around my mind like a snake. The Queen rolls her eyes. Like she’s tired of raising and training men for decades.
“What surprises me is that you agreed to help him. How did he make you do it? What did he tell you? He needed to save someone? Family, perhaps?”
She laughs viciously, like she enjoys tearing hearts apart.
“Let’s just say it wouldn’t be appropriate to be so… intimate… with family.”
Fucking bitch. Lying fucking bitch. More filth escapes her lips.
“I’m impressed by you, Kilda. I’m not going to lie. You have a certain presence. You defy your place again and again. It’s entertaining, yes, but also very useful. For me. Your free will was easier to control than my own puppet.”
Thyra. The Queen is talking about Thyra. The Valkyrie. The noblewoman. A grieving widow, puppeted. Thyra’s blank eyes flood my mind. Gods forgive me… I walked right into the Queen’s trap. Poor woman. Murdered by a foul curse.
“I wish you were a man,” she continues. “I would raise and train you too. As a Volva, you are way too impulsive for my use. Not to be trusted.”
I try to push my head from side to side. Back and forth. No chance. The Queen notices and leans in with a wicked smile, whispering in my ear.
“Ari will return to me now. To his home. To his lovers. It’s been a while since I enjoyed his… touch.”
A snarl runs through my body. The image of a lynx flashes in my mind. Not the calm, wise posture of the observant feline. The twisted face of the animal baring its teeth, threatening to kill. No more fear.
My head breaks free of its invisible chains. The Queen notices and hovers backward.
“You really are something,” she mutters.
I stare into her eyes, past her lavish smile.
“You’re fucking dead!” I growl.
Fuck decorum. This bitch will burn. I spit upward, hoping the angle will allow me to reach her. My spit lands square on her face, making her grimace. But she doesn’t pull back or flinch. She raises a hand and clenches it to a fist.
Pressure builds around my body. I might be crushed. I might choke. Her smile returns.
“Not if I kill you first,” she says as she pulls down her fist.
I descend. Dragged into the water. To the depths. Looking up I can see the Queen’s blurry shape, growing smaller and smaller the deeper I go.
