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I could tell he was covering my scalp with a mop of hair so he wouldn’t have to keep looking at the nicked and bruised bald head I had now. But when he stepped back to inspect me after he was finished, he sighed and shook his head. “No, you’re right. I should probably make you a male.” And he spun his digit again, giving me another makeover.
“There.” Satisfied with his accomplishment, he smiled and nodded. “Now…” He glanced around the room. “How the fuck do we cart you out of here? I can’t imagine you can walk, can you?” When I didn’t even try to move, he sighed. “No, I didn’t think you could. Damn.”
I passed out for a while, letting him figure out how to sneak me from Everett’s dungeon. The last thing I remembered thinking was that he’d probably just leave me here to die. My body was too broken and worthless to bother with, anyway. But he must’ve had his heart set on starting that new race of evil Graykey babies because when I drifted back into consciousness again, I found myself wrapped and mummified in an old worn rug and tied to these poles that kept me upright on a wooden platform with wheels connected to it.
Son of a bitch, I realized dazedly. In his desperation, Qualmer had rigged up what looked like a medieval-type dolly. I’d seen them on Earth but never here. It was actually interesting what kinds of inventions were bred from such determination.
And I must have a mad fever right now to even be intrigued by such a notion. I should be thinking about escape, survival, and finding out for sure what had happened to Indigo.
Indigo.
A breath hissed from my lungs. Grief flooded my system and my eyes filled with tears.
God, I missed him. But realistically, I knew he couldn’t still be alive.
I could sure go for a dose of his irritating optimism right about now, though. Except, I couldn’t even bother with wishing for survival. My body seemed to have gone numb with pain. I barely felt anything anymore. And my thoughts…
They were beginning to follow the same path, ideas blurring in my head, becoming duller and darker. The prospect of dying didn’t even scare me.
I blinked around the room as Qualmer snapped his fingers, and the guards who I thought had entered with him—but actually had never been there—popped back into reality while he transformed back into King Tomrick.
Damn, that was surprisingly smart. Faking a dozen armed guards to surround yourself with in order to keep people intimidated and held back? Maybe he wasn’t quite as stupid as I always took him for.
Positioning himself behind me, he grabbed the handrails of my dolly and began to wheel me toward the door. As we rolled past the rotting corpses of Everett and Afton, Qualmer leaned in close behind me and murmured, “Want to know another reason why I’m so excited to get you in my possession?”
I blinked, trying to stay conscious as we entered a hall and started down the stone floor to a stairwell. It took him some effort to hobble the wheels up each step, but his glamouring was impressive; he somehow made it look like two men—the king and his personal guard—were strolling up them side by side.
“Because of my mother,” he finally added, murmuring in my ear when we reached the top of the steps. “Melaina always did have a soft spot for you, hiding you away as her servant like she did for all those years after the tenth reaping, then sending you off for good when she interrupted me that one time I was just trying to have a little fun. She probably still keeps tabs on you now, doesn’t she?”
He paused his talking to straighten and shout, “Make way for the King of Lowden,” as we passed through an archway that led outside into a courtyard filled with people milling about, shoeing horses, shoveling hay, training with swords. But they all straightened respectfully as he and I and his entourage of fake guards marched right past them.
The man had guts; I’d give him that. I never would’ve had the courage to attempt such a deceitful show in front of so many people, too worried my charade would be discovered.
Yet no one questioned it. One Graykey was wheeling another half-dead Graykey right through their midst, and no one had a clue.
“Tell me,” Qualmer whispered in my ear as we started toward what looked like a
dozen waiting horses and a royal carriage but was probably only one or two horses. “Have you seen the bitch lately? Yeah, I bet you have. And that’s also why I’m keeping you.”
He unstrapped me from the dolly and hauled me into the carriage, my feet dragging along the ground as I slumped lifelessly over the arm he clamped around my middle, though I’m sure he made it look like something else entirely to everyone watching. Slamming the door behind us so we were alone in the carriage, he bumped his fist against the inside wall, and we began to move.
“You’re going to lead Melaina right to me,” he finally announced. “So I can have my revenge on Mommy dearest at last for taking my eye and trying to kill me. The last thing she’ll ever see is me, taking her worthless life.”
If I had been able to talk, I would’ve told him then that he’d never see his mother again. She was safe and sound on Earth, where he could never reach her. Never hurt her.
Through my split lip and ruined jaw that I feared would never work right again, I managed to smile. I had lost my true love and would probably lose my own life once Qualmer realized I couldn’t provide him with Graykey babies—if not sooner. But at least Melaina was safe.
Chapter 37
Indigo
With a pounding headache, I opened my eyes.
At least there wasn’t another pile of horse dung in front of my face this time.
That was my first thought, but I wasn’t immediately sure why I thought it. A sense of déjà vu washed over me. Like I’d done this before. Woken in pain, not sure where I was, or what day it was, or what I’d even been doing.
“What the…?” I lifted a weak hand to the ache on the side of my head and winced when I encountered a bandage covering my temple. “Motherfucker.”
