A Queen Among Blood: Chapter Sixty-Five - Yildiz

A Queen Among Blood: Chapter Sixty-Five - Yildiz
As I make my way down to the cells that reside deep under the Kartheca, I can already hear the voices of my sisters deep within the earthly confines. I take my final step and begin walking down the corridor when the sound of someone’s approaching footsteps gain my attention.

“Let me the fuck out of here!” screams the inhabitant of the cell to my right. I stop and turn to face the dim lime-green aura with its faded olive-green hue now standing before me.

“I see the concept of a life sentence still confuses you,” I say casually.

“I’m an Alpha! Who the fuck do you think you are to treat me like this?” he says as I hear the sound of him hocking up phlegm. I tilt my head to the left just as I hear the wad of phlegm fly past me and hit the wall behind me. That is beyond disgusting.

“You were an Alpha and a despicable one at that. Ivan, allow me to remind you that you lost your title the moment you were brought into our custody and a new Alpha was appointed of your pack. Not only are you not an Alpha anymore, but thanks to the cell you’re in you’re not even a mutolupus anymore, so you can spit and cuss to your heart’s content but it changes nothing,” I say impassively.

“I should have killed the little cunt when I had the chance. Maybe even gone a few rounds with her first. Ruin her for that wimpy Delta. Bet he’d have never wanted a bar of her after I’d had my way with her,” he taunts. And there goes my calm.

I reach through the bars and grab him by the neck slamming his head into the bars with minimal effort. I hear the cracking sound when his skull connects with the silver bars and it’s not long before the scent of blood makes its way to my nostrils. I hold him in place keeping him pressed against the bars as he begins screaming in pain, the smell of burning flesh now overpowering the scent of blood.

“That is the Empress and Emperor of the nagata that you dare show such disrespect to. People as good-hearted as them do not belong on the lips of people as vile as you. For your crimes against the Empress and your crimes against your own kind, you will rot in this cell until the passage of time does away with you. If you wish for that remaining time to be as humane as we allow then I would learn to hold your tongue. You have no power here. No little girls for you to abuse for your own amusement. In here you are no more than an ant. So if you wish to avoid being stepped on like the bug you are, learn to behave,” I say threateningly. I can tolerate many things, but people like him who abuse people in the abhorrent ways he did make me sick to my stomach.

I let him drop to the ground and watch him crawl away from the bars. Pathetic. Oh sure, he’s strong when he’s abusing children, but put him against someone who can actually take him and he runs with his tail between his legs. He brings shame to his kind and his creator. I leave him in his cell without another word and follow the sounds of my sisters and some intense arguing. Soon my vision is filled with many bright auras, but it’s one, in particular, I’m looking for. I do a quick scan and soon I see the pure-vibrant French violet aura of Isolde as she sits in her cell. Last I saw her, her aura was radiant, but now it doesn’t even have a fraction of its radiance.

“You said yourself her crimes come with a death sentence, why waste time having her sitting in a cell when you could just execute her now and be done with her? Let the families who have suffered finally get some closure,” Arthwin shouts in exasperation.

“You think us killing her will bring them closure? You think snuffing out her life will miraculously erase their pain? I’m sorry to tell you, but that’s not how grief works. Might it give them a sense of justice? Absolutely, but closure? Rarely. Arthwin, ending her life won’t bring the peace you think it will,” explains Defne calmly.

I would have said the same thing. Revenge doesn’t bring closure. People think it does. They think if they get their pound of flesh that it’ll make all their pain go away, but what they tend to realise is that once the revenge is gone, all you’re left with is pain. An all-consuming pain that can cripple even the strongest person. Revenge is a fine distraction, but distractions don’t last forever. Just look at me and Oshmin. Oshmin spent eons trying to distract himself from his problems, but it only made them worse. I even temporarily ran from my problems but knew I’d have to face them eventually. True closure only comes from facing your troubles, accepting them and learning to move on. Easier said than done, of course.

“I don’t expect you to understand, she hasn’t devastated your species,” he says bitingly. The silence followed by his words is deafening.

“Nuray is dead because of her,” Elif says in a low voice, “And Ece nearly joined her, so don’t you dare say we don’t know how it feels or that we haven’t been devastated by her actions. Unlike you, we’ve actually lost family, but that doesn’t mean we’re about to turn into blood-thirsty savages. If you can’t put your personal feelings aside then leave,” she says icily.

I walk over and lay a hand on Elif’s shoulder, “I’m afraid he can’t leave yet. I need him.”

“What…” he clears his throat, “What for?” I guess Elif’s words knocked a little sense into him.

“I would like you to scan Isolde. Check to see if she’s under the influence of any magic,” I say.

“What the hell for?” he asks in confusion.

“Yildiz and I have reason to suspect Isolde isn’t as guilty as we’ve been led to believe,” interjects Makbule, stepping forward and pushing between our sisters. No wonder I didn’t see her.

“She confessed, and each of us only felt the truth,” Bike argues.

“As Yildiz pointed out if she’s under the influence of magic then, of course, we’d detect the truth because she herself would believe it,” says Makbule calmly.

“This is just ridiculous. This is worse than Arthwin wanting to push her execution,” scoffs Dilara, “We know she’s guilty.”

“Do we? Because Makbule and I aren’t one hundred per cent certain on that.”

“Do you want me to grab the endless eyewitness testimonies we have filed?” Dilara asks rhetorically.

“Sure, I would be more than happy to go over them,” I say brightly.

“Oh for Goddess sake.” I can practically hear the eye roll.

I push past my sisters and unlock Isolde’s cell much to my sister’s protests. I walk over and kneel in front of her, but she doesn’t move.

“Isolde? Pourquoi?” I gently ask.

Slowly she lifts her head, and in a soft and tired French voice, she answers me, “I did it. I killed every single one of them. Every crime I’m accused of, I’m guilty.” Her words are hollow. While they ring true, there is no emotion in them. She sounds like she’s on autopilot.

“See? What more do you want? Her confession in blood?” Dilara says sarcastically.

“What I want is Arthwin to scan her already,” I say pointedly.

After a moment I hear Arthwin’s angry intake of breath, but he enters the cell all the same. I watch as the French violet of his aura intensifies, travelling down his arms and spreading all around Isolde like a soft blanket moving around her. Soon it is pulled back into him and I rise to my feet awaiting his report.

“Nothing. She’s completely clean. There are no spells or curses on her whatsoever. She is just a crazy bitch confessing because she got caught,” he snaps venomously. I frown in confusion. Something in my gut is still not able to believe what’s happening.

“I’m sorry, Yildiz. But her confession is solid. The evidence against her is solid. We’re going through with the execution,” Defne says sadly.

“Then let’s put it to a vote,” suggests Makbule.

“We don’t need to,” chimes in Ekin, “The majority of us are already all for pushing for a quick execution. That should already tell you, you don’t have the votes to call for a stay of execution. She’s gone unpunished for enough centuries, it’s time we let this come to an end,” she finishes confidently.

One by one my sisters leave along with Arthwin, leaving only Makbule and me alone with Isolde. I look down at Isolde only for my frown to deepen as I realise her aura has dimmed a little more since I arrived. I lean down and feel for cuffs, but her wrists and ankles are entirely exposed.

“Is there nuummite on her anywhere?” I ask Makbule.

“No. There was when she was apprehended, but now there’s only what’s embedded in the cell.”

As I try to think of what I could be missing that’s when I notice Isolde’s heart rate is beating unusually fast. “Do you hear that?”

Makbule is quiet for a moment, but then slowly walks closer, “If her heart beats any faster she’ll go into cardiac arrest,” she says with concern. I feel like the gears in my head are finally turning and an idea is coming to mind.

I grab Isolde by the shoulders, “Did you fight back?” I ask her, but she says nothing. I give her a slight shake, “When they came to arrest you, did you fight back?” I ask more forcefully, but again she says nothing.

“According to the report, she went with them willingly. And before you ask, yes, I found that extremely odd,” says Makbule, “I can’t understand why she wouldn’t even try to defend herself,” she reflects in confusion.

“What if she couldn’t…”

“What?”

“What if she is under the influence?” I say, turning to my sister.

“Arthwin already scanned her–”

“For magic, not hemlock. No makkari can detect hemlock, it’s immune to their magic. If Isolde was poisoned with hemlock it would suppress her magic, make her extremely suggestible and…”

“Would cause the increased heart rate. If she’s been poisoned with hemlock it’ll burn through her system. It kills within forty-eight hours,” she says in alarm.

“So we need to test her blood, and since we don’t know when she may have been infected, we don’t know how long she may have left.”

“I’m on it,” Makbule says as she sprints out of the cell at top speed.

I lay the back of my hand against Isolde’s forehead and sure enough, she’s burning up. I squat down and cup Isolde’s face in my hands, “If you can hear me, I need you to keep fighting. I believe you’re innocent and if I’m right, then I need you to fight this poison. If I can prove to my sisters you were poisoned it’ll be enough to make them hesitate, so if you’re in there, don’t you dare give up. I’m sorry we gave up on you. I’m sorry that we believed the lies. Makbule and I believe now we were wrong, and we want to prove your innocence, but you need to be alive to do that, okay? I know you’re probably tired, and have been fighting for years, but if there is anything to hang onto, then I’m begging you to hold on tight and don’t let go. Don’t give up yet,” I say, trying to keep her will going.

I’ve seen people survive on sheer willpower alone, and if she’s lasted this long in a world that hated her then I know she has a will of iron. She just needs a reason to keep fighting. I just hope that even with time ticking against us, fate is on our side.