124

124
Ashley's POV

As these thoughts filled my mind, I took a deep breath as I started trying my best to get out of here. I needed one powerful burst of energy - just one and I would be out of here entirely. It was that simple, if only I could achieve it. I needed to be able to suppress the fire around me long enough to get out of its range, because as powerful as the formation was, it couldn't be everywhere and definitely couldn't be everywhere at once. As long as I made that crucial move and I did it with the entirety of my powers, then I would succeed in breaking out of this cage of fire.

However, I heard the voice now. "Did you really think?" it started, my eyes widening in shock. Well, I had thought that he wouldn't notice me trying to escape since he was so focused. But naturally, the formation triggered him and made him aware of the current circumstances surrounding me.

"Do you think that you could steal the children from me so easily?" his voice boomed and I could hear the fire in them. For all I knew, he was already getting ready to add more fuel to this fire with his own powers and then, if that actually happened, I would be completely unable to get out by myself.

I wanted to beg for mercy. I had screwed up - I had taken the wrong bet and now I was losing, but I couldn't bring the words to come to my mouth, not anymore. Begging was not going to help. I had tried it before and I was tired of it. I was tired of being at his mercy. If anything, I wanted to fight him. Fight him now. I had the children with me after all, so I might actually succeed.

The fire around me was still burning bright. I could already envision it burning brighter. I was driving my energy around myself quickly when I heard his voice sounding a little surprised.

"You actually managed to take the children with you into that fire," his voice sounded. I then knew that the trap was supposed to get to me before I could grab the children, and I wasn't supposed to be safe with them now.

I didn't know what to really tell him. I thought about it for a moment before responding, "Yes, that was me," I said, before starting to wonder whether I had made a mistake by letting him have that piece of information.

There was silence for a while. "Well, pretty good on your part. Pretty good move," his voice sounded again. I didn't say anything to his praise because I knew that he could be deceptive for all I knew.

Then, when he spoke next, I found myself wondering about his penchant for propositions and deals, and why he would make a deal with me when he would still get what he wanted without making the deal anyway.

"Give me the children and I will let you off this one," he said. "Just pass them through the fire and I will let you off."

I thought about it for a while, frowning. He wanted me to give the children to him and then he would let me up. Could I do that? I wondered, did I trust him to not punish me or torture the children for my crimes? No, I didn't trust him. He was the last person I would ever trust again in my life and I was saying a lot.

I took in a deep breath as I made up my mind and spoke to him. "I don't trust you. You won't do what you said you'd do," I accused him before saying the real thing that I had in my mind. "No, I'm not going to give them to you," I said once again.

There was a silence. "Just give me one," he said, "and you know that I need to hurry up. If this is going to work out, give me one and I will let you off. I promise."

I didn't know what to make of it. I hated his words, hated his promises, but it was a little feasible and I didn't know that I wouldn't regret not taking this opportunity. He would literally give me a way out. He was supposed to punish me for everything that I did to sabotage his mission and this was definitely one of them, but he was giving me a way of escaping punishment right now.

Should I ignore it like I wanted to, just because I didn't trust him? I finally made up my mind - okay, if I could get out of this without much trouble after making the wrong decision, if I didn't have to pay the price for gambling wrong, then I'd take it. There was an opportunity.

I solemnly used my energy to cover one of the children before passing her out. There was some fire burning that I knew that I would really need to charge myself sooner or later because we were not seen to be within which anytime from now and medical happen suddenly which was the worst time.

The fire all around me died down after that, and that was very surprising because the moment I had passed the child just now over to him, I had suddenly felt a twisting knot in my stomach like I had made the biggest mistake of my life. He could literally increase the fire then and burn me and the others down to death if he wanted - that was what I had been expecting for a while there, but when he didn't, I felt incredibly relieved.

He was speaking to me now, his voice cold and rigid. "You took a big risk there," he said, "and I would have killed you if I wanted to. You are very lucky that I'm still interested in making you my sex slave," he continued, smiling at me. "I forgive you this one time but I really need to warn you once again," he said before taking a step further.

"I'm going to absolutely kill you if you continue with interrupting me and continue trying to sabotage my plans. Just accept your fate already and give it up - that's the only way you are going to survive. Not to worry, all your people are going to die too once I hand the children over to Malakai, so you should consider yourself lucky that I'm saving you," he said, chuckling a little.

I found his words insane. He was pretty much out of his mind if he thought that taking me over to be his sex slave was saving me. He wasn't saving me - he was using me, manipulating me to his own advantage and completely for his pleasure. I was no one's slave. I wanted my freedom, but he was claiming that I was privileged to be the one that he was kidnapping right now.

He was claiming that my people would lose. Well, when I thought about it, they might actually lose if the children got to Malakai. With that thought, the wrench in my stomach intensified. It would be all my fault then if they got to Malakai. How would I even be able to live with myself, slave or free? I would feel terrible enough to die because I had literally made a mistake that degraded me into a slave and also killed off all my people entirely.

If my name went down in history, I would be a major villain and I would be a very foolish person that everybody would look down on, someone that everybody would hate, and even in the afterlife, I would still be regretting and still be facing the punishment.

He frowned at me. "What's wrong?" he asked me. At least this time he couldn't see into my thoughts and assume what I was thinking successfully. I didn't tell him anything - I didn't have to. With the worry in my mind, all I could do was to keep quiet and try to calm myself down.

I couldn't let this happen. I was happy to have been let off. But if he thought that I was going to stop trying to sabotage him, then he was absolutely wrong. I would not stop. Not when the consequences were not just death of the children, but death of myself and my people also. One mistake I had made was going to affect an entire community - that was, of course, unless I could rectify it. So I was going to do my best.