*Jayden had been stabbed.*
*Jayden had been stabbed.*
*Jayden had been stabbed.*
*Caesar was dead.*
*Shaun was dead.*
And it was all her fault. Mina had suspected that her uncle had been part of the Order for a while, but she had refused to believe it. After all, her parents fought against it, tried to destroy it even. But Hugo knew.
What happened was all her fault. If only she had not married Jayden. She had been selfish and had put her desires above everything else.
Her uncle, who she once loved, who had treated her with kindness, had changed after her parents died, and was not only selling bastards as slaves—a business he started with the money her father left her—but also brought the Necromancer into Athea. Into her home. And the only person who could stop him was injured. Or worse. No! Mina refused to believe Jayden was dead. But she could still see the moment the Necromancer stabbed Jayden in the back over and over again.
She was still being pushed down, down, down, into the cold, dark ground. She needed to inform Marty or Hugo of what the Order had done. But she had been buried alive. She could not breathe, and her lungs felt like they were on fire. It was worse than being locked in the pantry. At least she could breathe and move in the pantry. She tried to move her arms and push the hands away but couldn't. She was not scared of dying, but she didn't want to die like this.
She fought hard but knew it was not enough.
She thought of Hugo and Jayden and Ivy and everyone else, and wished, with all her heart, that they would defeat the Necromancer and the Order and live long, happy lives.
The skeleton hands kept pushing her down, deep down beneath the soil of Aylarra. Or so she thought. The ground opened, and she was pushed out of it back into the house. Skeletons were positioned around the Drawing Room while the undead wolf was guarding Duke Tedric, who was sitting in an armchair. He looked unwell, and blood was still coming out of his ears. Rosalyn was standing next to him, her face pale, blood dripping from her nose.
Mina coughed hard as she breathed heavily. Her ribs and stomach still ached with pain from the kicks she received from her uncle. She remained on the ground for long minutes, taking deep breaths, while scanning the Drawing Room.
Jayden and his ocxoas were no longer in the Drawing Room. Even Shaun and the white wolf were gone. On the ground, next to a pool of blood, were six iron collars. Mina hoped they had escaped. It did not matter what happened to her as long as Jayden was alive and far away as possible from Athea.
A group of five skeletons stood in front of the broken windows, scanning the garden and the streets—cries for help could be heard all around Athea.
Mina was still coughing and taking deep breaths when the Necromancer got on his hunches in front of her with an iron mask between his palms—on the inside, along the border, it had spikes. "When I first learned about your kind, I knew I would stop at nothing to have one as a guest in my tower. Too bad King Stig wants you for more… entertaining things," he said and put the mask on her face.
Pain followed as metal spikes entered her skin. She tried to remove it, but no matter how hard she pulled, the mask stuck to her face like second skin.
Mina cried out in pain and frustration. She opened her mouth to ask the Necromancer to take it off but couldn't utter a single word, no matter how hard she tried.
"What do you mean by her kind?" Rosalyn asked before covering her nose with a handkerchief.
The Necromancer kept his cold eyes on Mina. "Her voice has magic. It is magic. The iron mask will prevent her from speaking. Who knows what her Crystal Voice is capable of?"
She had magic?
Hugo has always told her how beautiful her voice was, but it was impossible for her to have magic, for she had no mana. All mages had mana, which was channeled into spells. So how could she have magic?
Rosalyn snorted softly. "How can a half-breed like her have magic?"
The Necromancer looked at Rosalyn. "The same way a conniving bitch like you has it—heritage." Rosalyn's face turned red. Then to Mina, he said, "King Stig will eventually grow bored of you. So will his men. And when that happens, maybe he will consider giving you to me. I want to discover what your voice can do. Too bad your heart has been awakened, but there are ways to break it.” He stood, grabbed Mina's arm, and forced her to her feet. "I am looking forward to the day I get to test your voice. Maybe I should convince King Stig that you are more useful in my tower than on your knees, but since you cost me my new pets, I think half a year in King Stig's castle will be enough to break you."
The Necromancer started walking towards the door dragging Mina after him. She fought him, trying to free herself from his grip, but he was much stronger than she was. He stopped in the doorframe and looked at Rosalyn. "Do not think I have forgotten your role in the escape of the ocxoas. You will spend the night in the Pit!"
Rosalyn turned translucent. "I am the Queen of Nodor. You don't order me around!"
The Necromancer sneered. "You are the queen of nothing! By nightfall, Athea will fall! The Order is the one that rules Nodor now. You will do as you are told, or else I will put a spell on you and make a puppet out of you. And it won't be as weak and pathetic as the magic you have used on King Liam to make him think he is in love with you," he said before continuing walking.
Before the Necromancer got her out of the Drawing Room, Mina turned her head and looked at Rosalyn. The Queen of Nodor was shaking with rage, more blood dripping out of her nose.
A carriage with four undead horses was in front of the house. The coachman's head sat at a strange angle, and part of his jaw was missing. Skeletons wearing armor or undead warriors were dragging families from their homes out into the streets and putting collars around their necks. Some men fought but were easily overpowered by the undead warriors.
Black smoke was coming from the direction of the port, and demons with wings similar to those of bats flew above Athea.
The Necromancer took Mina to the carriage and opened the door. He was about to push her in when she felt as if her soul was being torn out of her while thousands of knives stabbed her heart. She screamed in agony, her vision became blurry, and she fell to her knees. Pain, like she had never felt before, rippled through her. And then she felt that her left breast was on fire, and that fire soon spread all around her body. She was screaming and sobbing for what seemed a long time while the Necromancer looked at her with a satisfied expression.
Mina was still crying when a demon landed next to them and bowed his head. "I managed to track down the wolves, but they refused to surrender and fought back and died."
Mina's heart shattered, and something fundamental inside her broke. She stopped making any sounds and just stared at the demon, memorizing each grotesque feature he had. One day, she would kill him. Just the way he killed her mate.
"What about the Topaz of Power?" asked the Necromancer.
The demon gave the Necromancer the topaz Jayden received in the Crystal Cave.
"Excellent!" said the Necromancer and put the gem in a pocket.
The demon flew off, and when the Necromancer shoved Mina into the carriage, she did not protest. She sat on the cushioned bench and looked out the window at how the people of Athea were being forced into becoming slaves or were killed on the spot. Dark clouds gathered in the sky as the carriage started moving. The previous day she would have mourned the dead and tried to find a way to fight. But she simply did not care. If anything, she was glad those who once mocked her were being slaughtered together with their families. And one day, she promised herself, she would not only kill all those that made her suffer but have all of Athea bow before her.
Mina knew she should feel grief or pain or anger or something. But she felt nothing. It was better that way, for she would have no pity for those that helped the Necromancer get out of his tower. Especially Aksel. She considered him a friend. He was Jayden's right hand, and he betrayed everyone.
The carriage passed next to the Royal Palace—Royal Guards hung dead from the guard tower. She knew many of them, but her heart was as cold as the mask that covered her face. Screams and shouts came from inside the palace. Demons stood on the battlement and watched how chaos and terror and the undead took hold of Athea.
As the carriage moved forward, Mina's only wish was that Nolan was safe. He was the only one she did not hate—him and the bastards. But she was not scared for them, for she knew they could use the sewers to escape the city.
Lord Ferry and a group of twenty militia were fighting close to the South-East Gate. The carriage passed by them, and Mina's eyes locked with those of Lord Ferry. She was sure he would not recognize her with the mask on, but he shouted something to his men right before two undead knights cut in half five militia men.
When the carriage was out of Athea, Mina's eyelids felt heavy. She refused to sleep, but the more she fought against it, the sleepier she felt. She was sure the Necromancer had put a spell on her. The last thing she saw before falling into a deep sleep was a magic barrier forming around Athea, trapping everyone inside.
***
A pale moon rose above a castle built on a peak of the tallest mountain in the Kingdom of Litus. A big rookery was on the top of the castle, home to an eagle as big as a wyvern. A special saddle that could accommodate two people was on the eagle's back, and he circled above the castle a few times before heading to a nearby cliff, where a carriage pulled by four undead horses waited together with a tall warrior. He opened the carriage door and took out the sleeping woman before going to the dark brown eagle. He secured the woman in the saddle before getting behind her, and the eagle took them to the castle.
The warrior took the woman out of the saddle and quickly descended the spiral staircase that led to the royal rooms. The castle was quiet when the warrior knocked on a door before opening it. King Stig was sitting at his desk, writing on a parchment, when the warrior entered. His quill paused as he lifted his head, his gaze lingering on Mina for a moment before resuming writing.
"Put her on top of the bed and call the Dark Mage. I want that hideous mask removed!" King Stig said.
The warrior left, and King Stig wrote a few more runes before sighing in annoyance and putting the quill next to the parchment. He went to the window, looked outside, and waited for the Dark Mage. Around two thousand feet bellow the castle, the capital of the Litus Kingdom, Baltso, was built.
"Your Highness, you summoned me?" the Dark Mage asked when he entered the Royal Rooms.
The King kept gazing out the window. "Remove that bloody mask from her face. And heal her."
The Dark Mage walked to the bed and studied Mina for a while. Runes decorated the iron mask, and the mage was quiet as he read them. His brow furrowed. "King Stig, if I remove it, she can use her magic to harm you."
"I won't repeat myself," King Stig said, his voice stern.
The Dark Mage removed the mask, healed Mina's wounds, and retreated.
King Stig kept his eyes on the little town built at the base of the mountain before returning to his desk. He opened a drawer and took out a magical iron bracelet, and before he put it around Mina's left wrist, he studied the yellow and pink bracelet she wore. He appeared to be lost in thought as he sat in his chair, sealed the written parchment, and took an empty one from a pile before picking up his quill. "Tell the maid to bring food and wine," he said to the warrior waiting next to the door.
Mina woke up in an unfamiliar room. She sat on the bed and wondered how she got there when her gaze fell on a warrior guarding the door. He looked at her but said nothing. An eagle was embroidered on the left shoulder of his brown tunic—King Stig's family crest—and Mina knew she was in his castle. To be a whore for his men. She would rather die than let another man that wasn't Jayden touch her.
The numbness she felt before was gone. Anger rose inside her like lava in a volcano as she remembered everything—Caesar and Shaun dead, the Necromancer in her house, Aksel a traitor, and then the agonizing pain she felt when Jayden was killed.
She would have her revenge. One way or another.
Her voice had magic, or at least that's what the Necromancer said. But he put a mask on her face. It did not matter. She would rip it out along with her flesh if she had to. She took her hands to her cheeks and blinked, confused as she only felt skin beneath her fingers. The mask was gone. Good. Then no one and nothing could stop her from returning to Nodor.
She stood and was about to march out of the room when she heard a voice coming from her left.
"Minerva."
She turned to face the man who called her, and when her eyes met his, she gasped loudly. Except for some silver in his black hair and being around fifty years old, he looked identical to Jayden—same blue eyes and facial features.
Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at King Stig. The same pain she felt when she felt Jayden dying still rippled through her. She wasn't sure if the pain would ever stop. "You are Jayden's father?"
Her throat felt dry, and her voice was raspy. She wondered how long she had been asleep for.
King Stig was sitting at a small round table—a roasted pheasant and potatoes and a decanter of wine sat in the middle—and he motioned for Mina to join him. "You mean Commander Jayden? The one that defeated Kaj and won the war? Then no, I am not his father."
Mina straightened her back. She had in front of her the man that wanted to conquer Nodor. And purchased her from her uncle. And she had no iron mask on her face. While she did not understand how her magic worked, she remembered her shrieks harmed not only her uncle and Rosalyn but also the Necromancer. She would practice her magic on King Stig and his men.
"But I think he is my second cousin's son."