Page 62 of Awakening the Dark Throne
“Maybe. I just hate asking the dark alfar for anything.”
“I know, but they’re a means to an end. Nothing more. You have the larger kingdom and more people to protect. Your burden is heavy.” I let a few moments pass, trying to make the progression of thought sound natural. “Whatever happened to Otar? Did you ever find anything useful?”
He shook his head. “No, his anatomy is interesting, but we still don’t know anything about him. Where he comes from, what he is, or who he was working for.”
“So, what happened to his body?”
“He’s still here,” he answered. I felt my heart leap for joy. I wanted to smile, but I kept my expressions on lockdown.
“Here, in the castle?”
“Yes. We keep him below in one of the labs where the alfar can continue to study him and the other things we catch.” Gaelin turned then to look at me. His eyes filling with questioning. “Why are you so interested in the monsters all of the sudden?”
Without hesitation I answered with confidence. I had prepared for this. “Well, if there’s a war coming, I want to know what monsters we’ll have to face. Is that so hard to believe?”
“No, but with you, I never know where that beautiful head of yours is.”
I grinned at him, nudging my shoulder into his. “So is the place where you keep their bodies under the servant’s quarters?”
“Yes. It’s not a secret. Most of the alfar don’t want to be bothered by the things we catch. They’d rather act like everything is normal and their way of life isn’t at risk.”
I nodded, letting the subject drop before he got much more suspicious of my questions. Tonight, I would find the labs and find Otar. I would raise him, and I would have my revenge.
Chapter 23
Iwas able to snap Gaelin out of his depression only for a moment before it was time for us to attend dinner. As soon as we entered the hall, the king’s gaze locked onto me, and I felt Gaelin’s small ounce of happiness dissipate into thin air. He glanced at me from the side before taking his seat next to his wife. I moved to the wall, taking a pitcher of wine.
That night, the king took me again. I was still sore and bruised from this afternoon's encounter with him, but my mind went into survival mode, focusing on anything besides what was happening to my body. This time I focused on Erendrial’s imprint. I thought of the black marking and compared it to the one I would soon be giving myself.
He had told me that his marking appeared magically. When the dark alfar took a wife that the imprint would appear on them as well. There was no hollow needle or ink involved. I wondered if the mark I would have to make on my own skin would hurt. Hell, I didn’t care. I would probably die because of this crazy plan I had concocted, but it would be worth it to watch the life fade out of the king’s eyes—to watch his blood saturate his perfectly white robe. It was worth any price.
The king kept me around a little longer than normal that night. He continued to call me darling Genevieve. Genevieve darling. Darling Gen. I hated the sound of my name on his lips. I wanted to rip his tongue out with my fingers and make him choke on it.
Finally, he released me. I went to the linen closet where I had stored a bag that contained the hollow point needle, the black ink, the iron chains, and the apophyllite dagger Levos had given me before dinner. I wasn’t as beaten this time around, which made it easier for me to move throughout the halls. I made my way down the castle, past the main hall, past the servant’s level, and into the basement. It took me an hour of roaming before I found the place they were keeping the creatures.
The whole area smelled of blood and decaying flesh. The lab was underground, which allowed no natural light or fresh air to enter the space. They must have dug into the mountain to create this place. The walls were made of natural stone and felt damp to the touch. The only light was the candle I had with me, which didn’t provide much comfort.
I peeked through the bars into the first room. A small, child-sized creature lay dead on a wooden table. Its chest was cut in two, held apart by two hooks. The thing had no skin on its bones. Only raw muscles and tendons were visible. It didn’t have the face of a human either. It had two large black bug-like eyes that protruded from its head. Three holes where a nose should have been and a large slit for a mouth that stretched from ear to ear. I looked away, feeling sick just by the sight of the thing.
The next room that I peeked into had a winged creature displayed on the wall. It had a long beak for a snout, six arms, and five red eyes on its forehead. I continued, seeing creatures of all different forms, dissected for study to understand their origin better. Knowing these things were lurking out in the woods made my skin crawl. Gaelin was right to feel overwhelmed. Not only was he facing an unknown enemy, but there was no known way of stopping them from coming.
I opened a door to the room that contained Otar’s body. Taking a deep breath, I stepped inside, shutting the door behind me. I used my candle to light the sticks around the room, illuminating the space and Otar’s corpse. I moved in closer, looking at the thing that would deliver me from hell.
He was uglier than the images I had seen in my head. His skin was wrinkly and black like oil. His nose was long and beaked like a bird. He had thin, wrinkly lips and long fingers with shiny black talons. His body was long and gangly, thin, and sickly looking. He had no hair anywhere that I saw. A brand was burned in the left side of his chest, in the shape of a rune I had seen in one of Levos’s books. I didn’t know what it meant or stood for, but I made a mental note to look into it.
One last time, I weighed the options of what I was about to do. This was a creature from an unknown world. I didn’t know what it was capable of, or if this would work. It could kill me in a second, kill Levos and Madison. I stepped back, hesitant to continue. I breathed in, feeling my chest rise and fall. My insides cramped from the pain I had just endured under the king. No, this was worth it. It was worth any risk.
I took a deep breath, placing the candle down next to me as I remembered doing in my vision. I took the hollow point needle and dipped it into the ink and began to mark my left wrist. It stung as blood dripped from my skin, but it was bearable. When the imprint resembled the sigil I saw in my vision, I stopped and waited for it to heal. The ink remained. I smiled.
I slit my right palm, holding it over the creature’s mouth. I wrapped the iron chains around his neck, wrists, and ankles, anchoring them to the wall of the lab room. Once I was certain he wasn’t getting away, I pulled the apophyllite dagger from the bag and picked up the candle. I took a deep breath and let the candle fall onto Otar’s body. The skin of the creature caught like oil, spreading a devouring his entire form. I stepped back against the wall, shielding myself from the flames.
The fire spread, turning his skin to black ash. His form was still visible, but he was charred to a crisp. I sat against the wall, waiting to see if he would be reborn like my vision had shown me. After forty minutes of waiting, his hand moved, shaking off the old ash to reveal smooth, shining, new black skin. I stood to my feet, holding the dagger in my right hand, readying myself for anything.
Otar sat up, shaking from side to side like a dog. His eyes were a brighter shade of yellow than I recalled. His teeth were white as ivory. The talons at the end of his fingers retracted in and out as if he were flexing a muscle. He took a deep breath, tilting his head to the ceiling. He slowly brought his head down, closing his eyes as he began to purr.
“And who do I owe the thanks for this new body?” he said in a deep, hellish voice. He snapped his head to the side in a predatory motion towards me. His eyes expanded as he assessed his savior.
“My name is Genevieve Autumn. I resurrected you,” I said in a shaky tone.
