Page 5 of A Cursed Heart
The wedding passed without issue, and in the weeks that followed, I listened to every move they made. I closed my eyes against seeing my niece in vulnerable positions. My job as her unwilling bodyguard meant I couldn’t afford to tune her out. More than once I’d heard stories of demons killing each other in intimate moments.
Sure enough, a pattern of violence emerged. Slowly, Delaris’ husband began chipping away at her self-esteem and then started harming her during sex. It began so subtly, it was impossible for me to catch it before it crossed a line. What if it was just rough sex that she had consented to? Did she like it when he slapped her a little? Sometimes people liked a little extra in their lovemaking. I didn’t know her, it was impossible for me to tell where I was needed!
Her husband was impatient, and that made him sloppy. Delaris, well, she was her father’s daughter. When she reached her limit, she fought back, killing him in the process. I did not even have time to leave my gem to help.
Oh, how Dagda raged at me for letting his daughter endure such suffering instead of intervening! He was livid with me. Could not understand how his terms were too open to interpretation. He would not hear my excuses. I had taken too much time to act.
Dagda removed all leniency he had provided and returned me to the concubine palace, effectively destroying any chance for me to redeem myself.
When I saw the battle scars Delaris wore after killing her husband, I did not blame him.
It took me a long time to come to terms with what had happened. To learn where I had failed. Dagda never approached me again, instead leaving me camouflaged on a shelf. More than once I caught him looking at me. We didn’t speak. He didn’t talk to the gem or even allow Jaashin to talk to me.
Maybe I deserved his ire. His daughter, my future queen, was altered after her experience. Harder, more determined. She trusted few and only picked males who were subservient to her. After she had her first child, she married her childhood friend, making her our future Queen Consort. It was a peace she deserved.
I hoped with Delaris happy, Dagda would relent. Unfortunately, he did not. Time passed as it did, and it felt like even he forgot me.
The heart gem was stolen one night in the chaos of a battle some hundred years after it became my home. A neighboring country thought to wage war on my brother to steal his lands, his people, and the wealth he had amassed during his lengthy and mostly peaceful reign.
Spies entered the palace, going so far as to enter the most sacred of spaces.
I had no choice but to watch as they laid waste to the poor concubines. Demons I had watched over, learned so much aboutduring my imprisonment, were slaughtered because they were practically defenseless. All I could do was rage while trapped in this damn gem, knowing I was the assassin’s target, while also hoping some had escaped via the other door. What was to be my fate when they figured out my resting spot?
The warriors were easy to distinguish. They were clear about what they wanted, making demands of the concubines and slaughtering them when they refused to reveal the truth. Somehow they had found the hidden place of the heart gem and wanted it for their queen.
Their queen, Velandra, had been a potential wife for Dagda, though she refused the merging of the two kingdoms, ending the match. She, understandably, didn’t want to be placed in my brother’s shadow and watch him rule her people. Time had twisted things in her mind. She saw his kingdom rise in prosperity while hers stagnated.
It was a desperate grab for power, which cost her everything.
One of her assassins found my gem prison. She wrapped me in a silken robe, torn from one of Dagda’s favored husbands. Stuck watching, unable to do anything but curse Velandra, I cried for each of the concubines who lost their lives that day. I may have treated them as disposable, but I had since gained some maturity. Perhaps because I saw them as beloved friends, though they had long forgotten me.
I wondered if my grief for them would be enough to free me from my curse. It was not. Even as I cried and wailed, I was carried away, unsure what was to become of my family. Still stuck. Still powerless to do anything to help them.
Was my love for them not enough?
The journey to Velandra’s kingdom was done under the cover of darkness while the rest of the kingdom slept, unaware of the tragedy inside the palace walls. I prayed to whatever old gods that my brother, though he had cursed me, was safe. That he andhis children would make it out alive to get their revenge. That Delaris, her wife, other consorts, and child, were far from this attack.
“Do you have it?” I heard the honeyed tone, the smug glee in Velandra’s voice. While I had only met her a handful of times, I could recognize her voice easily. She was fond of using it.
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
Inside the gem, I could not feel its movement as a physical thing. More of a sensation. A tugging in my gut that the ruby was moving. When I was placed in the queen’s hands, I could barely suppress my shudder.
“Bring the prisoner in,” Velandra demanded in a harsh tone, her fingers curled around my prison.
A shocked gasp left my lips when Dagda was shoved to the floor in front of the queen. One of his horns was torn off! Scars and cuts covered his body. The limpness of his tail indicated that it was badly damaged and that his magic was probably restricted, meaning he could not heal himself.
“Tell me how this works,” Velandra spat at Dagda.
“What of my children? Did you harm them?” He ignored her to ask his questions. I could feel how desperately he wanted answers.
“Will you tell me how to use the power of the heart ruby if I tell you?”
“Only if you swear to answer truthfully. On your horns. Swear an oath.” Dagda was fading in front of my eyes. He had to have more serious injuries that I could not see. I longed to escape, to save him. Only with him was there any chance of ever being free.
“I swear on my horns that your children are safe. My warriors’ only targets were you and the gem. The concubines, well… they were collateral damage, I’m afraid.” Gods, she was vicious! So callous and uncaring of the lives she had ended unnecessarily.
“By the seven hells! You will pay for this.”
