Page 120 of Queen’s Gambit

Chapter 34

Roksana

It took a full day to work up the courage to face my nightmare. The doors to the dungeon creaked when they opened. Cold, damp air, and the stench of old blood and suffering hit me at once. My heart started racing.

‘You don’t have to do this.’ The golden light hadn’t faded from Reynard’s eye after yesterday’s argument. It didn’t change how he gently supported me on the steep steps. It eased the fear preventing me from stepping forward.

‘I do. This place… It’s a festering wound inside me… I have to see this through before it consumes me.’ I turned, stroking the pinched lines on Rey’s face. ‘I want to be free of it, of Tivala. I have to go inside.’

We stepped into the darkness. My heartbeat was loud enough to drown out the whispers in my mind, but Rey’s sturdy presence kept the terror at bay. The slippery staircase led deep into the granite bedrock of the castle hill, branching at several levels.

When it ended, I stood before the doors that still haunted my dreams. Tivala’s torture chamber.

‘Are you ready, Viper?’ Rey reached past me and placed a hand on the bolt.

‘No. Maybe. I wish I was stronger.’

Silence answered my admission. As it stretched on, I turned with a frown and a harsh word on my lips, only to be confronted by a crooked smile and a puzzled expression.

Rey reached up and caressed my cheek.

‘You are the strongest person I have ever met. You’ve faced the unthinkable, not once but time after time, and walked through each ordeal with your head held high. Viper, I love you. Show him what real strength looks like.’

He slipped his hand to the back of my neck, pulling me into his embrace.

I nodded, swallowing hard. Each time I thought I couldn’t love him more, this man said something so thoughtful I wondered how I ever deserved him.

‘Of course. Just… I’ll be alright.’ I forced a smile and eased from his arms. ‘Though I can’t promise Tivala will be.’

Rey shook his head and pushed the door open. ‘The old fool will die anyway. My sole regret is he only has one life to give.’

I stepped into a dark chamber carved into the granite bedrock, Reynard a silent presence behind me. Torches hissed in the sudden breeze, their smoke staining the walls with soot. The table with its torture implements remained, as did the dirty straw in the corner where they… My vision blurred, memory fusing with reality.

I leaned on the wall and let the cold centre me.

‘Come to gloat?’ Ernesto rasped.

I opened my eyes and looked at him. Steel manacles chained him to the wall, his arms spread so wide his shoulder joints were strained. His chest was bare, his grey hair matted with blood from several claw marks.

Gaunt eyes, burning with fever, traced my every move.

Did I look like this? I wondered as I approached him.

‘I don’t need to gloat, Ernesto. You’re done. Your dreams, your ambitions, your duchy—all gone. Even your own daughter, serving as my lady in waiting, curses your name.’ I stood in front of the person who’d caused me so much pain, so much fear, and felt nothing but disgust for this pitiful, broken old man.

‘Gone? Reynard needs someone to govern this land. My supporters in the council will speak up for me. Ask him,’ he snarled, spittle flying from his mouth.

‘All dead or running for the border as we speak,’ Rey said from his corner.

‘Is that what you counted on?’ I asked, trailing a finger over his chains. Even such a small touch pulled on his strained arms.

‘You bitch! You think you’ve won? The war may be over, but does your king know how you fucked those filthy guards and begged for more? A Brotherhood whore will never be queen…’

As the pain of those memories shot through me, I glanced at the straw in the corner. I expected Rey to react. Instead, dust rose into the air as the walls shook.

Cin, please stop.

I can’t. I don’t know how. He hurt you! The dragon’s thoughts burned with such pure rage I feared he’d bring the entire castle down on my head.