Page 44 of A Broken Promise (the Freckled Fate #1)

44

T he group of guards hurried towards us, dragging us through the castle all the way down to the dungeons below. They didn’t bother to bind us or cover our eyes. No, they transported us to the dungeons and locked us behind metal bars in a dark, tall, cave-like cell.

The night was dark; even the moon was hiding behind the thick and heavy clouds. The small round opening in the ceiling, as big as a hand, served as the only source of light or fresh cold air, but none of it mattered.

I didn’t try to resist them, all twenty of them walked us down. I didn’t fight them as they shoved me roughly, until I tripped and fell down to my knees. Kaius was already there, resting against the cold stone wall, his eyes closed, his legs straightened, his arms hanging down, no longer holding the slow bleeding wound.

The moment the guards’ steps sounded far enough, I rushed to him, putting my hand to his bloodied, cold neck, applying as much pressure as I could. I paused only for a minute, trying to rip another part of my dress. My daggers were taken, except for one. I pulled Heart Piercer from behind, hidden well in the sewn sheath in the back of my dress. I cut another large piece of fabric and wrapped it as tight as I possibly could without choking him out, keeping my hand pressed on his wound.

The warm blood kept on leaking, even now.

Gods, it would not clot at all, as if the Kahor’s bite was an anticoagulant.

I lowered my head to his chest. His face was so pale. His heart was so quiet that I had to feel his chest expand—the only sign that he was alive.

“Kaius, wake up. Stay awake, Kaius.” I moved his shoulders and pinched him hard.

He finally grunted, shrugging a bit.

“Oh, thank gods!” I whispered in relief as he slightly moved.

“I am so thirsty....” he mumbled without opening his eyes.

“What do we do now?” I asked, determined. No panic in my voice, just a simple soldier asking for direction from a commander.

“Nothing…” he said, his tone full of defeat.

I fought my rising frustration.

I ran inventory in my head of my possessions. A few poisoned pins and a dagger. I also had sleeping powder in my ring, yet only enough for one person. Not enough to escape alive.

Short of poisoning myself and stabbing Kaius, my options were quite grim.

I was left with nothing but hope.

Hope that Lady Anastacia would remember me…or that she was at least alive and coherent enough to testify to my alibi.

But then there was the matter of Kaius.

“Who are you?” I finally asked, looking at his still body.

“I used to be Head of the Royal Guard,” he whispered, just loud enough for me to hear.

“As in the Royal guard?” I asked, not wasting energy to hide the surprise in my tone or my face. “And now you are a Rebel? How did that happen?”

I asked, adjusting my sore arm just a bit to continue holding tight his messed-up neck.

“It’s rather ironic if you think…” He took another heavy breath. “To be back in the same dungeons where it all began. To die here. Fate has her humor, doesn’t she?”

I ignored that bit about “dying here.” I had no such plans, but I wouldn’t argue with him, wouldn’t try to prove him wrong. I had been defeated before. No words or stern actions can raise you up from the bottom. Only your own strength, only your own desire.

Nobody can make you want to actually live except yourself.

“You’ve been here before? How did you escape?”

“I didn’t. I was in here, but I was on the other side. My wife was in here . I was the Head of the Royal Guard when they captured a group of Magic Wielders and brought them here. She was one of them. I knew she was a Creator. I knew because I was the one locking her up and giving her only a few months before the grand execution. I’d come to see them personally, to laugh at them, to see the monsters they were...But instead of monsters or demons, I met her. She was the most beautiful and smart woman I had ever met. I knew it was wrong, I knew I shouldn’t, but I kept coming back every day, at first just under the disguise of security and then before I could admit to anyone, I knew I was done for. There is no magic stronger than love and I was so in love with her. Still am.” He painfully smiled as if remembering her. “So, I made a plan. I freed her and her people and told them to run. But she refused to go without me, telling me that she cared for me, breaking me and making me all within one sentence. That’s a thing they don’t tell you about love. It might be petrifying but it’s the most beautiful thing there is. So, I abandoned everything that day and I left with her. We joined the Rebels. I married her shortly after.”

His voice shattered just a bit. “Gods, my son.” He opened his eyes as if the realization hitting him was more painful than anything he had experienced before. “My son…I won’t be able to see my son... Gods, I will never get to meet him.” Small tears rolled down his cheeks. “She’s only a couple of months away from delivery. Gods, I won’t be there for her either.”

I blinked a few times, hiding away my watery eyes. There were no heart wrenching sobs or loud screams, just silent tears rolling down our cheeks .

I wasn’t sure why I was crying. I knew life was cruel. People died each day; we were just living our lives ignorant of that. A survival mechanism really. Yet stripped of that ignorance, I hurt. My heart broke for his soon to be widow and fatherless son.

Shattered in so many pieces.

I swallowed hard, steadying my voice.

“Why do you do it? Be a Rebel, fight the Royals. Risk your life. Risk everything. Why do any of that?” I asked.

I wanted to know why. I needed to know why.

I might have agreed with the Rebels. I had seen, no, I had experienced enough of the horrors brought by the Mad Queen and her Royal lackeys, that I recognized that desire to fight it, to stand up for injustice.

Yet was this cost worth it?

Dying on the cold floor in the dungeons far below the castle. Far away from anyone to even hear your plea? Far away from anyone, left only with a stranger to comfort your last dying breaths. Was this worth it?

“Because it is the right thing to do.” He shivered now nonstop. “Because I want my son to live free, I want my wife to live free, without a fear of persecution, without the constant threat of death and torture. Because I want the world to be a beautiful thing. A place of comradery and peace, a place of love and unity. And for that I’ve joined the cause. I might have been born a regular human with no magic and no gifts, but I’ve lived my life ignorant enough. My wife was my salvation and with her, we’ve created a new life, our precious son. For that alone, I would live this painful life again and again. For him to live a better life? Yes, all of this was worth it.” He clenched his jaw hard, attempting to stop teeth from chattering.

I wished I had a blanket or a jacket or anything to wrap his now frozen body, to warm him up. I didn’t have any of that, but I did have my body.

“You are freezing. I am going to give you a tight hug,” I stated, as I moved my body closer to him. He didn’t object.

We sat in silence. My thoughts, as if given up, calmed too. Gone were all the plans and all the strategies, as the dried salt streaks from tears earlier.

“I am dying,” he finally said. “I will be dead soon and... maybe... it's the last gift of Fate to die here and not out there with them. At a place that I called home for so many years.” His voice broke just once, and I sniffled again as a new stream of tears flooded me.

Gods, the thoughts were quiet, yes.

But the feelings? No, the feelings were overtaking me.

“Gera will be so happy.” He smiled through his silent tears. “We will be reunited so soon.”

I bit my lip hard to stop myself from sobbing. Gone was the strong facade I had built up and the cold heart I pretended to have.

Life was just so cruel.

Hell. To hell with all the gods, but let this man live, somehow, please. I begged, desperate. Yet no spirit appeared to save him.

He grabbed my hand tight, a sudden moment of gained clarity, and shoved a few papers in it.

“I need you to take these to the Rebels. Promise me to deliver these to them. Our future depends on it.” He commanded me in the tone of the commander of the Royal guard. I stumbled in thoughts, in feeling, in words.

“I am not a Rebel.” I shook my head. “I don’t even know how to get to them. I… I won’t even make it out of here,” I protested.

I knew this was a Deadman’s promise. A promise I couldn’t keep.

I had given so many broken promises it made me sick to think of one more.

I couldn’t.

“You might not be a Rebel, but you are a fighter. I need you to deliver them, please . Please, promise me .”

“I don’t even know where to find Rebels. I am a runaway slave, Kaius. I am no soldier,” I said, wincing at the truth spoken out loud.

A runaway slave.

A slave.

I never said it out loud, not like that. Not admitting something that constantly nagged in my mind .

I was no Magic Wielder, no soldier, or a fighter. I was a runaway, useless slave. Chains might have been gone, but I still felt like a prisoner.

He shoved the papers back into my hand, our eyes locking in. His bright blue eyes flickered with the silver streaks.

“A runaway slave. You’ve escaped slavery, not many people do that. You’ve survived this far, and you’ve killed a Kahor, and… you’ve saved my life. Don’t let fears diminish your true capacity.” He clasped my hand in his.

“I don’t even know where or how to find them?” I countered in desperation. “I spent months looking for them without a single trace.” Now tears were a stream running on my cheeks, I wiped them quick.

“Go as far north as you can, and you’ll find them. Go past the Cursed Forest. Find Gideon. He will know what to do with these. Promise me.”

I hated myself for saying it as my mouth slurred the words.

“I promise. ”

“Thank you.” He smiled in relief as if he was finally able to rest.

“Take this ring.” Kaius pulled the large family crest ring off his finger and handed it off to me. “When you find the Rebels, give it to my wife and my son. Tell them… tell them that I loved them more than I loved anything else in the world. Tell them that I am sorry. So …so sorry.” His voice broke then, small shrugs now interrupting his body convulsions. “I am so sorry…. Tell my Ophelia to never let her light go dull. Tell her that I will see her again. That Gera and I are reunited now, that we will watch over them and we shall see her again one day, on the other side of the veil.”

He clenched his jaw, shaking uncontrollably. I held him tighter. A second later he turned completely still, his body now so heavy and limp against mine.

I sobbed then.

The tears poured out of me like a spring river overflowing its banks.

I sobbed until there were no tears left, until my eyes hurt, and my lips cracked .

I wasn’t sure why I cried so much, but it broke me.

I hadn’t cried like this in years. I hadn’t cried like this since I was in the charcoaled forest, covered in ash. I hadn’t cried like this since the day I lost everything.

It was all too much. So much to cry about. So much to pour out.

But the tears began to stop, the shaky breaths slowed, and I sat in the cold cave, feeling so drained and numb. There was nothing inside of me of substance, just pure emptiness now. I still clung to Kaius’s body, not willing to let go of him yet. I rested the back of my head against the cold wall. My arms ached from hugging him, and my legs had long fallen asleep.

As if some cruel joke, my mind ran to an ironic phrase that was so commonly spoken today.

“Happy Death Day, Finn,” I said to myself and then added, “Happy birthday, Daughter of the Dead.” I bit my bottom lip again; afraid I’d spiral down into the abyss.

I heard the approaching steps from afar. I didn’t move, emptily staring at the opening in the ceiling. I could feel Death walking near me, so close, feasting on the souls of those long gone. Even now, she wouldn’t leave, still here lingering, still waiting to see if Fate would push me further, as if knowing that I had thought about it, as if knowing that behind those burn marks on my wrists were other scars hidden. The only lingering proof of my broken soul.

I thought about using those poisoned pins on me. I knew it would be painful, but I was patient. I could endure pain. Surely, I had endured enough so far. I could set myself free and forget about all of this. Yet my fingers didn’t move to pull the pins. They didn’t move to pull the dagger out either.

No, instead I slipped Kaius’s ring on my finger, subconsciously realizing a simple truth. I wouldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it even though I wanted to; though I craved that freedom.

I had made a promise.

A promise to live a better life.

A promise to see Viyak again .

A promise that even as I go down, I would take down the evil Destroyer with me.

A promise to find the Rebels. I would keep the promise; not for them, not for me, but for Kaius, for his son.

I would keep all my promises, I decided then.

Fate or not, I would keep my promises until my last breath, no matter how long it would take.