Sonya was wrapped tightly in the dark furs of some large beast, her skin more covered than it had ever been. The hood was settled loosely over her eyes, her braid draped out of one corner just as intact as Jean had left it. The elf’s thin legs were swallowed by thick pants that most certainly belonged to man, and one much larger than herself. It was only the riding boots, with their strong leather and brass buckles, that were at all salvageable from the events of that terrible enchanted forest.
And even then, covered as she was in Gradian hospitality, the whore felt frozen to the bone. Her mood iced over with the falling snow when an invitation to the little royal party failed to reach her as it had the others. Apparently no one thought to invite the younger elf prince’s toy. Well, that certainly didn’t mean she wouldn’t show up.
Your body is as weak as ever
And dying twice as fast
Without the delicious hot blood
Of a lone Gradian.
“Not here,” Sonya hissed aloud, swiping her hand like the demon could see her gestures of impatience. The voice had echoed through her body, rattled in her bones, churned in her blood for days. It was begging- demanding to be heard and satisfied. But she refused to give in again, not until she absolutely had to. The thought of following some able-bodied Gradian into the snow... no, that was asking for more trouble than accepting the demon and its fevers. She’d drown out the incessant chatter with the drone of the royal meeting instead. At least, that was her original intention.
“The whole lot of them think they’re better than me. Ha!” Sonya’s fists dove into the pockets of her coat as she marched through the snow, following the scent of burning herbs on the wind and Kunal’s voice just a few feet away. She found herself standing at the guarded entrance to a tent, an obviously important meeting going on inside.The elf tried to step forward, but her movement was met with outstretched hands that pushed her back.
“I’m sorry, miss, but this is-”
I’m with the royals you foul-smelling salamander,” she shouted, bearing little regard for the meeting on the other side of the door. Her shrill voice rang through loud and clean for them all. “Let me in!”
With that Sonya pushed forward, bursting right into the middle of Kora’s speech to the others. Sonay felt eyes on her, but her own blazing white orbs dared them to make her leave.
There was a pause of only seconds before Reriic detached himself from the wall and moved through the crowd like a wraith, intercepting any other movements towards the whore with a deadly glare that even managed to cow the proud Gradians. Sonya might not have been able to see him advancing, but it was entirely possible that she could feel the anger radiating from the elf prince in waves. He paused before her, ignoring the stares of the others, before snatching her wrist in a vice-like grip and dragging her out of the tent, much to the surprise of the guards that had already been bowled over in Sonya’s grand entry. The snow swirled down around them, undisturbed by either of the elves’ fury.
“Sonya,” Reriic growled, refusing to release his grip on her wrist, “have you been enjoying yourself without me?”
“Oh, I’ve been having the time of my life,” she hissed back, tugging at her wrist but denied its freedom. The elves looked like a pair of quarrelling wolves with all their fur and anger. “Come to whisk me away again? To leave me in the woods so I won’t embarrass you any longer?”
Casting about them for the barest moment, the elf flashed a feral snarl, “I don’t see any woods around here, I’d have to just leave you out in the snow somewhere. I imagine that it would be just as effective, wouldn’t it?”
‘’Try to do that to me again, prince. I dare you,” Sonya spat, and this time she shoved her free hand into his chest and yanked her other free at the same time. What was it about him that boiled her blood? What was it about her that made him snap so quickly? “If that’s all you have to say to me then I’ll just be going. There are more interesting things out here than you fat royals sitting about crying and complaining all day.”
The prince recoiled, immediately bringing his now free hand up to the spot Sonya had slammed hers into; also known as the gash that Bashirah had cauterized in Laelie. He had since healed the wound itself, but the underlying muscle continued to be sore and just as spiteful as the whore. As she suggested she simply leave, a strange expression settled on the prince’s face: part fury, part something undefinable. Before she could follow through with the threat, Reriic lunged forward and this time grabbed her upper arm. His grip was tight enough to dig his fingers through Sonya’s thick furs like they were of no more hindrance than his own gloves.
“You don’t have that option, not until you tell me-” drawing silent, he turned his furious gaze upon the observing guards. The elf was not about to talk of that in front of anyone, especially not some Gradian lackeys. Forcing Sonya ahead of him, the prince selected a tent at random and frog-marched the whore inside. Needless to say, the residents were surprised at the intrusion but fled quickly at his command. It was warmer inside their new accommodations, but that warmth did little to thaw the icy edge of his voice, “You can’t leave until you tell me about that old woman.”
Sonya barked out a harsh laugh and stumbled back from him, her upper arm sore where his fingers had tugged her along. The air in their new, quieter environment was warmer but no more comforting to her than the outside where someone might think to save her from this madman. Sonya’s expression said it all- that he was weak so long as he needed her information and they both knew it. She smiled with sick humor, not bothering to settle her eyes on him when he knew the truth. She stared through him instead, picturing how pathetic he must have looked with his desperation out in the open for all to see.
“Tell you about her? And spoil all this fun we’re always having? I think not, little bat.” Sonya bowed slightly to him like a good subject should, but it felt like a slap with her mocking smile. “What good would I be to you, then? What should keep you from tossing me into the snow once you’ve gotten off on all your hunger for power?”
Seething locked his jaw until the muscles screamed and he could only mete out his words in a measured pace, “Perhaps, you could do your job? Or perhaps I could show you that I don’t need you as much as you think I do.”
He closed the distance between them again, taking her chin in his gloved hand and forced her to turn her head to the left. The prince’s fingertips rested just below her earlobe in the barest mockery of a lover’s caress. The magic stirred at his call, but never was the command given to unleash the full brutality of his wrath. Instead, they stood like statues for what felt like an eternity as Reriic grit his teeth. Finally, he pulled his hand away, defeated. Again, she had him at the disadvantage. Again, she would come away the victor of their powerplay. He stared at her, daring her to say something, but it was obvious he had failed and his threat was empty.
Sonya’s pulse jumped beneath his fingers and her breath was shallow through her parted lips, eyes searching the cloudy darkness as she awaited his retaliation. She expected pain, an attack of some sort if he was feeling particularly tired of her games, but nothing came and Reriic moved away after some time. Sonya might have won, but her mocking expression slipped away to somber and wary. She’d been reminded of just how small she was, just how helpless. The demon lay beneath her skin, but even it was quiet to the prince’s swirling magic.
“Your insatiable hunger for power and knowledge will be your downfall, you know?” She said quietly, darkly. She always spoke like she knew all the answers, like she’d seen your needs and fears where you tried to hide them in the darkness. “You’ll starve to death, or you’ll choke.”
Sonya pushed him hard again, this time clear out of her way. She feared no retaliation from him, not at this moment. There were too many people outside, too many people who knew she was with him. Not that anyone would care, she thought. Not that anyone would look for her more than a second.
“Either way, you’ll get nothing out of me, prince.” Sonya’s voice returned to its shrill, mocking tone. She was as bitter as ever, refusing to forgive his constant temper despite the way she baited him. She made a rather rude gesture in his direction as she marched for the door.
“Hah!” It was his turn to unleash a bark of harsh laughter, even as the prince stumbled away from the whore. For once, her all-seeing gaze didn’t phase him in the least. He didn’t even flush with anger at Sonya’s gesture as she stomped by. “If that was my concern, do you think I would have made it this far? Only the weak fear the trials to garner more power and their bones litter the path to all that I have achieved even now.”
Leering at Sonya, Reriic held his arms out to the side and shrugged as if there was nothing more to be done about it.
“You’d do anything, wouldn’t you?” Sonya said after a short pause, her hand outstretched for the tent opening but hovering uncertainly there after his words. A dangerous thought dashed through her mind. “For unimaginable power.”
Sonya turned, she turned and she marched to him and she nearly slammed against him as her fingers wrapped into the furs around his neck and she rooted herself there. Her grip was strong despite how fragile and breakable she looked. Despite her stumbling and her hollowness, her brittle heart and bones, she was more dangerous than any woman he might ever encounter in his life. And she was baiting him, drawing him in.
“I could help you,” she whispered. She wasn’t trying to seduce him. Her voice was different. She was completely serious and it was somehow as enticing as it was unnerving. “I’ve got more secrets than you can even imagine. You want to know about that woman? She’s nothing. If you help me when I call for it, if you’re as willing and desperate as you say you are... I’ll make all your dreams come true and more. You’ll see. You’ll see a gift from the gods and more. If you help me.”
They were practically sharing breaths, but both looked as collected as if they were speaking calmly across a table. The young prince was drawn into her words, the promises that she offered for something so simple as his help. More power than the woman was a tempting thought, to be certain, but... something dark flashes across his face and culminated in a snarl.
“You think I need your help? I need your knowledge, but I will never debase myself enough to serve another!” Reriic’s temper flared violently and Sonya was too close to escape him. Even if she pulled back, that only helped to further his goal. The sound of flesh contacting flesh was muted by the layer of fabric between them, but did little else to dull the force of his backhand. A sudden grin split his features and he chuckled, “It was a good try though.”
Sonya stumbled back with the force of Reriic’s hand, her skin raw and pink where the cold had made it tender to his forceful backlash. Her fingers slowly went up in disbelief, but she stopped herself, not daring to caress the pain out of pure stubbornness and spite. She wouldn’t show weakness, she wouldn’t show how she really felt, how he had crushed her down. She should have expected this. He was a prince. She was the whore.
“Silly me,” she said, a desperate little laugh drowning her words. “I live to serve. I won’t make such a mistake again.”
Sonya stepped away from him, slowly this time like she didn’t want to entice the monster’s instinct to chase and kill what ran from him. She ducked slightly as she moved backwards until she hit the fabric wall of the tent. Her feet caught on the rugs, her hands searched without remembering what she was looking for until they caught the door. Sonya’s white eyes managed to find the prince, and just before she disappeared they seared him with the promise of his death by her hands. She moved as fast as she could away from him, away from this place and into the snow. Violently her fingers snapped the hood over her head.
“Hot Gradian blood?”
My pleasure.
Don’t be daft,”Reriic murmured long after Sonya was beyond hearing him, “we both know you don’t serve me.”
Volatile emotions pulsed through the elf and showed no signs of settling anytime soon. Reriic would not be returning to the meeting.
On the outskirts of the camp, a solitary Bashirah stared out into the desolate valley beneath Gradius’ volcano. Unlike before, with its arid yet lush landscape due to extremely fertile volcanic soil, the valley was featureless and bland as snow blanketed every inch. And although she was now clothed appropriately, the Gradian princess felt the wind that much sharper against her face; it was still very warm and red from her emotional breakdown earlier. Glancing over her shoulder, she stared back to the tents and then traced the slope up to the volcano’s peak. What a different place this was, how different it felt, regardless of the fact that she had been born here, had been raised here, and had only recently left.
