Darkness carved in bone

Chapter 11

Ten

Ten was shocked into numbness by the words of the girl that was walking a step behind him. Her theory about him being controlled by someone was absurd. He was not being controlled by anyone, and certainly not the queen. He did what he did for his country and people. They would continue to suffer if they couldn't bring eternal darkness to their lands, that was all. The queen definitively did not control him. Her scrutinizing eyes flashed before his eyes again at that thought. He should not let the words of a Sòlung get to him; the queen would disapprove of such thoughts. There was something about her words that lingered though... they had left a feeling of unease that he could not shake off.

He clenched his jaw in anger. She was not allowed to make assumptions out of thin air, put them on him, and assume she was right. She was his prisoner after all. He had credited her for being clever before, but she had seriously misjudged him now. She was a silly sun child, what could she possibly know about being controlled. She had probably spent her entire life worshipping the sun, she knew nothing. She couldn't know anything. The scrutinizing eyes of the queen flashed before him again. He was letting the girl get to him, and he had to put an end to that. Maybe the girl was clever enough to plan this to off-balance him in order to attempt another escape? Paranoia and anger started filling him with a chaotic feeling.

If the queen had known that a sun-worm had talked to him like that, and made him feel like he did now, she would have had him whipped and put into the dungeons for treason. No, he had to stop this, stop her from talking to him like that.

He gritted his teeth, his body tensing up as every muscle in his body tightened. He stopped and let the anger erupt inside him as he turned towards her. He somehow couldn't control his expression, his face erupting with anger as he spat out, "What does a spoiled, uneducated and sheltered light-trash know of control?"

A flash of hurt came over her face, as uncertainty and tears filled her eyes, but it was all soon turned into anger. Her brows furrowed as her eyes drilled into him, the tears replaced with ice-cold fire. She was gritting her teeth and clenching her hands into tiny fists. And then her fire erupted all over him.

"What do I know of control? What do I know of control?" Her voice turned into a yell as she looked at him with fire in her eyes as she spoke. Her entire body seemed like it was about to burst into flames as she stood her ground and stared him down. Despite his height, she suddenly seemed to loom over him, and he wanted to shy away from her.

"I have been controlled by every person in that stupid village my entire life," her jaw was clenched together as she spoke, as if she tried to contain her anger for a moment, which only made it that more dangerous, as if the anger he was seeing now, was just a drop in an unending ocean of anger and fire that would erupt at any moment.

"My mother controlled me until the extent that I didn't dare put a toe outside the village boundary. My betrothed," she spat her words at him now, as she took a step forward, closing the distance between them. Her hands started gesticulating as she spoke, and her eyes stared him down, making him feel smaller and smaller, "controlled me in such a manner that I didn't dare break up with him until he had me ensnared into an engagement. And the stupid people of that village controlled me with all their rules and laws. I was supposed to become a housewife and provide children so that the man could work." A strain of sadness struck her face but vanished soon in her furious rage as she stepped even closer to him, coming so close he could see how her face spasmed in anger, making her look uncontrollable and dangerous. "And I knew exactly why I stayed in that village, not because I wanted to, but because of what they wanted. But that night when I went out into the night, I took control. I did the very thing that I had not been allowed to do because they all controlled me." Her face calmed slightly as she started speaking of control, as if just saying the word aloud made her have that control she had so obviously craved. She started tapping her chest, almost hitting herself as she spoke. "I stepped over my mother's boundary, I left my betrothed, and I left that village not wanting to adhere to their rules any longer. And you might say that you kidnapped me and therefor none of that was my choice. But you are wrong, because I had already taken that choice when I stepped out into the darkness that night." She gulped in air as if she needed more fuel to her fire before she continued. The words that had come out of her mouth left Ten shocked, he felt lost for words as his heart pounded in his chest. She had proven him wrong, and he did not like that at all. She knew all too well about control, and that made him cold into his very soul.