Darkness carved in bone

Chapter 41

Mørk

The woman before him was bleeding and wheezing through the nose he had broken. He started fidgeting with his fingers inside his leather gloves, it didn't seem as if she was about break, no matter how much he broke her body. Mørk knew though, that everyone had a breaking point. He had broken stronger men and woman than the one lying on the stone stand before him. He also knew that sometimes pain was not the path to get the answers you wanted, sometimes threats and bribes was the quicker paths to the truth. With Mathilde, Mørk feared that she perhaps had decided that she was going to take her secrets to the grave, and then there was almost nothing he could do, no bribes, no amounts of pain or threats that would break her. In those cases, he usually came too short. Usually. She hadn't broken, even though they had been at it for over one day, which made impatience burn inside him. A part of him just wanted to hack her head off and be done with it.

"Just tell me the rest of the prophecy Mathilde," the queen asked, her voice insistent. There was darkness in her eyes and voice, and no traces of impatience within her like it was inside him.

He took a deep breath and shuffled around the glowing coal in the brazier with the sharp poker. The heat emitted from the brazier made droplets of sweat pop from his forehead. He tried drying it away with his dirty glow, but it did not help, it just smeared the sweat and dirt together into a sticky liquid that coated him. In the moment he let the poker heat, Mørk had to push down a victorious laughter that threatened to erupt from his lips. He couldn't believe he had won. Ten had been thrown out of the palace as a traitor, and he had brought the Sòlung to the queen. There could be no doubt who she preferred now, who would be her heir now. He stifled a smile, his lips twitching slightly. The memory of Helen's golden hair made him close his eyes and inhale. He couldn't wait for the next opportunity where he could prove to himself that he was in control around her. Every moment around her when he had not pushed the knife into her had been a victory. A victory that told him of the control and restraint he contained. His blood started rushing within himself, his heart thumping in his chest. He had won, he had defeated Ten and he had finally proved to himself, dismissed that horrible demon within himself. He was no longer going to be haunted by those eyes and that golden hair. No, those times were behind him. Now, he was finally going to live in a world where he was the queens second, and after some time he would be the one in power. The thoughts made him almost dizzy.

The queen made a sound, calling him back into the present, calling him to do his task. He pushed the tip of his tongue into his cheek and curled his lips before he turned with the poker in his hands and pushed it into Mathilde's skin.

The pale pink skin hissed and fumed as the burning metal transferred the heat into her skin. There was nothing like inflicting pain to keep one's concentration. The woman shrieked, her voice breaking over and over again. Tears streamed from her eyes, and sweat and blood dripped from her entire body.

Still she did not utter a word.

The queen showed no hints of annoyance, but her eyes became vacant for a moment, as shadows of the darkness seemed to hover around her.

Mørk felt a pulse of power emitting from her, as the shadows nearly embraced her.

"We have to push on," the queen said as her eyes became clear and present again and the shadows seemed to slightly recede from her.

Mørk gave her a respectful nod of his head before he turned back again to the brazier, stuffing the poker into the glowing coals.

The power he had just felt coming from the queen made goosebumps form across his skin. He had felt it emitting from her every now and then, but in the past months that power had only grown more and more. He bit his lips, sighing inaudible. He wanted that power too. He wanted it so badly it almost felt as if the blood inside him started to itch. Whatever the queen possessed, he wanted it to.