Deceiver

Chapter 5

Aoife  

  I panted, sweaty as I held the blade against Annas' neck.

    "What did you do to her? Where is Ceri?" I growled. He chuckled under his breath, his magic knocking my knife away.

    "Why, Aoife," he drawled, "She's right here." A cage drew out of the wall, and inside it was my betrothed, a naga woman named Ceri.

Annas had not been happy when he'd found out about her. He'd said she would only distract me in battle. When I continued our relationship and disobeyed him, he had exacted his revenge on me. On her. And now she was caged, like an animal, right in front of me.

    Annas snapped his fingers in front of my face, and chains dragged me to the wall behind me.

    "Now," he started angrily. "You will be forced to watch the consequences of your own actions destroy the one you love the most."

Ceri looked terrified from within her cage, but I found myself unable to speak. Annas had decided he did not want to hear my screams, and had silenced me. Tears tracked through the dirt on my face as I closed and opened my mouth like a fish. I was stuck.

    "Pull her out." Annas growled, and the guards in the hallway dragged her out. She was bound, gagged, and dirty. Both of us would not survive today. I just hoped it was me who suffered the punishment, and not her. I knew in my heart that that was wishful thinking.

    Annas shoved Ceri to her knees, and there was nothing I could do to stop him from what came next. He carefully cupped her face in his hands as she struggled against him and blew softly into her face.

    The color in her cheeks was first to go, and then her form. I watched in horror as all that was left of the woman I loved was the shadow of her on the wall.

    "Go on, Ceri." Annas taunted the shadow, and it made a swift exit, through the door and down the hall.

    He had turned her into a shade, a fate worse than death. A lost soul, bound to an unknown location, and stuck forever in a form with any lost souls it would pick up along the way. I would never see her again, and it was likely that she would not remember me. Ceri was gone forever, and there was nothing that I could do about it.

    I shook and sobbed silently against the wall, and Annas turned to me, grinning.

    "Guards, take my favorite general to her room." The guards who had grabbed Ceri wordlessly grabbed me and Annas snapped his fingers again. I felt my consciousness fade in his spell as the guards dragged me down the hall to my quarters.

    I just hoped that one day I would find her again.

    Maeia was still out when I got home. Idaise had dropped her off but had had to leave back to the court so Annas would not suspect anything was going on. It was very lucky that he had not spotted Maeia in the crowd, but I was also beginning to think that he didn't know what she looked like, which would definitely work to our advantage.

I had no idea where Saeya was, but I assumed she was in the court, playing Annas' puppet like a coward. Like I had. It was bold and stupid to show her face in the court, even if it was to keep up her charade with Maeia and pretend that she was afraid of me. At least, that's why I figured she'd probably done it. Maybe part of her still missed the court. There was something about the disgusting opulence that lured you in and didn't let you back out.
I glanced down at Maeia sleeping in my bed, and then out to the window. The first snow would come in a couple of days, and I needed to get her to a safehouse as soon as possible. Her and Saeya, preferably, but it would not be difficult for me to leave the liar behind. I'd had no idea that she'd been hiding with mortals this whole time. She had endangered everyone around her. She was, at the very least, exceptionally selfish.