Glass Dominion

Chapter Thirty-One

  Waking to the piercing shine of the sun in my eyes was not among the most enjoyable things I'd experienced. The night before, Nolan had to move along quickly to continue being someone I clandestinely knew, but when he'd left, I didn't remember a single thing after that.
The step behind me was painfully sticking in the arch of my back. I was sure my forehead was going to be dusty and splintered after staying pressed to the siding of the stairs for most of the night.
I knew that many crew members had walked by me and wondered what on earth I was doing sleeping there when there were hammocks below deck or with Quinn in his cabin. The last thing I wanted to do was fall asleep surrounded by a bunch of stingy and smelly pirates that snored, or even worse, my enemy. The stairs were sufficient for me.
My eyes felt swollen and did not want to open, but I wasn't in a bed where I could throw my blanket over my face and fall back to sleep. I could feel the presence of the crew begin to stir around the deck and up and down the stairs.
I decided it was best to get up before I got stepped on. When I moved a sharp, and intense pain ignited throughout my entire body.
Maybe it hadn't been the best idea to have slept on the stairs after all. I had to sit for a moment longer to let the blood flow through my numb legs. I wiped the sleep from my eyes that nearly begged me to close them, but I refused, for I knew I'd just doze right back off to sleep.
While thinking about not falling back to sleep, I nearly fell back to sleep, but that was until a call from the crow's nest resounded.
"Land ho!"
I forced myself onto my feet and rushed over to the ship's edge. I looked out at the beautiful, wavering sea, having to squint my eyes as it reflected the sun. I looked for land, but there was no land in sight. We must have been too far away to see it from anywhere other than through a telescope in the crow's nest.
Like a dog answering its master's call, crewmates swarmed the deck, emerging from below deck and from the forecastle and quarter decks.
"Hi!" came an overly cheery voice for the early hours of the day we were in. It was one of the crewmates, but I quickly noticed the captain's hat he was wearing. He sure didn't look like a captain, he looked like a young boy. But that was most likely just his youthful Wrejah features at play.
"You must be Amelie, Quinn's girl?" He offered his hand to shake, but I just stared at it, unimpressed.
"I am not Quinn's girl," I specified, mocking his arrogant tone.
"Really? Because I think Quinn told me otherwise," he leaned against the side of the ship to overlook the sea.
"He must be mistaken."
"Nope, I don't think so. Quinn is never mistaken," the pirate begged to differ.
"Well, it's a strange world, isn't it?" I offered an explanation, which, considering my life at that moment, it was not far from the truth.
"Hey, why don't you leave the girl alone?" Nolan had now approached and entered our conversation, which seemed to set the pirate off.
"How 'bout you stay out of our business, pretty boy." The pirate and Nolan began to bicker back and forth. It sounded playful, so I left them to argue and walked across the main deck. I loved seeing Nolan like that. He looked like he belonged, and that made me really happy to see.
Behind me, a sudden tall figure emerged from the captain's cabin, looking well-rested and conceited as ever. His attire was nice and quite fashionable, yet he still wore that same long coat.
His blue eyes gleamed as he took a moment to breathe in the chilling, salty air before looking directly at me. He'd found my gaze immediately, even though there may have been fifteen other crew members I was mixed with.
His eyes trailed me up and down before allowing that vague familiar smirk to occupy his lips. I hadn't been aware of my appearance until then, and I was sure I looked horrendous. And I hated that I was conscious of that only when regarded by him.
Christian's smirk faded back, and he continued without a second thought. I thought he was going to approach me. I wanted him to. Maybe then I would have worked up the nerve to punch him across that perfect face.
He walked out on the deck, climbed halfway up the mainmast, and observed our surroundings through a telescope. When he gathered all that he needed, he climbed back down and began to shout orders to the crew.
"Alright, men!" his strong and demanding voice resounded. "Lower the anchor and ready the longboat. The necessary attendants will take the longboat to the Kainsk shore, the rest of you will wait here for our return."
Immediately, the crew followed their orders as if their lives depended on it. The anchor was dropped, and they were readying the longboat, which was taking much longer than I thought it would. I decided I'd sneak into the captain's cabin hoping to find a washroom.
I thought it'd be a lot nicer than it was, but then again, this was a pirate ship. The captain's cabin consisted of a beautiful window made with black panes. A rug covered the wooden floor, and though there were candles, they were not needed due to the natural lighting. It wasn't furnished, but there was a cluttered desk on the back wall and a bed on the left.
To the right was the washroom, which I made a beeline for, and the first thing I saw was my reflection. It was almost recognizable. Not only because of the turn which my life had taken, or the harshness of the journey we were on—but because it was someone who'd let her feelings get the best of her. It was someone who'd been too easy to trust, to fall prey to Glass Dominion and its most dangerous of predators—power, and those who sought it.
I combed out my hair with my fingers and got it back to its natural flat-lying state. I then used the bucket of water provided to wash all of the leaked makeup from my face, which took a lot more effort than I initially thought. I washed my armpits using a rag, knowing I was due for a shower.
Afterward, I walked back onto the main deck where the commander, Zhao, the cheerful pirate, and another crew member awaited me.
"I'm coming," I told their impatient expressions, which I was annoyed by, as I approached.
I tried to climb the side of the ship and into the longboat all on my own, refusing Christian's helping hand, who was already in the longboat. But I quickly realized I was just making a complete fool of myself in front of all those people and reluctantly reached for Christian. He grabbed me carefully, helped me into the boat, and kept his hands on me a little too long. I hated him for it. Once he finally released me, I nearly lost my balance, so I immediately took a seat.
Christian took his seat beside me, Zhao and the pirate sat across from us, and the extra crew member sat behind us to man the oars.
We began to get lowered to the sea, and though it was done slowly and carefully, my stomach still wanted to turn. I closed my eyes and grabbed anything I could to stabilize myself.
Then I realized that one of those things was Christian's arm.
He grabbed my arm in return. "Here," he began to offer some kind of help, but I refused.
"No," I winced, keeping my eyes closed and bared with uneasiness until, finally, we were floating on the ocean waves.
When I was brave enough to open my eyes again, we'd already begun our journey away from the ship. I felt the utmost insignificance looking around to find we were just a tiny speck in the great, big ocean that could easily swallow us whole.
Nerves began to set in at the thought of visiting Kainsk, it sure wasn't at the top of my list of places to visit. I knew why Christian wanted to take me there, so I could see firsthand the life of enslavement that his kind—my kind—were forced to endure.
The tide helped pull us quicker to the shore, which I began to see in the distance. I soon got used to the rocking of the longboat and the way it constantly felt like it could tip over and drown us.
I dipped my hand into the dark blue water flowing choppily at the side of the boat. The water was freezing and turned my fingers red in an instant.
"Have you all been to Kainsk before?" I asked, unable to stand the silence any longer.
"Multiple times," Zhao answered.
"Yeah, the crew and I are quite often in Kainsk, despite how most of us would rather not," the captain explained. "Quinn here, though, is from Kainsk."
I glanced at Christian before looking back out at the sea, not saying another word, and neither did anyone else. Last I heard, he was from Novoitzhev. Most everything else he'd told me so far had been a lie, I didn't know why I expected any different.
Kainsk was a prosperous fortress of a kingdom. It looked futuristic compared to Glass Dominion. There were multiple towers and buildings shadowing the city. The Kainsk Kastle was easy to point out because its tallest point nearly touched the sky.
All of the architecture was creatively structured, and made of different types of materials, but they were all almost the same shade of dusty white. A heavy and thick fog settled upon the city. I could barely see the faint glow of the lights, which gave it such an eerie look.
We rowed into the harbor and tied our boat to an unoccupied dock. It was awfully quiet in the port, all I could hear were certain random sounds in the distance, such as a baby's cry, the shuffling of feet, and indistinct chatter. I heard fishnets being tossed or folded, the barking of a dog, the ocean waves crashing against the docks, and lastly, the creaking of our boat as we departed it.
I felt the need to tip-toe and stay timidly to myself while trying to keep my body from trembling in anticipation to see what was around the corner. But once we reached it, it was just an empty cobblestone street that stretched like a river between two long rows of buildings.
We'd left the crew member to wait for us at the longboat in case we needed to make a quick escape. That was not the most settling thing I'd heard all day. Zhao and the pirate had gone right to take a different street, apparently on their own agendas.
I followed Christian down the empty and slippery wet streets of Kvetch, Kainsk, as he marched along as if he knew the city like the back of his hand. I then had to remind myself that he most likely did.
I noticed that the buildings weren't the cleanest and most stable structures. They were mostly rain-rotted and had lines of dirty clothing and materials stretched across their fronts. Most places didn't even have doors, and giant flies buzzed in swarms around the piles of old food, trash, and clothing. I saw only a glimpse inside one of them, and I nearly gasped once I realized that these were people's homes.
In a burst of frustration and anger, I pulled at the sleeve of the male who was leading the way. "What is this?" I hissed. "What are you trying to prove?"
He noticed a hint of the horror on my face. There was no expression on his, it was like stone. "Just try and stay composed, darling."
We took a couple of turns to keep our aim at the tallest standing tower, the Kainsk Kastle. The further we walked, the more people I began to see.
Most were in their homes without doors exposed to the public eye, while others walked or sat at the sides of the street. They all wore raggedy clothes, and none of them looked to have had a bath in the longest time.
Everyone was thin and malnourished-looking with sunken eye bags and pasty bruised skin that buzzing flies had no problem crawling over.
Soon, I began to notice that all of the people had one thing in common. They wore cuffs around their wrists that were connected by heavy chains. And those chains stretched up to another cuff that was situated around their necks. The cuffs were tight and made their skin bruise and bleed.
I tried not to let the appalment take over my expression, but beholding such a sight made me want to break down right then and there. It made me want to scream, fight, or do anything to help those people. I felt so deeply for them because I knew. Because I understood them.
Out of my peripheral, I saw a little girl run out of one of the houses. She looked small enough to be a toddler, but I knew she was older than that. She didn't wear the cuffs like everyone else, at least not yet.
The little girl ran over to me with a glowing smile on her dirt-smeared face and grabbed hold of my leg, hugging me like I was someone she knew and that she missed.
I knelt on the cold and wet street to be on the same level as the little girl. I tried to match her sweet smile, but all I felt was a deep and aching pain begin to swell within me.
"Hi," I managed while keeping my voice from wanting to shatter. "What's your name?" I aimed to meet her beautiful hazel eyes, but she smiled shyly at the ground.
I felt our surroundings begin to stir and whisper, I heard chains start to rustle. I wasn't supposed to be drawing attention, but what could I do at that point?
"Amelie." Christian stormed over to me once he realized I was missing from his side.
"Amelie?" the little girl asked.
"Yes, that's my name," I told the little girl who finally looked up at me.
"We cannot be doing this here," Christian whispered as he kneeled by my side and grabbed my arm. His attention was on me, but mine was on the little girl.
"My name's Joy," said the girl, not paying regard to Christian either.
"Joy. That's such a pretty name," I told her, and her cheeks flushed red at my kindness.
"Amelie." Christian pulled me closer to him so he could whisper in my ear. "We are drawing too much attention, if the guards find us here, we will be taken in, and we will either get executed or shackled like the rest of these Mortala."
I dropped my head, trying to hold back the flood of emotions that wanted to take over me. I had to bite my lip to keep the knot in my throat from giving way, but my eyes welled with tears anyway.
"Alright," I told him, but first, I looked back at the girl. "I have to go, Joy, but I promise I'll be back for you, okay?"
"Okay," she answered with a dim to her gleaming smile now.
Christian helped me to my feet, hands cinched tightly around me, in such a manner that was almost inappropriate. "Get off of me," I griped and squirmed to get out of his grip, only for him to pull me tighter. "What are you doing?" I fought as we continued our incline into the city.
How much more did I need to see? How much worse than this could it get?
"Have you seen enough?" the male asked me, strengthening his hold on me every time I tried to escape it.
"Yes," I said through my teeth, trying to keep my built-up emotions suppressed. I'd never seen anything like this in my entire life. I always knew the conditions in Grassheen or Uhkaava weren't ideal, but this—this was so much worse.
I resisted the best I could, not wanting to go further but not having any other choice. He was much stronger than I and kept me at his pace.
"You bastard," I griped. "I don't want to go further. I don't want to go further, please!" I yelled, knowing that we wouldn't have been able to carry on if I'd caused a scene.
Christian hastily pulled us to the side of the street and pushed me against the side of a building, with a look I didn't recognize in his eyes. He forcibly pulled my body to his and pressed his lips to my ear, all actions to avoid drawing attention, but still kept his eyes on the lookout.
"Have you seen enough?" He hissed into my ear as if to force his words in me.
My chin quivered, making it even harder to speak. "Yes," I managed.
His hands rubbed my hips as if to console me, but the tone in his words was foreign, which instilled a great fear in my trembling bones.
"Really, darling?" His voice sent chills down my spine. "Convince me," he demanded.
"I... I have" My voice quivered. "Please."
I did not know what else to do, and I hated myself for it when I pressed my face to his chest. If there were any part of him that cared for me the way he had claimed, I knew that he wouldn't have been able to resist giving in to me.
He was reluctant to give in to my embrace. He wanted to. I could feel that he wanted to. I just wasn't sure that he would.
At last, he claimed me in his arms, absorbing every bit of fearful ache I had within me. It was a terrifying feeling. To have such a deep sense of self yet have no control over it. To not be able to hate someone no matter what they did. But most of all, to have to live with that.
As we pulled away from our embrace, Christian placed his hand to my cheek to wipe away the tears. As if his touch burned my skin, I turned away hesitantly.
I felt ashamed that I still craved his touch, even if it burned. I couldn't stand myself if I gave him the satisfaction of my willingness to find reason. So I kept my gaze turned down the street.
Christian aimed to meet my eyes, but I still tried to withdraw from his regard. His hand snaked around my jaw, forcing my gaze to his. That damn smirk spread to his lips as he studied the fear in my expression. "Darling, am I the villain in your story?" he drawled.
I swallowed the hard knot in the back of my throat. With bravery, I held his intense gaze. And with reluctance, though it was truthful, I shook my head in answer.
That crooked grin. "Then don't you treat me as one."
Suddenly, both of our attentions were diverted when two of what I presumed were guards appeared at the street's end. They conversed casually, walking the streets as if their surroundings weren't absolutely horrific. It was clear they were used to it.
They wore uniforms that were white and lined with white animal fur—the Kainsk wolf—and their hats were lined with it as well. They weren't paying very good attention, too caught up in their conversation. But it was clear to me our next steps to take.
Christian took my hand, and we started down the street slowly, trying our best not to draw the guard's attention. The first turn we came upon, we took it, getting away from the guards unseen.
"That was close," Christian sighed. Though he kept walking as if we were still at risk of being spotted, nearly dragging me with him.
"We're not supposed to be here, are we?" I asked. He put his arm around my waist to keep me at his side and pace as we walked the empty street.
"There happens to be some of the country's higher-ups who know who I am. Know what I am."
"Know that you're Mortala?"
He nodded.
"And you risked that by bringing me here." My mind began to run, in circle after circle.
"I had to show you." Christian stopped to face me. "Mortala, we are not meant to be kept in such a manner, shackled like—"
"Wait," I interrupted him. "All... all of those shackled people, they're Mortala?" I managed, in complete disbelief.
He nodded. "The cuffs contain their power."
I compiled the pieces together. Just thinking back to that, how tight the cuffs wrapped their hands, arms, and necks, it pained me to even think about it.
Realization washed over me suddenly. My gaze trailed from Christian's eyes to his lips, his jawline, and his neck.
Without thinking twice, I moved the collar of his coat aside and carefully placed my hand on his neck. He flinched and turned his head away, to which I quickly withdrew.
Still looking away, he took my hand reluctantly, placed it back to his neck, and simply held it there. I felt the scars that, now that I knew, were precisely distorted scars from a cinched cuff.
Those blue eyes found their way back to me. "I need your help," he said to me delicately.
I bit the inside of my mouth, retracting my reach and took a step away from him. That tone, so demanding, so serious, I was reminded instantly of the grudge I was holding.
"And what makes you think that I am going to help you with anything?" I questioned coldly. "After what you've done."
His brow raised. "What I've done?"
I scoffed. "You betrayed me. You lied to me. And you are not the person that you claimed to be."
"And neither are you." He stood with his hands in the pockets of his coat, so casually, so unbothered.
My jaw dropped. "Because I didn't know any different!"
The second I raised my voice, Christian filled the gap between us. I did my best to stand my ground.
"Listen to me," he demanded. I swallowed my next words, forcing myself to hear him out. "It has been like this for too long," he gestured around us, "we need to do something. We need to help our people."
"Our people?" I questioned, and the man stepped closer to me. I pushed him away. "Your people." Christian grabbed me as I attempted pushing him further away from me. "I am not—"
"You are." His grip tightened. I tried to pull away but he jerked me with such force I felt a sense of fight or flight taking over me.
"I am not one of you!" Flight wasn't working, so I started trying to fight. But no matter what I did, I was no match for his strength.
He forced me close to him, he forced my attention on him. "You are one of us. Whether you like it or not, Ambrose. You and I are the same. If I am the goddamn villain, so are you." I stopped trying to fight for it was no use. Staring me dead in my watering eyes, Christian continued. "From this day forward you will have no home, you will have nothing, and you will have no one. You will be hated for who you are, you will have no refuge, no peace but me." I couldn't quite force away the growing knot in my throat, the stinging tears in my eyes. "I want your help. I want you by my side. I want to change that."
I noticed the desperate, longing for my help, for my approval that swam in his eyes. They were glazed over with such raw emotion, they almost bled out.
"And what we have..." His voice was hoarse. "Or had... That has got to count for something, Ambrose, it has to."
I wanted to cave. I wanted to let him know that it did. That it does.
His calloused hand cradled my neck, the other wiped away my tears, delicately sliding his thumb beneath my eyes that still held his.
"I'll help you," I forced the words from my throat. There was a burning sense beneath my veins, something powerful, something driven, something I hadn't felt in a really long time.
I watched the relief cover his expression, those watercolor eyes still seemed to be trying to read mine. Slowly, that tight grip released.
I continued. "Only if you will have me at your side... So I will not have to exist at the foot of a throne."
A slight smirk spread to his lips. "Lovely," he drawled, those blue eyes gleaming.
"So what is it that we are going to do?" I asked him. I was eager to know, given this route seemed to have been my only option, my only way to escape the life which he described. The life I knew he once lived.
Maybe that was the worst part, the most convincing as well, knowing that he spoke from experience. And he was offering me something that he'd fought to obtain, a way to make it all worth it in the end.
As the commander began to walk away, I followed, watching carefully the look in his eyes. "We're going to shatter an empire. Piece by piece."