"We weren't meant to be good. We were meant to survive."
Zerlinda has had a sword hanging over her head ever since her father's disappearance.
With her cowardly mother good as dead, Zerlinda is forced to accept a bargain with Hades, the God of Deat...
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The Duke narrowed his eyes. "A pardon." He whispered beneath his breath, as though testing the word on his tongue.
He lifted his chin. "For the right price, I would assume."
"Of course." The Captain replied, as though they weren't speaking of selling her to the man who'd all but killed her father. "State your price, and it'll be more than paid for."
It wasn't just her legs trembling. She'd never felt so cold, so utterly alone. The ten people around her waited on with wide eyes. They must have thought that she was lucky. That she'd be free, and would live. Fools. She'd have been freer and more alive wandering the never-ending emptiness between death and the after-life.
But a chill ran down her spine at the pure loathing in some of those eyes. Others looked pale as ghosts, already too far gone to truly process the situation at hand.
Maybe she'd already died, and this was her punishment for all the crimes she'd committed when she'd still been alive.
Hades's Brand burned at her neck. A wicked reminder that she lived still, and that this life was about to take a turn for the worse.
The Duke gave her a long, leering look. "A thousand gold coins." He demanded as only an insane man would, surely because he knew she wouldn't pay it. There wasn't a single sane person who'd willingly pay such a price.
And for what? A slave who hadn't even been capable of providing for the last remaining living family she had?
But yet, the Captain handed him a hefty pouch of coins. The Duke hesitated a spell before grabbing it right out of her hands as a thief would. Out of her pocket, she pulled out three more of those pouches.
His jaw all but dropped, as did Zerlinda's.
She gave somewhat of a smug smile. "That should be more than enough. Untie her." The edge in the order was so sharp, it could have cleaved through stone. A guard was on the podium, untying the noose with shaking hands only seconds later. Its pressure disappearing should have been a relief, but her body felt heavy as they walked her down the podium, hands all over her arms.
As though she'd try to run away.
In her entire life, she'd never felt so dirty.
The Duke laughed a wry, cruel laugh.
"Do let 'His Majesty' know that the girl wouldn't have been worth over five hundred on a good day, with a clean slate." He shovedZerlinda, sending her crashing to her knees. It was all a mockery to the Captain, like alcohol on a wound.
But instead of flinching back at the insult, the woman raised a brow and gave a mocking, cunning smile.
"He was willing to give two thousand, but I'll be sure to let him know you send your best wishes." She spun on her heel and walked back to her horse. Within seconds, she'd remounted her horse.
The guards forced Zerlinda into a wagon once more. She threw a look over her shoulder before the darkness closed off around her.
The hangman pulled the lever. The nine people dropped like stones, but there was one man's scornful eyes still on her even once the soul had left his body.
The same one who'd lost his freedom for the futile attempt of dethroning a King madder than they'd all thought him to be.
