Claws of Eternity ✔️

Chapter 13: Terror, yet love

JACK

The court of Cardona was a crimson place, wrapped in dark red colours, with curtains hanging from the ceiling adding formidability to plain, stone tables, darker than stone should be. The throne in the back of the room was made of black marble, shining in the light of the candles, every piece of it carefully crafted.
Candles were everywhere, hanging from the walls, resting on the tables, giving the feeling of warmth to the cold stone. Daylight didn't often come through, only at certain points in the day, but the place wasn't designed to astonish during day. During the night, moonlight lit the floors, mixed with candles, adding a touch of nostalgia to the place. But not the nostalgia for what once was, but the nostalgia for the place in front. When a man stepped into Cardona halls, he knew he would miss it, it would haunt him for the rest of days.
The terrible beauty of stone walls and dark woods surrounding it, the woods haunted by things forgotten to the eyes of men. Cardona was a place of souls roaming through, leaving traces of their past lives in the shadows of blinking candles. It was a place of terror, yet love.

And so was the Queen, Jack O'Neal thought, drinking in the sight in front of him. Jack pulled the rope he was holding on, the same rope five girls and two boys were tied to. They were still human and Jack had absolutely no trouble pulling them around. All seven were fifteen years old, or at least they looked like it, poor and very dumb. They were sweet, though, Jack thought, like fresh peaches, flushed and not yet ripe. Their cheeks were wet with tears, almost as tasteful as their rich blood. For the past few weeks, Jack has been taking care of them, feeding them regularly so they would grow some flesh on those tiny bones. Now the time has come, to let go of them, for they will be shipped off to Venice soon. Jack dragged them across the stone floor and tossed them in front of the throne and finally threw a glance at the Queen.  Since he came to Cardona after the incident with Giselle, Jack hasn't dared to come before his Queen.

At first he could not see her face, for there was a little girl in her lap and the Queen was drinking straight from her neck. All Jack saw was blood spilling from the girls neck straight to the breasts of his Queen leaving stains on her rose-coloured dress. She pushed the girl away when she was done.

"Go, clean yourself up, little fairy." She told her, her voice sweet, yet poisonous. That's exactly what she was, Jack thought. Then, Lerra looked at him. Her red hair was dirtied with blood, it was dripping from her lips, down her chin and straight into the slit between her breasts.

"They are too old," she said, looking at the fresh peaches Jack brought, "we cannot keep them human for long."

"They are fifteen, they will be fine. Also, they will be ready for adult games later." Jack contradicted her.

"All the games are adult games. Put them on the next ship." Lerra's eyes were of dark, deep green colour, like grass growing in the shadows of trees. Her face was elegant, as if it were from another time, a time where pain and love and beauty ruled.

"What I do to keep Faliero happy, it is absurd." She murmured.

"It is necessary, we need his support." Jack said.

"He's an insufferable bastard."

"Who has refused to come, my Queen, to the ball."

Lerra laughed and it rang through the courtroom like a menacing midnight bell. Jack felt something stirring in the background, behind the candles, where many rooms were.

"We don't need him coming to the ball." A voice came from the shadows and a man stepped into the light. "Faliero is an honest man, he can be persuaded by whores, money and perversions of all kinds. Others lie and need to be persuaded by dancing, balls, music and flowers, like they aren't twisted bastards in their core, like they are worth the efforts."