The Claimed: A Clash of Copper and Gold

Chapter 15: The Worst Way to Die

Ruck reached me first. Just as I grabbed the hilt of the knife, he gripped my wrist and trapped it against the table.

"Drop it, Toom," he said.

I held my breath as sounds blurred together in my ears. My heart thumping against my chest. The gasps breaking out around the table. And the smooth shink as a sword was drawn.

Cool metal pricked my throat, and Tibo said, "Lose the knife, or you'll lose your head."

Then a dark, long-fingered hand reached up and pinched the dull sides of the blade between two fingers, guiding it away from my throat with the smooth nonchalance of one plucking a piece of fluff from a shirt.

I made one more futile attempt to jerk my hand free of Ruck's grasp before releasing the breath I had been holding. With that exhale, I sacrificed more than just air — my very soul had just passed through my lips. My muscles softened, and the knife clattered back to the table with an innocent ting. Then hands clasped over my arms and wrenched me back away from Niako. 

Cuffs clicked over my wrists, and my back hit the wall beside the door of the family room. I surrendered my entire weight to the barrier behind me. The cord which had pulled tighter and tighter inside of me over the last week had just snapped, leaving frayed ends dangling uselessly.

"Oh, dear Goddess." It was Astoria, but her voice was almost unrecognizable — a nasal whimper like a suppressed sob. "Niako, he... he almost..."

"I'm fine, Mother," the cold voice returned.

"Have the guards flog him," she said, some of the regular assurance returning to her voice. "Right here, right now. Make him bleed. I will not see my son attacked without repercussions."

Her threat circled above my head like a buzzard. Inside my mind, I smiled up at the buzzard. Do your worst, I thought. You can't hurt me.

I'm already dead.

In my new upside-down world, it only made sense that Makash was the one who came to my defense.

"Mother, perhaps we should overlook this incident, given the circumstances. You see, this man still thinks of Finny as his sister. Niako was never able to break him, so we can't expect him to act like a Claimed. Don't you agree, Niako?"

My gaze drifted to Niako, who stared down Makash with lips pressed in a thin line. Then he jerked his head down in a single nod. "Yes. Makash is right."

I watched as Niako picked up his fork and poked it into the piece of steak I had recently sliced. Then I closed my eyes and slid down against the wall.

I hit the ground like a glass bowl, shattering upon impact. Jagged fragments of my own mind floated around me, the sharp edges reflecting disparate images. Niako's eyes as he toppled over the edge of the lagoon. Finny's eyes as she leapt out of bed for the Thunderstorm Song. Niako and Finny sitting together outside the tent. And the moment my heart had stopped.

I strangled her... and then I dumped her body into the Paksha Sea.

But even though my heart had stopped, the world didn't.

"What about the independent tribes?" It was Ragalor's voice, I vaguely registered. "I hear most of them are siding with Fooja."

Astoria's voice responded. "The independent tribes are too small to threaten the combined forces of Kalasiki and Rakim."

Then Hendy. "But the Tribe of Zarku and the Tribe of Trebalda —"

"Leave Trebalda out of this." Makash. "Her tribe has not declared any loyalties yet."