A Shade of Kiev 3(12)

“I’m not afraid.”

He ran a hand through my hair, brushing away the stray strands from my face and tucking them behind my ear.

“Hm,” he muttered. “We’ll see about that.”

He gripped my arm again and began marching me full speed toward the skull-topped gates. With each step we took, my knees felt weaker.

He stopped a few feet away from it and let go of me.

“Now you will knock on this gate, and wait until they answer.”

I was sure that I would have a heart attack before the ogres ever opened the gate.

“Wh-what will you do?”

“What I may or may not do doesn’t concern you. Just do as I say.”

What if they snap me in two the moment they lay eyes on me and Rhys doesn’t even have a chance to intervene?

He turned on his heel and began walking away in the opposite direction, toward the sea.

I looked after him desperately.

“Wait!” I croaked. “You’re not even going to give me a knife?”

He glared back at me over his shoulder. That was all the answer I needed.

Blind surrender. That’s what Rhys demands of me.

I turned back to face the gates again. My knees were shaking so much, it was a struggle to support my own weight.

Even though I felt insane, I closed the distance between myself and the gates. Picking up a rock from the ground, I slammed it with all the strength I could muster against the metal. The stone hitting the iron gave off an eerie rattle.

I took a step back and listened.

A deafening crack pierced through the air as the gate unbolted. Then there was a creak as the gates opened. I whirled around and scanned the shoreline for Rhys. He had vanished. On turning back to face the gate, I found myself standing in full view of a giant ogre. His tusks were stained with grease, and he held some kind of roasted limb in one arm. I had disturbed his lunch.

His mouth dropped open. I was sure that he recognized me. I supposed that the whole kingdom would have been put on alert for me.

“You dare show your face around here?” he boomed.

I stood rooted to the spot.

I didn’t struggle as he hurled me over his shoulder and retreated with me behind the gates. I closed my eyes, trying to block out the terror and focus on Rhys’ words. His calm face. His steady breathing.

“Do you trust me?”

I’d said yes. Now more than ever, I needed that to be true.

Even as the gate clanged shut behind us, I kept thinking of Rhys. He was the only thing I had to cling to to keep my sanity.

I didn’t open my eyes even when the ogre slammed me down against a cold floor.

“It’s the killer! I have her!” the ogre bellowed above me. His shouts echoed around me. We must have been inside the mountain already. Still I didn’t open my eyes.

Rough hands picked me up and dragged me across the floor.

“She’s here!”

Footsteps approached.

Hands closed around my neck. I gasped in pain as I was lifted off the floor, my windpipe being crushed. Still, I dared not open my eyes. Rhys hadn’t even offered me a reassurance. He’d simply asked me a question. It was up to me to decide whether he deserved my trust.

A blade sliced against my cheek. Blood trickled down toward my neck. And then it sliced again, this time deeper, cutting right through my lower lip.

I gripped the coarse hands around my neck, trying to loosen them to let me gasp for air.

My back was slammed against a cold wall. My head bashed against it, adding to my dizziness. Still, I kept my eyes shut.

They talked amongst themselves but I was in too much pain to make sense of their words.

“Open your eyes,” one of them shouted.

I kept them shut. If I opened them I would lose myself to fear completely.

Cold fingers forced my eyes open. I found myself face to face with an ogre quite different from the guard who’d met me by the gate. Her features were sharper and more regal, her body more shapely. I recognized her as the queen of this place.

“Now, hold her eyes in place,” she said, looking up at one of the ogre guards towering over me.

He held my eyelids open. I watched in horror as she reached for her belt and withdrew a long knife.

“You know what this is, girl?” She glared at me. “A carving knife. Watch as I prepare you for my meal tonight.”

Another ogre held me down as I began to struggle. The queen reached for my hand and stretched out my arm. As she grazed the knife over my skin, a grin split her face.

“Mmm. I’m going to enjoy this.” She looked up at a tall, slim ogre I recognized as her king. “Make sure you watch every second of this, darling.”

Rhys, where are you?

Any sliver of faith I might have had in him was evaporating by the second.

Why would he leave it this late if he still intended to rescue me?