The Lover's Cost

Mystic Bones

Celeste was gifted with brief rest, back in her cell. But rest she did not; anger kept her eyes wide open and cold. She killed the mouse provided to her. Not with her tongue for nourishment, but with her hands for catharsis. How could anyone do this to the princess of the universe? Age did not render Celeste oblivious to her position, and she started to wish she had caused Amber whatever nightmare she endured. She started to wish her binds were undone not so she could escape but so she could work her magic on these horrible people in whatever ways she wanted.

The child looked at her hands. They were roughed up, one of her claws broken. What was she thinking? Tears dampened her pale face. She didn't want to hurt anybody, did she? She just wanted to be left alone. As Aldous said – she wasn't a monster, only a scared little girl.

Yet those innocent reassurances faded, when the anger rose again. It rose in time to the door opening. Accompanying Amber was a group of rebels. Several were mages, Celeste sensed it. Others were simply strong. They were the ones who grabbed her out of her binds and dragged her from her chamber, opposing all her kicks and screams. Amber said not a word as she stared down her niece. She watched coldly as her henchmen shoved Celeste into another room – this one was new to the child. Chunks of stuffing scattered the floor, and images like x-rays and anatomical diagrams covered the walls as mold would. Chains spilled like snakes out of a barrel in the corner, and cobwebs dusted the crosspieces of the ceiling. All of it surrounded a palette in the center of the room, resembling a stretcher but with far wickeder intentions.

Celeste quivered and tried to fight when a strong hand grabbed the back of her neck and pushed her, belly down, onto the palette. Wind fled the princess. Hands pinned her wrists, her ankles. She thrashed and whipped her tongue. The palms of several men were needed to hold it down.

Like a bird in a net, the demon struggled and screamed. "Keep her still," Amber ordered from behind. She tightened her grip on the back of her niece's neck. "I tried to do this the easy way, Celeste. I tried to let you undo the spell yourself..." Celeste cried and bucked harder when she saw Amber's hand take a huge dagger from the top of the palette.

"No! No!" Screamed the princess. Her shrieks rattled the brittle walls and nearly blew out the candles.

"Don't worry, I read about your wicked kind. You aren't grown yet...neither are your horns. They'll heal. There won't even be a scar left once you're an adult," Amber growled. The sound of metal on stone dragged through the thin air.

"No! Help!" Celeste screamed, particularly at Jewel, who again shrank in the corner. She didn't budge. Heart about to burst, Celeste choked on her own adrenaline and caterwauled. A brutal grip snatched her left horn. Her head was tugged upward.

"Hold her!" Amber repeated when Celeste fought as hard as her tiny muscles permitted. Something cold and sharp touched the tip of her horn.

Celeste's pulse beat like a war drum. War was all she wanted right now. The anger was blinding.

Cheering grew louder, and with Celeste's heart in her ears she believed that drums, flutes, and pipes screamed in disturbing melody to her torture.

The cold metal dug in. Back, and forth. Demonic screeches shattered the air.

Sounds like a saw on concrete scraped in time with Celeste's cries. Back, and forth. Bone dust sprinkled onto the palette. It flecked the child's hair like snow. Tears streaked her face as her own blood trickled down her horn and onto her forehead. Amber cut off a whole segment. No, the entire horn. She must've. Pain ripped through Celeste's entire body, it split her skull, and it pulverized her brain.

The scraping stopped. "Got it," Amber said. Through melting vision, Celeste saw Amber hand a tiny shard of white bone to a robe-clad rebel – not a segment, not the whole horn – a thumbnail-sized shard.

Celeste panted, eyes glassy and face stained with tears and blood. Her captors let go of her, but her limbs and tongue remained sprawled on the palette. "There, see? That wasn't so bad, was it?" Amber asked as if taunting the tormented girl. Sawing off that tiny piece of her horn felt like ten horns had been removed. "You'll be able to undo the spell with this, right?" The question was directed to the mage who took the shard. He assured Amber he'd do his best, but that Celeste should be kept locked up just in case.

She wanted to run upon hearing that news, but pain forced her eyes to roll back and shut. When she awoke, she was back in her chamber and back in her binds.