THE USURPERS| 2021

CHAPTER 16: THE CITY PT. 2

CHAPTER XVI
The City pt. 2
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A tide carried me.
Unyielding, the waves held onto me. Carrying me towards the yawning void of the sea. I could not scream or move. The waves were dragging me under.

Hands suddenly held me, grasping my limp torso. They were soft and comforting; smoothing my hair away from my face. I was not saved by them. The force did not bring me to the surface.

My perfect girl. A woman's voice whispered. I will give you the life of your dreams.

I was dragged under.
..

"Adalina?" General Altan's voice came from all around and above me. My eyes blinked open from the void. I felt a firm surface against me, two firm hands holding me close. It didn't take me long to realize I was laying on his lap.

Stumbling forward, I fell on my palms. We were still in the hut.

"My lady." A small hand gestured to help me up. My breath left my body.

Ryell, a picture of health, stood above me with a beaming smile. His mother was crouched down beside him, looking at me with tear-stung eyes.

"Thank you." Her voice choked out. She held his hand like she was afraid he would disappear any moment. "You saved my boy."

There was an unnerving amount of devotion in her eyes. Devotion that I did not deserve.

Recent events were a haze in my mind. You are in a hut in the capital. You just tried to kill a boy.

The feeling of Ryell's soul tearing away from me was like a fresh stain.

"Do you believe me?" The words came so softly from behind me. Like he was begging to see the realization of truth on my face. But it was clear as day when I looked up at Ryell's outstretched hand. General Altan had been right.

Two sides of a coin. To give and to take. Life and death. I felt foreign in my skin. The power to give and take life was reserved for deities—the divine that threaded men's fates and cut them at their will. What right did I have to grant that decision?

The horror of that power was more stark than simply being a killer.

"She is in shock." General Altan announced to the room. I felt him press two hands to my shoulders, lifting me to my feet.

The family stood before me, the father on his knees with his hands raised. He was saying a prayer in a foreign language.

I felt weak. For the first time after using my power, my body felt as if it had spent hours in hard labour. Sensing my weakness, General Altan kept his hands on my shoulders.

I met Ryell's gaze. I do not want to die, he had begged. Who had granted him the mercy of living? The beast or I?

"You will restore us all." The mother shakily stood to her feet. I looked between the family. There was a trace of that strange elegant appearance, but only after closer inspection. The sharp cut of their bones. Their height.

I looked back down at Ryell, noticing the strangely shaded green of his eyes. Illiyans.

The pressure of their stares felt heavier. How could they be living in the capital of an empire that tried to kill them all? Why would they?