ravaged hearts

CHAPTER SEVEN,

RAVAGED HEARTS | CHAPTER SEVEN

  IT WAS A gathering beneath the stars—that was what they were reduced to. Their former glory, the palaces they met in, all turned into ruins or overtaken by the enemy. They were the remnants of a once great country, now scattered into pieces, oppressed under the boots of the enemy.

  He was a large, gruff man with shrewd eyes. Back then, they'd all feared him. Now, though, he hadn't seemed to understand the fact that his reign and hold over them was long over. He'd get it soon enough. But now, he said, "We can't keep them like this forever."

  The woman next to him, built of darkness and secrecy said, "It's been two weeks." Her charcoal dark skin matched perfectly with her black skin. She'd also been one of those people they once revered, but the social structure among them was shifting rapidly since Melique lost the war. The underdogs had risen.

  Lilia wasn't one of them. She'd remained at the bottom of the ladder, futilely making by tolerably every day. If she was braver, she might have run before she'd run out of time. But she had no choice now except to play their game and hope they win.

  The man said, "We need to send the note again. Make sure they remember. Maybe send a lock of the little bastards' hair or something with it. Bloody fingerprints work as well."

  Bassanio, who'd never seen her even in the years they spent together at the bottom, chided, "Do not be so... violent, Seo."

  Harris Seo let out a loud snort in reply. Lilia stayed near the back of the room, blending as one into the wall. It was one of the few things she excelled at, staying invisible. It was the only way she'd survived for so long. This was a world that turned friend against friend, ally against ally in the blink of an eye. But no one hunted for your blood if they forgot about you.

  It was a lonely existence.

  The woman raised her proud chin. "His Imperial Highness grows more and more impatient."

  Mali huffed. "His Imperial Highness my ass. He got dethroned, fair and square."

  Bassanio levelled the girl with a warning stare. "Whether his family holds the Saian throne right now or not, he is our ally. And we wish to keep him as our ally. That means complying with his terms when necessary, especially when they are possible."

  Mali didn't meet his eye, just picked at the hem of her skirt. She was one of the others who did not want to do this, who wanted to fade into the populace as if they'd never been Cuckoos and Falcons, never terrorised the people of so many countries. Never spilled blood and never haunted nightmares.

  But which one of them was brave enough to voice that wish? None of them, it was a death wish. They all knew that.

  In the deepest part of their souls, they were all cowards, unable to summon the courage to stand up for themselves. If they had a spine, maybe they'd never have landed in this predicament in the first place. They could all be living somewhere else right now, their past a clean slate. Forgotten about, their marks in history wiped clean. Living, instead of silently plotting vengeance.

  Lysandra made a sound of disgust, shaking her head, lips tugged down in a frown. "I don't like working with him."

  Mali shot back, "None of us do. But Bassanio here insists, apparently. Don't get why we can't keep the kids here."

  Here, in this abandoned base they now called home? It was no place for a child. Even when it was populated, it had been a horrid place. She knew, because she'd spent much of her life here.

  Bassanio may be at the top of the ladder now, however temporarily, but he did have a heart. He'd suffered long enough within the suffocating walls of this manor to keep their hostages out.

  He replied, tilting his head as he brushed his long, dark brown hair out of his eye, "Easier security. We often head in and out here. People could track us. The Prince is a recluse, and no one ever checks up on him. He's all but forgotten about. No outside connections. Absolutely nothing. This is why we've been keeping him alive all these years. Exiled or not, he has his purposes."

  They'd kept him back then because they thought he could be utilised as a weapon against Sai. But the man was aging rapidly and a cruel fool through and through. Lilia didn't like him the few times they'd met. Now they used the house the man had been given as their jail and storage room.

  It was funny how fast and far the mighty fell. Lilia's life may be short, but she'd witnessed so much of it already.

  "Bassanio's right, it's safer keeping them there," Seo agreed, "more annoying to go back and forth all the time to check up on them, but safer. This is our last chance."

  Everyone in the room fell mute. This was their last chance to reclaim their former glory. Small chunks of Meliquean power remained throughout the continent, trying to take back what was once theirs. None of them had succeeded thus far. Stopping Jenaro Bailen from running in the presidential race would put someone more... corruptible, or already corrupted in the seat of power. Then they could strike.

  Because even weakened, destroyed and stripped of their dignity, they were still dangerous people. So many of them were wiccai capable of extraordinary acts, and those who were not had been trained since an early age how to fight tooth and nail in this cruel world for even a sliver of chance of survival. They were not children raised in ivory towers and jewelled palaces. All of them were picked off the streets, sick and starving, the only thing keeping them alive pure will and determination. Because fortune favoured no one.

  It didn't matter how much Lilia just wanted to live a normal life. The Meliqueans took her in when no one else did, gave her a home, raised her. Anthony Contreras had given her what everyone else in the world denied her. Even with the man dead...

  This was her way of paying him back. He'd be pleased, maybe, that he inspired such loyalty even in the grave.

  But once this was over, maybe it was time to finally go. Maybe the others would kill her for trying.

  Lilia realised that she couldn't find it in herself to try anymore.

  Maybe this was what it felt like to lose the only purpose you've ever had in life.