Death of a King

Chapter 33

"You've really managed to screw everything up, haven't you child?" The beast was perched at the top of the throne, not in the seat but along the top of the backing, balancing on a mere inch of wood as though he weighed nothing. From his position, he glared down at me, hollow eyes seeping clouds of black smoke, "I was so close to having his heart, and now it's lost once again."

    I turned my back to him, facing into the void. I'd rather stare into that shadowed abyss that spend one moment more gazing upon the skeleton who nearly killed me during my last visit to this this realm. If what the creature says is true -

    "It is." He grumbled.

    - then that means Dustin is safe from the carnivorous hunger produced by this damned soul. As far as I'm concerned, that's more than enough to satisfy my own heartache. Dustin sent me away to keep me safe and in doing so, has kept himself safe as well. An unknown outcome of his actions but one we could all celebrate.

    "Not all of us." The beast reminded. Chains clamored from where they hung around his waist and boots when he jumped down from the throne and started towards me in steps that took far too long. Once he was close enough, he hunched down like an animal in the wild with his back abnormally arched and his bones grating against one another until dust began to show, "I've still got you though, my precious meat, and one way or another, you're going to bring me that boy's heart. Until then, I'll just have to settle with you."

    That's fine. He can take me. In all honesty, I'd rather be dead than back in the clutches of my father.

    The chains stopped rattling and the beast stilled, halfway between standing and crouching. His smile grew wider, twisting uncomfortably across his face as though someone were pulling it with strings from either side, "What is this? Don't tell me the mighty savior has finally given up."

    So what if I had? Dustin sent me away. There wasn't much left to fight for.

    Beside me, the skeleton began to cackle, standing tall as he held his sides to keep from splitting. While he laughed, that black smoke circled around me, starting at my knees and making it's way up to my face where it entered into my body on a breath that then spread like a virus, layering every inch of my body with an internal chill that I couldn't disperse.

    "After all that I've done to you, after all this time, you're going to give up because the boy sent you away?" The creature, though tickled by this news, seemed unsettled, "How disappointing, I expected so much more."

    It was easy enough to ignore his ridicules but the sensation of his talons sliding down my arms reminded me that self pity wouldn't get me out of here. Nothing could get me out of here if this devil set its sights on my soul.

    "Trust me, a heart is so much sweeter after it has given everything yet still comes up short of victory. That is when a heart is most delectable." The beast groaned in my ear, his serpent tongue stretching out to dampen the side of my cheek. Then those claws followed the curve of my neck to where they dug deep into my hair, pulling my head to the side to give him clear view of my exposed throat, "But do you want to know what makes a heart taste even better?" He tapped a single talon to the center of my chest, "When it breaks."

    Well then I must be downright delicious because my heart was about as broken as it could get without killing me in the process.

    The creature laughed again, throwing his head back to amplify the sound for miles in every direction, coating the darkness with the residue of his joy. And when that sound echoed back to my ears, I felt it embed deeply into my mind, as though tethering him to I.