𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀 𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘. 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐑𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍.
It's the beginning of a new age when Jaylah Imperatrix seemingly returns from the dead to reclaim her throne. And in perfect timing.
In her absence, evil has be...
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Act 1 Chapter 9 JAYLAH
Through the open front of the carriage, I kept my gaze fixed on the stranger's back. He had done nothing suspicious yet, but I knew it was coming.
As for Khan, the mercenary sat across from me, looking thoroughly pleased with himself. My face twisted into a sneer when I saw the clear triumph on his face. "Stop looking at me in that way."
"I don't know what you're talking about." He stretched out his long legs. "I would have expected you to have thanked me by now, but given your haughty, spoiled demeanor, I can understand why you haven't."
He was trying to pick a fight now? Biting the inside of my cheek, I refused to let him have the upper hand. "Perhaps you will have my thanks if, by some miracle, you do not ruin this entire plan with your desperate pleas for attention."
He scoffed loudly. "Given your reputation for being your father's pathetic lapdog, I don't think you, of all people, can accuse me of that."
At that, I nearly snapped. I hated him for saying it, but deep down, I felt its truth. So I bit back the fiery retort that would prove him right and instead said coldly, "How interesting that you suddenly seem to know me better than myself after just a week."
"Oh, I see right through you. Everyone else might fear your madness, but all I see is an unstable child with no idea how to wield the power she wrongly thought herself strong enough to take back."
I was ready to cut his head clean off, but I told myself to hold back my anger, to never let him see what I was thinking. "You attempt to rile me too often for someone who wants something only I can deliver."
The lazy expression returned as he leaned back again, but I did not believe for one second his anger had dissipated. "I suppose I have a problem with authority."
"That is quite the understatement."
He looked to me with half-lidded eyes. "It would be a shame if something horrible happened to completely ruin your plan. Oceana would crumble beneath Daggen's demon army." He had not even bothered to veil the threat.
"It would be a shame if you never got to the Cape of Luck to complete whatever dark deeds you have planned."
Instead of getting angry as I expected, he gave a wry smile. "You know, that's the difference between us. I have nothing to lose; I'm unbound, free to do as I please. And you—" He pointed a finger to me—"You have millions of peoples' fates riding on your shoulders. It must be such a difficult thing to accept that you will inevitably let them all down."
