Rise of a Queen

Chapter 15

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I held Corinth in my arms for a very long time and I rocked her back and forth while she tried suppressing her desultory sobs. But every time she breathed too deep, her body jolted with pain and she withered that much more until she was hunched over in my embrace, avoiding her side where maroon reigned supreme as if she could shed that injury from her body to evict her weakness as a convict.

    Her sorrow and suffering came from the defilement that Count Marx bestowed upon her but her anguish stemmed from somewhere much deeper, from a time prior to this but not so outrageously uncommon or outlandish. In fact, I would venture conjecture that Corinth's life has been relatively similar in result to our conflicts of today.

    "I knew it was too good to be true." She whispered beside me, voice so raw that it scratched from her throat and hung lifelessly in the air around us like phantoms trapped amidst dusty cobwebs and barren hallways where hope – life – were absent from existence. She pulled away from me, folded her knees into her chest and tied her arms around them, protecting herself from assailants I couldn't see and sickness I couldn't feel.

    Because the enemies we must fear most are those we face alone, hiding within.

    Despite an occasional wince or twitch pertaining to the crimson tide engorging a majority of her left hip, Corinth's focus was elsewhere and her eyes were trailed on the door where last sight of her brother broke her more than the Count's assault.

    "I gave my loyalty to the Tribe, and with my loyalty came the price of my family. But I was taught from the youngest age that tradition comes before everything, including those we love. So I was honored to devote my family to the cause ... until I lost them. All of them."

    She needed reassurance, but I had none to give. Regardless of what I say, it won't change what has transpired.

    "Even with you and Lumiere ... even with Eli ... I felt so alone. I love you all, you know that I do, but family is something special. Even a family as fucked up as mine." There was a small, sad laugh; one so close to fracturing that it teetered on the edge of an inner abyss threatening to swallow her, "So when the chance came to have my brother and my cousin back ... I was blinded. I was so determined to get my family back that I didn't see the trap we willingly walked into." She paused, blinking back her tears, "Or maybe I did, maybe I just didn't want to believe it."

    She didn't need to explain herself, least of all to me.

    If after all this time I discovered my mother was still alive, I can't imagine anything would keep me from searching for her. Corinth's motives were justified in my mind, we all wanted to find Dustin and we all are to blame for our ineptitude. And because of our tremendous incompetence, we should all face equal punishment.

    "Let me take a look at that." I solicited quietly and shifted from the spot beside her to crouch in front of her hips. She didn't refuse and I took the hem of her shirt gently, lifted it upwards, and peeled it away from her skin where it was fused to her torn flesh by cardinal adhesive.

    She flinched only once and with the cut exposed to fresh air, she turned her head away. I inspected the unsightliness closely, following the slashes with my eyes from one corner to the next. Her skin was bright red from irritation and the revealed tissue between each cut was pink and fleshy. The amount of blood soiled over the surface of her hip made it hard to accurately estimate the size or severity of her wound, but exact calculations were not necessary.