Rise of a Queen

Chapter 44

For just a moment, everything stopped. For just a single fleeting second in time, the room was calm. The inhabitants were not rivals, the chains were silent, and the lingering resonance of a simple command drifted directionless throughout the surrounding space with no more peril than gentle rain on a warm summer night.

Then a series of shattering glass erupted.

And that gentle rain became a hurricane.

One vial, then two ... three ... and four. Each of the vials were lifted from the safety of that carefully constructed tray where they were so securely placed, and then pitched at the floor.

Shards gleamed, liquid spilled, and just like that ... the cure was gone.

"What the fuck?!" Dustin thundered. He pushed away from those holding him and dove forward to inspect the broken glass vials that now lay on the ground. Empty, useless, completely eradicated. He sifted through the remains in sheer panic, as if he could somehow salvage the contents before they disappeared into the cracks between the floorboards, "Marx! I went through hell to get those!"

"Hell is entirely relative, perception of what is considered hellish changes from person to person." The Count interpreted calmly. He promoted someone to guard me while he strolled towards Dustin on a cheerful stride, "For instance, what your ancestor did to mine was hell. This sickness I have been living with is hell. And now," He stopped just behind Dustin, "What I am about to do to you will be hell."

Dustin slammed his closed fist down onto the shards of glass, "This is what you wanted, this is what you told me you wanted!" He jumped onto his feet and shoved at the Count with both hands, "You son of a bitch, I almost got myself killed getting you those vials!" His eyes flicked towards me and the violet behind his lashes was mauled by mountains of despair, "You promised you would cure Sadie if I got you those damn ingredients!"

Count Marx steadied himself and smoothed his shirt, mumbling under his breath as he went, before responding, "You're right, I did tell you that. And all this time, no matter how questionable my actions ever became, have I not been a man of my word?"

Dustin was fuming, breathing hard and fast, shaking from anger and speaking through gritted teeth, "How do you intend to cure anyone? You destroyed the goddamn ingredients!"

"No, I destroyed the vials!" The Count yelled back, a minor break in his composure, "If you would stop acting like a child, maybe you would realize that the ingredients of the cure are safe."

Like flame from a spent candle, Dustin's rage vanished and was replaced by a disastrous amount of surviving hope, "You still have the ingredients?"

"No, I do not." The Count slapped a hand onto Dustin's chest, enough to make Dustin stumble back. The Count's palm resided directly over Dustin's sigil and his fingers twisted into a claw, "You do."

Dustin knocked his hand away, frustrated once again, "Have you actually lost your mind or are you just not listening? I don't have the ingredients, I gave them to you when I got here and we all just watched you order their destruction."

"What you heard, was me ordering the destruction of four glass vials." The Count informed, "The ingredients for the cure were not in those vials."

"For the love of –" Dustin ripped his fingers through his hair in disbelief, "The ingredients for the cure were in those vials, you asinine prick! I took them directly from the Crypt itself-"

"Inside of those vials was the curse bestowed upon my ancestors." Count Marx planted himself directly in front of Dustin, so close that their rapid breaths collided between them as their altercation intensified, "The ingredients for the cure ... were in the goblets."