Ashfall: City of Shade (UNDER EDITING)

Chapter 35 | Remains

GRETA

The night is calm, we walk the remaining distance to the palace in silence. New marble steps lead up to its entrance.

Guards step back, allowing us to enter.

Adler used a lot of glass to preserve materials during its construction. Still, it is strange to see my own statues around as I go through the halls. Thankfully, I am not bald in any of them. I suppose many assume my hair has been cut. The truth is, it has fallen out.

Never before have I felt so anxious. I thought getting power would instill confidence within me. In the wake of the day, I still am afraid internally.

The last thing I want right now is to have to look into Adler's piercing silver eyes.

"Are you truly a descendant?" I ask.

He smells strongly of bint oil. Silver and burned minerals lay splattered across his armor in intricate swirls.

"We are all descendants of the same nebula."

"Then, why is it you are allowed to sleep with many women, whom, I'm certain, must touch one another?"

"You are very confused." No. There was nothing confusing about that night. He dropped me, and ignored me, letting all those women touch not just him, but each other. I jerk my chin away when he tries to caress my face. He speaks with a catch in his voice, for he must already know himself, "What is the matter, Empress? That is a normal night for a man. My wife at the time fully agreed to it."

"Her name was Cephine," I say, looking through him as I fall back into memory, "And you killed her-"

My heart thuds with nothing more than a dull echo as his eyes turn to slits on me. His hands are heavy, settled on my hips as a smirk grows on his face.

"Do you think I plan to kill you as well?" His question clogs my throat making my lungs close slowly under a heavy weight. His next words are whispered softly in my ear, the same old baby-like tone that makes me feel belittled, "My sweet, nameless, wife."

"I do!" I rebuke while hugging myself. My voice grows louder filling the silence of the empty street, "I do! I do!"

With a racing heart, I swat his hands away and move with clumsy footing. Where is my god now? My real god. In the darkness of the vacant city street, the evil liar grasps the hem of my tunic in his fist, forcing me to walk with him into the shade of a vendor stand roof.

I can feel the fear hundreds of women before me have felt. I want to be a man, but instinct makes me return to the ground. The clean market street crumbles into hot sand beneath my hands. My stomach is empty again, twisted in a tangled knot. My mouth feels dirty, filled with something bitter. Blood.

My parents, I can hear their weeping. Their faces stare down at me, their sobs burning my ears and branding my soul, as I scream to the top of my lungs at the unforgiving black sky through tears.

My hands go to my head as I scream harder, closing my eyes. Someone must hear me. Someone will come for me. No one does though. My hair is no longer. In a fit of madness, I tear my clothing off as some force fights my movements, however, I am successful. My tunic lays shredded around me giving me access to the insufferable searing pain throbbing in my chest.

"No...no! Stop it! No!"

I gnash my teeth, clawing to no avail at the source of my misery for my hands are grabbed and moved above my head.