Chapter 20

With nothing left to stand on, gravity sends me plummeting down. I tense my body so I’m prepared to act at a single moment. When the space I’m falling into brightens from some sort of light source, I prepare to land. And land I do. As graceful as a forest cat, I land on my feet.

I hold my hands up ready for some type of praise or applause when I realize, no one saw that. And it seems that I’ve been dropped into a cell. Wonderful.

“Hello?”

At first, I wait patiently for someone to answer, but soon re-think that outcome. If someone I can’t see actually calls out for me, I’ll be too freaked out to rest.

Instead, I concentrate on figuring out where here is. In front of me, grand metal bars reaching nearly twelve feet high block what’s likely the only exit. There are no windows and only some lamps placed out of reach illuminate the cell, but overall, it isn’t too bad. I guess that even in prison, nobles have privileges.

As expected, when I push against the bars, they don’t budge. In the spy books, they can sometimes squeeze out through the bars, so I try it. But I barely manage to get one shoulder through so nh, not happening.

Of course, it’s not as if getting out of the cell will do me much good. Now that I have her seal the Queen can easily track me down wherever I go. Thinking this makes me unconsciously rub the brand on my hand.

A rat peaks its head from a small crack on the wall and skitters towards me. “Oh, hello.”

The rat gives a small squeak as it moves closer. We observe each other for a moment. Only after I determine that it’s not going to randomly attack me do I have a seat and wait. When the rat scurries up next to me, I don’t shoo it away. I suppose some company is better than none in this place.

Something clanging against metal echoes through the underground prison making stop doing anything but breathing. I listen closely as the noise fades into nothing. It’s unsettling not knowing if I’m alone, and besides my best efforts, the dark corners of this jail are getting to me. A small squeak brings me back to the conversation.

“Right, sorry. Where were we? Ohh, right, right, right. He was so cute when he was a kid. He would just follow me around the house not wanting to be away from me for a second. Ohh, and when he was three, he wouldn’t stop calling me mom for months. You should have seen how devastated he looked when I told him I was his sister, not his mom. It took a full day before he stopped crying.”

A fond smile spreads across my face as I recall those old memories when Sai was just a baby. Serenity watches me, her eyes full of what seems to be understanding. So, I continue with my delusional thought that this rat can understand every work I’m saying.

“You know what they say, before you know it, they’re all grown up. Then they don’t need you anymore.”

My stomach tightens at a different memory. The day I spotted Sai sitting in the corner of his room applying ointment to a burn mark on his forearm as tears streamed down his face. The skin had been burned so badly, I could see the white of the muscle. Even when I see the remnants of the scar to this day, I want to cry.

He never told me what happened as I helped bandage him. After that day, he didn’t tell me much.

Serenity squeaks and I take it as her comforting me. “Thanks. It’s nice to talk to someone about this.” I scoop her up in my hands and place her on top of my bent knees so that she’s not on the cold stone floor.

“My, talking to rats? Then it is a very good thing that I chose to visit you. You seem to need the company.”

I jump to my feet at the voice. I did not expect there to be a person standing in front of my cell. Serenity must have been scared too because she scampers behind the fabric of my dress to hide from the woman.

“I apologize; I didn’t mean to startle you.” Her smile seems sincere enough, but one look at her white and silver robe makes me put up all my defenses.

“It’s fine, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“I am here to represent the temple for the Divinity of Time. You were born in the season of the Divinity of Chaos, correct? Very rare. You must be quite honored to have such a powerful Divinity watching over you.” She takes a piece of cheese from her pocket before kneeling to the floor.

I try to stop her, but Serenity runs full speed towards the priestess. Before she manages to take a single bite, the woman clasps a hand around Serenities little body. The sight of Serenity kicking and screeching in her grasp makes me feel sick. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to upset the priestess in the least.

“I already prayed. You don’t have to go through the trouble.” I grimace as she pulls out a knife from the inside of her robes.

“Whether you’re a criminal or not, all deserve to be given a proper prayer.” I close my eyes when she splits open Serenity’s belly with her knife made of white gold. Serenity keeps screeching through it all and I nearly retch. “Let us pray to the Divinity of Time, may they bring you back to your homeland someday. To the Divinity of Chaos, we offer you blood and pain. Accept this offering and continue to watch over your child as you have done thus far.”

Part way through the prayer, Serenity stopped screeching. My concentration goes into keeping myself steady on my feet throughout her prayer with as blank an expression as I can manage. Though I just want to shout that she can take her prayers and shove off, I’m aware that pissing off the temple is never a good idea.

“Thank you.” I can’t imagine there will ever be a moment in my life where I have to supply a more agonizing show of appreciation to someone that just gutted my friend in front of me. At least, I hope there won’t be.

Providing her very own equally fake smile, the priestess bids me farewell before heading off to what I can only assume is the next prisoner she intends to torment, I mean pray for. In her hand, she clutches Serenity’s tail allowing her carcass to sway limply with each step.

Just before she disappears into a section of the jail the light doesn’t reach, the priestess drops Serenity to the floor. Scared hands shoot from the bars and snatch Serenity’s corpse. Helplessly, I advert my eyes and clamp my hands over my ears to keep out the sounds of chewing.

One, two, breathe in. One, two, breathe out.