Chapter 4

"No!" I screamed and thrashed forward. The knights held me steady or tried. But I pulled and pushed and thrashed as much as I possibly could. "No! No! No!" I screeched, the tears falling down my cheeks in waves. This wasn't happening. This was a nightmare, and I would wake up with her in my arms. Kiss the top of her head and fall back asleep again. This man wasn't here. He wasn't ripping my world apart.

"Do you honestly think we would let her live? Give you a reason to try and escape? How naïve could you possibly be?" The man laughed from the door. As if he hadn't just shot the most precious thing in my life. Clean through her heart, instantly taking her life. Blood flowed into the earth; an arrow lodged within her chest. I couldn't stand it. Could barely look at her. I started thrashing again. Needing to touch her. To hold her and kiss her and tell her how much she means to me. Tell her that all I had ever needed was her and the love we shared.

Another nod from him and the men let me go. Rocks dug into my face as I fell forward. And sobbed. Begged anyone who would listen to bring my little girl back. Reverse time and let us flee before any of this happened. Instead of going to the gate, I would have grabbed Elliana, holding her close to my chest, and fled to my mother up at Tenebris. No one answered, even the gods fearing what ran through my blood, so I crawled to her. Slithered to her like a snake, ripping open my flimsy dress. Her body was still warm, heat lingering near my face. When I got too close, the brute hauled me up by my bound wrists, his face inches from my own. He smelled of rotting meat and something off. Something different. Scrunching up my nose, I let my tears fall freely. Pain gripped the inside of my body. My little girl, gone in the blink of an eye. A precious life simply taken out of spite. How deep did their hatred towards my kind run?

"The less of your kind there is, the better, don't you think? And that colour is simply astonishing when it mixes with the earth." He laughed above me and I tried to get free of his hold, but he barely moved. Whatever strength I had possessed with my youth was now gone. Sang into slumber by the things they had bound me with. A travesty, that I couldn't fight for the ones I loved. Mother was still a way off. I had made a mistake in delaying her arrival. Too stubborn and nit-picky for her to just arrive to a messy home.

"You better pray I don't get out of these," I sobbed to the brute, but he just smiled in return. A slash of off-white teeth that was too close to my face. Cocking his head to the side, he looked at me more intently. Primal instinct danced within his muddy orbs. These were the same group of people that had hunted my kind for millenniums. Well versed in dragons and how to kill us off, they had no conscious, much less mercy. To expect anything more from him would make me foolish. A naive woman who only wanted to protect her own.

"I like my women tied up and silent, so for your sake, stay in those," he mocked and inched his lips closer to my skin. Sickness rose up in my throat as he drew closer to my skin, my face barely hiding my disdain. This was no ordinary man. There was a special place in the afterlife for the likes of him and I bet he knew it. This nightmare of a man enjoyed the fact that the god of hell would have competition once he passed to the next life.

"Sir Adlan, I do not think that a wise decision to make. If the king finds out you have sullied her, your head will be on the line," the man from the gate stepped forward, his voice stern and commanding. Adlan stopped for a second, his eyes darting towards the voice, towards the man. Disdain flushed his cheeks, but he refused to move away his face from my own. I could still see the small girl laying in her own blood and I wanted nothing more than for him to take me until I bled out. Until he ripped my insides to shreds.

"This bitch is already sullied! Just look at her tits flying out!" Adlan gloated and threw me to the floor again. Barks of pain skidded over my skin, but my eyes never left Elliana. The hellish man who had taken my daughter from me kept cackling above me, everyone joining in except the man who had opposed him. More tears slipped silently over my cheeks as the men laughed at my exposed chest. Still, I kept staring at my little girl. Love ran rampant between us, but this time there was no one on the other side of the line to receive it. She was gone and there was nothing I could do about it. Even the most skilled Tenebris wouldn't be able to bring her back. It was never done before.

"Lord Damos, don't trouble your mind with the likes of this beast. His Majesty will simply be grateful that we had caught her with minimal casualties, not how we had defiled her before he could. Look towards the sky, for we are heroes now. How the people of Frazer will sing our names in honour one day," Adlan encouraged the man who I had peeked a shred of humanity in. Damos' eyes glazed over as he let his chin fall slightly. He had given up this fight. Adlan smiled, those broken, yellow stumps for teeth showing as he clapped Damos on the shoulder. The surrounding men cheered in response. Even they could sense the underlying tension between the two men.

"Men, grab the bitch and move out. We head for Frazer. Hopefully home will find us within the next few days and lasses in the next hour!" Adlan cheered again and turned towards the gate. Rough hands grabbed for my arms again and this time I let them take me. There was nothing left for me here. Hadeon would be gone for another few weeks and all my staff had been killed. Even Elliana was lost to me. Forever. How mother will weep upon seeing the best thing in our lives, cold on the ground.

I roared as they pulled me further and further away from her. Thick tears streamed down my cheeks, cutting through the dust that had been left behind on my face. I kept staring at my lovely girl, her finger twitching slightly. The last of her life exiting that small body. I reached for that powerful place within my centre again. Avenging her death would be the only thing I carried on breathing for. Living and struggling for. My centre was hollow, just like before and I sobbed.

"Can't you put a muzzle on the whore?" A guard hissed from above me, still pulling on my shoulders. His voice scraped against my ears like sandpaper. We were almost to the gate. Almost at the end of where all my happiest moments had taken place. Elliana taking her first steps beneath the branches of the mighty oak to my left. Hadeon kissing my stomach at the pond to my right. Memories faded into black despair as we drew closer to my demise. Another wail ripped from my vocal cords, vibrating back down, deep into my chest.

"Have some sympathy! The woman had lost her child!" Damos growled from in front of us and came to a stop. Spinning around, his eyes lit up with anger towards the men. His eyes softened considerably as he looked at me. Eyeing my condition up and down, he lingered slightly on my exposed chest and bristled. There was pity within his face, but I had no energy to sneer his way. Amongst them all, he was the kindest. How had he ended up with these monsters?

"Why have we stopped, Lord Damos?" Adlan asked from the front, not caring enough to turn around. A few men were behind him, but he was tall enough that he could see over all of their heads if he wanted to. Damos pinched the bridge of his nose and flung his head towards Adlan.

"She cannot arrive to his Majesty in this state. It is in bad taste. Let me retrieve some garments for her inside the house. I will not be long," Damos told Adlan and without missing a beat, he walked past me and towards the house. I slumped back into the men, not caring whether I was exposed or not, but something hidden in Damos' voice kept me thinking. Adlan grumbled in the background, not pleased that Damos had gone back to get me suitable clothing. Even the men were complaining in hushed whispers.

A few minutes passed before Damos showed up again. There was a twinge of another scent on him. Familiar in every way, but foreign in another. It mixed with his own tones. Damos came to stand before me, a new light within his eyes, as if something had shifted inside his soul. There was a tentative smile on his face when he handed me my silken black dress. It was newly bought and never worn before. How very fitting.

"Get dressed, we cannot have you flaunting those whilst we travel. It would draw too much attention," he explained. I took the fabric between my hands and felt something hard and cold between the folds. He had taken something else. My eyes grew to slits as I stared up at him. Another faint smile from him told me he knew I had felt it. "We will stop on the outskirts of Stygian so you can change and protect your modesty."

Why would anyone in the Draco Venandi care about my modesty?