FOREVER KNIGHTS: #16 To Keep Her

“Nay.” Savage shook his head. “He has not. She wasn’t so dark before.”

“What does she look like?”

“Beautiful. Petite. Silver haired and filled with grief and fury.”

“I’ve seen that. Friendly as a quiller. Take the left just before the torture rooms. It’s her personal chambers? Careful though. She’s gathered a substantial following of Radix’s minions.”

“I feared that.”

“You’ve reason to.” Chavias said distraughtly. “She commands obedience with a brutal hand. They follow her blindly and she obeys Radix’s bidding.”

“She is the Elsabet I heard spoken of?” Chavias sighed.

“She was.”

“How could she not love him?”

“She did.”

“What happened?” Chavias dared ask.

“Radix.”

“Certainly.”

“How could she choose him over Sebastian? What woman would do that?” Chavias was still disbelieving.

“She blames him for their daughter’s death.”

Why him and not Radix is beyond me…

“She died?” Chavias’ grip on the bars became white-knuckled. As he pressed his face against them. “She was tiny but hardy. So much promise in her!”

Savage stepped back. “You saw her?”

“Yes.”

“Targue and Sarabis got her.”

“How’d he let that happen?”

Sebastian.

“I don’t know. Wasn’t there.”

“How is he surviving it?” Chavias wondered aloud.

“Seems crushed.”

“Probably more than that.” Chavias grunted.

Savage turned and began taking the corridor toward the torture rooms.

“Careful.” Chavias cautiously refrained from calling him by name in the lair.

Radix’s eyes and ears are everywhere. Savage knew. Seeing the wisdom in Chavias’ choice.

“She’s incredibly powerful. And will likely sense you.” Chavias warned.

Savage rotated to face him. Walking backward a few steps before saying. “Oh, I’ve no doubt she already has…”

“You’re not welcome here.” She said as he entered the cave.

The floor was littered with Firoque worshipping at her feet. Brown winged women clung to the boulder around her. Reaching for her.

She was crouched atop the stone block, too high for them to reach but she looked at them below her with a tender expression.

“How are you faring.”

“Well. These are my people.” She looked at the winged women. “They’re like me.”

“Valkyrie?”

“Yes. That’s what you would call them.” She hitched her chin.

“Will you ever forgive him.”

She held her silence. Mouth whitening.

“This isn’t the best course.” He gestured to the caves around him.

“Yes it is.” She gestured to the women around her. “They need a leader.”

“They have him.”

“They won’t follow him.”

Savage shrugged. “If they don’t he’ll kill them. They’re too far gone to save.”

“Are they?” She looked at him. Red eyes seeming even darker in the cave. “Some thought I was.”

“Sebastian didn’t.”

“Sebastian always wanted what he couldn’t have.”

Savage scoffed. “Could’ve fooled me. From what I saw you both had each other.”

“Impressions can be deceiving.” She stood. Revealing how dark she looked. Brown patches of fur curled around her sides and dusted her thighs. She wore bits of cloth to cover the important bits. Her hair was so dark it looked as black as the eyes of the Firoque on the floor.

Perhaps she is lost to us.

“I came to check on you. To ensure you weren’t harmed and he was not torturing you.”

“He does not. I’m everything he wants. He treats me like his queen.”

“His Queen?” Savage sneered. “Quite a fall from being Queen of the Castle of Water.”

“Don’t say that here!” She said urgently. Looking furtively around.

She doesn’t want them to know who she was.

Or that she knows where it is? He was too disgusted to even debate it.

Turning he stalked from the caves.

She said nothing as he left.

As he passed Chavias’ cell he asked. “Is there anything left of her?”

“Nothing left to salvage.” Savage shook his head. “I must go. He’s returning.”

“I know.” Chavias reached through the bars and clutched his bicep. Giving it an affectionate squeeze before withdrawing into the cell and going to sit on his cot.

Savage saw a pale face duck under it. “Who’s she?”

“Go.” Chavias’ jaw tightened. “Before he gets back.”

He doesn’t want to tell me?