Page 40 of The Kingdom of Flames

He spun her, arms twisted behind, and marched to the edge of the battlements. Vermilion inhaled the scent of her hair, and she shuddered. His claw-like hand snaked across her bodice. Helping himself to what Encarmine had courted.

“Do you think he’ll still want you? Once I’ve taken it? Hmm?”

Celestine stared at the horizon. The empty horizon.

She was helpless in his grip. Vermilion was an intrusion, an abomination on her skin.

“Do you think he’ll weep when he finds you here? Or will his shame mark him forever? Your ravaged corpse. The echoes of your agony echoing upon the wind of his realm?”

Vermilion spun her around, his eyes wild. A predator with a helpless prey in its grasp. His hand crept down, eyes locked onto hers, long nails raking up her thigh, tracing along to her mound.

I’ll die defiant. I won’t go meekly. Celestine spat in his eye.

Vermilion grinned, but there was no humor. He had never known it.

A stone table was in the center of the battlement, chipped and fractured from battles long ago. The Scarlet Lord backhanded her. Celestine’s head rang and whipped to the right at the power of his blow. He slapped her again, the bones of his hand catching her jawline, and her vision teetered with falling stars.

“Proud lady of the painted realm. Final offering…” Vermilion shoved her to the ground. “I have such cruelties to show you. To drink of my blood is to become a fiend for nothing else. All my legions, my servants, they sing for it. To take my seed is to curse your womb to ache for nothing else as it decays.”

Celestine shuffled back, trying to stand, but the world dipped in front of her. The cruel visage of Vermilion was a monster in a dream.

I wish I would wake.

Vermilion slid forth, faster than a whisper, and gripped her hair. He bent low to her face, his long tongue flicking spittle. “In my lands, you would clamor the walls of the dungeon, a bruise who used to be a woman, feeding on rats for the merest memory of me.”

She was wrenched upwards by her hair.

His fist slammed into her stomach. Celestine tried to gasp, to wretch, but nothing came from her but a silent groan as she doubled over.

“My love is knives and split skin. I am the draining. I can take you to where life and death circle one another. You’ll see them soon. But one must wait, and one always loses.”

Celestine groaned. She pushed herself up off all fours. Vermilion stood over her, so strong, so tall and powerful.

“I will break you,” the voice of velvet taunted her. They were alone atop the castle. The guards gone. Celestine wavered, dizzy, looking around. For help. For anything. She saw the glint of a mirror, for a moment, as if Captain Aidric was here. When she blinked, there was nothing.

“You will cry for me, and then…” a long claw on his pale finger traced her cheek. “Then you will cry for me.”

Celestine glared at Vermilion. He stood back, malevolence incarnate. Blood dripped from his crown of extinction. There was no sun here, only grayness. He wanted her to run; he wanted her to flee so he could hunt her down, feed upon her, and ravage her in a bloody frenzy.

She spun, using all her power, and ran towards the stairs. A slithering laugh cackled behind her until Celestine pivoted quickly.

I will not allow what is Encarmine’s to be taken…by anyone.

Celestine leapt from the battlement.

The world was the sky, the fields, the armored host below that yelled out when they saw her in the air, falling towards them. Such a terrible, slow moment.

Celestine fell towards her death.

A hand of ice gripped her ankle and a scream rose from her of such

Celestine whipped down towards the ground, but the grip of Vermilion had her. Her dress fell over her waist. The host below bellowed sickening cries.

“Let me go!” Celestine screamed.

Vermilion’s pale face was contorted with effort, the speed in which he had moved, even his long frame was taut with the control.

In a slow, heaving defeat, Celestine felt herself being pulled upwards. Vermilion growled, a creature that had caught his prey. A spider spinning his silk, drawing her forth. His army below called out his name.

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