Page 68 of Queen of Vengeance

The metal of the cell door let out a rustic scream that echoed into my ears.

There was nothing I could do to hide what I was doing. The moment the guards noticed the bowl and smelled the ingredients, I would be done for.

“Answer me when I’m talking to you, Nadir! What are you doing?” One of the guards grabbed my arm and yanked me up from the floor.

He was surprisingly strong for his small stature.

This allowed the other guard, who was much taller and much more muscular, to see the bowl still sitting on the floor with a bit of water and herbs still in it.

“Magic is strictly forbidden here!” the short guard screamed into my ear before smacking me across the face with his metal glove.

It’s strange. No pain they inflict on me could nearly be as bad as the pain of losing what’s left of my family. That is their greatest form of torture, and they don’t even know it.

I let out a pathetic chuckle.

“What are you laughing at?” the other guards started yelling at me. “I’ll wipe that smirk right off your face!”

When the other guard reached for his baton, Dineta grabbed the end of it pleading with him to leave me alone. “Please, sir! She’s pregnant. You can’t hit her.”

“I can do whatever I want.” He gritted his teeth with delight as he pushed Dineta to the floor.

“That’s pretty pathetic of you,” Miller’s voice cut through the tension.

I slowly raised my head up, wondering what the hell he was doing.

“Beating up on a small pregnant woman? That must make you feel like real big men, huh? Embarrassing. You’re lucky I’m locked up in here because I would just love to tell the whole world how weak and sad you both are,” Miller chuckled. “Not to mention stupid. Why would she be the one casting potions when she’s not even a potionist? You just brought in a world-renowned potionist and can’t figure out that I was the one casting it.”

“You better shut your mouth before I shut it for you.” The guard holding me throttled my arm as he threatened Miller.

“I’d like to see you try, big boy. I bet you’ll get tired before I pass out.” He flashed him a debonair smile and the guard threw me to the ground. “I’m not sure what you are doing, but I hope it was worth it.”

Both the guards grabbed Miller and dragged him out of the cell.

“Miller!” I shouted, reaching my arm out but finding myself unable to stand up.

He turned around and gave me a somber smile before he disappeared into the hallway.

Dineta crawled beside me and held me in her arms.

My only hope was that I didn’t just get Miller killed.

24

OMARA

It had already been a few weeks since Jax had moved to the Federation of Setas with Chika.

As much as Omara wanted to visit them, she didn’t want to overstep.

Her days had now grown bare and lonely.

Before she was able to distract herself by taking care of Jax, but now there was nothing to distract from the gaping hole that was in her life. She always thought that at least when Jax left, she would have her husband to grow old with. Now she had nobody… Except?—

There was a knock at the door that distracted Omara from her dishwashing duty.

“Who could that possibly be?” she mumbled to herself as she wiped her wet hands on her apron and made her way to the front door.

“I used to receive fresh herbs from Kolla Nadir, but now even she won’t come around. She appears to be upset with me, although I don’t know why.”

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