Page 19 of Scourged

Mariah lifted her chin to meet his watery gaze, the familiar slimy smile across his face.

He stood from his chair, filling up a plate with food, before stepping around the table and meandering over to her. “Are you hungry, my dear? I hear they fed you tonight, but I imagine it wasn’t quite up to your standards. We have so much delicious food we would love to share with you!”

Mariah only kept her eyes on him, watchful and wary and furious.

Soon, too soon, he stood before her, that plate overflowing with food clutched in his meaty hands. He knelt, grunting with the effort, a few clumps of rice falling from the plate. The smell struck Mariah in the face like a punch, desperation for the nourishment roaring and raging inside her.

She bit down on the gag in her mouth to stop from groaning.

Shawth eyed her, curiosity written across his face. “You look … quite well, considering the state I last saw you in. Did someone heal you?”

Mariah forced every last ounce of hatred and rage into her stare, hoping it was enough to burn him where he stood. He watched her, brows furrowed, before he sighed and shook his head.

“It is no matter. Surely, you must be hungry?” A glint returned to his eyes. “I will promise you this.” He lifted the plate, bringing it closer to her face, wafting it under her nose. Her eyes watered with starvation. “We’ll let you join us for this feast—let you eat as much as your heart desires. On one condition.”

As much as Mariah didn’t want to hear it, she already knew what the condition would be.

A darkness entered Shawth’s blue eyes. “Abdicate your power, and the food is yours. All of it, as much as you want. And everything we offered you earlier as well. Your freedom, your independence, your health. You can have it all … if you just abdicate.”

For a brief, fleeting moment, Mariah wavered.

Why would it be so bad to give up her power? She didn’t think it was possible to do what Shawth asked, but what if it was? She would have everything she’d ever wanted—money, freedom, the ability to go anywhere and be anyone she wanted. To remake her life into what she wanted it to be, not what some man or goddess decided it would be for her.

She allowed her resolve to waver there for those moments. Allowed herself to be desperate, weak, and selfish, just for a heartbeat.

Then the promises she’d made came rushing back. Her promise to Ciana, to girls all over the kingdom just like her best friend. Victims of a society that didn’t appreciate them and would never change without something drastic to force it.

Promises to her mother to always stay strong, to never lose who she was—a fighter.

Promises to her goddess to stay the path, to listen. To fight the war that none could see, but Mariah could feel brewing, even if she didn’t yet know who was responsible.

With those promises, she remembered why she’d gone to the courtyard that night in the first place. It hadn’t just been to see Andrian.

It had been to becomeQueen.

Mariah lifted her head, the flickers of her magic locked away in her soul stinging against the stone on her wrist, and she knew that despite the suppression, silver-gold flashed in her eyes, her fury gleaming.

She couldn’t speak, not with the gag in her mouth, so she simply growled, the sound low and hardly human. A sound that shocked even her.

A beast stirred beneath her skin, roaring awake.

Something—fear, curiosity, horror—flickered in Shawth’s eyes. Wavered and then went out, replaced by his usual dead, hateful stare.

“Do you have something you wish to say, my dear?” He handed the plate of food to a guard behind him before pulling the gag from her mouth, his hands resting too long on her cheeks.

Disgust raced through her as she spat on the floor the moment the gag was free, coughing and desperate to clear her mouth of the vile taste.

“Well?” Shawth’s tone was expectant, excited.

Gods, Mariah really shouldn’t say what she was about to. But holding her tongue wasn’t one of her strengths.

“I do have something to say.” Her voice was hoarse from disuse, but the room still fell silent, even the whispered side conversations of the ladies ceasing in expectation. Shawth lifted an eyebrow as Mariah met his stare.

“I will …” She coughed again, throat still raw. “I will pray to the goddess that you get fucked up the ass by your horse before being drowned in the depths of the Mirrored Sea.”

Mariah wasn’t sure what sort of reaction she expected from her words, but it certainly wasn’t the one she got.

The room erupted into raucous, roaring laughter. Shawth grinned merrily before rising from his crouch.

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