Page 10 of The Queen's Serpent

My hand reaches up and grabs his wrist, tightening before I soothe it with a slight touch. His eyes focus on mine, and his breathing quickens. “Please,” I whisper.

“I can’t save you,” he whispers back.

“Then help me at least… bear it,” I whisper as a tear trails down my face.

He moves the scope back and forth across my chest, his eyes lingering on mine as more tears slip from my eyes, and make their way down my face. I can see the moment he makes up his mind on whether he will help me or not. His jaw tenses, and he tears his gaze from mine. He refuses to meet my eyes again as he steps back away from me.NO! Please no!

“I’m going to give you the antibiotic now. Your chest sounds much better, and your skin is healing from the bites and rash.” I hear what he refuses to say out loud. He won’t help me escape into oblivion. He’s not going to give me the morphine.

Rage fills me like it never has before. How fucking dare he deny me the one comfort that he can provide in this awful place? This fucking hell that I’m trapped in. He thinks he’s helping me by healing me with antibiotics, so his psychotic boss can keep me alive and trapped here forever. FUCK HIM! Fuck all of them. I would rather die.

My hand lashes out before I can even process what I have done, and strikes across his face so hard that it makes it turn to the side. The loud sound makes my ears ring, and I can sense Santiago moving closer to us, but I can’t seem to contain myself. I launch myself at Raphael, biting, slapping, and snarling, hitting him anywhere and everywhere my limbs can reach, even as he cries out in shock.

“You bastard! You’re just like them! Give me what I want. What I need!” I try to get around him, to the tray on the table holding what I desire more than anything in this world. I need it! If I can just get to it, maybe I can take the whole bottle, and it will kill me.

“Señorita!” Santiago’s voice is loud in the room, as he grasps my arms and hauls me back roughly away from Raphael, stopping my attempt to reach the bottle.

“NO! I need it! I fucking hate all of you! I need it, please!” I scream even as he throws me on the bed roughly, and I bounce, falling over to the other side.

“Get out of the room, hurry now!” Santiago instructs Raphael, and I watch as he snatches the morphine vial, before they both move towards the door. Panic races through my body, my blood rushing in my ears, and I race around the bed towards them but reach them just as the door slams, and the sound of the lock is engaged.

I fall to my knees, a scream leaving my lips. I failed! I once again failed, even this small task I couldn’t accomplish. They will never give me the drugs now that I have played my hand. Now they know how desperate I am. I truly am weak and useless; I can’t even help myself.

I know now that I’m never getting out of here.I will never be free.

Chapter six

Diego

“The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald

I’m trying hard to concentrate on what my father’s telling me through the phone, but the words he’s uttering all seem to string along into background noise. I know I should be paying attention; he’s relaying important information about Stella Stratford’s hunt for Issy and me, but some part of me just doesn’t care.

It’s been two agonizing days since I last saw her. Since I dragged her up out of that deep hole in the earth, covered in dirt, filth, and insect bites. Her small body was so sweaty and feverish to my touch, and her beautiful sapphire eyes were dull and lost. She was sick down there because of me, because of my irrational actions.

I fucking hurt her. She could have died if Santiago hadn’t approached me with his concerns. I was prepared to leave her down there for a few more days until I broke her will to leave me, her desire to continue to deny that she belongs with me. I could have killed her. The thought races over and over in my mind on repeat. I could have killed the one woman I yearn for above all else.

“Hijo, are you even listening to me?“ My father’s annoyed voice penetrates the thoughts that continuously circle my mind on a never-ending, chastising loop.

“Yeah, I’m listening,” I reply with aggravation.

“I don’t think you are, Diego. You have made an enemy of a very powerful, furious woman. One who could destroy our organization, and wipe our bloodline off the face of the earth. She will not stop until she has her granddaughter returned to her, and you cannot hide in the jungle forever,mihijo. She has hired an army of the best mercenaries to find you; it’s just a matter of time before they do, and they have orders to kill you on sight.”

My eyes close as I drag my hand down my face, my palm rubbing against the rough skin of the scar along the surface of my cheek. A scar another enemy graced me with when they, too, tried to kill me, and I survived. I’ll survive Stella Stratford’s attempts to kill me, too.

It’s not that I believe myself invincible; quite the opposite. It’s the fact that I don’t fear death or meeting the devil. I’ve seen what evil walks amongst the earth disguised as humans. There are no monsters that are more frightening.

It’s also because I know I’m like the great and mighty serpents that have survived since the world first began to turn; one way or another, I will shed my skin and evolve, but never truly die. My plans are to ensure that my name lives forever, and in order to do that, I need that little dark-haired broken doll under lock and key.

A knock on the door has me turning towards it. “I got to go,papá. I’ll be in touch soon.“ I don’t wait for his objection before disconnecting the satellite phone, and bracing my body against the solid wood desk in the room. I need a distraction to take my mind off what I have done to the beauty confined to yet another prison of my making.

We should let her go. The thought whispers through my mind, but I shut it down immediately. Any guilt that I’m feeling, I need to put aside and think of the big picture. All the sacrifices that I’ve made to have her. I can’t turn back now.

“Enter,” I command, and seconds later, a disheveled Santiago and red-faced Raphael enter the room.Oh goody, this should be good.It looks like myPrincesa’sspirit has finally woken up from its slumber. I was wondering how long it would take before she stopped playing the meek and broken victim, and showed the world the vicious, formidable creature that I know hides inside of her, the one I have all intentions of provoking to the surface.

I watch them approach, giving each of them my coldest, most brutal glare. The look that makes mens’ knees shake, and pray to a benevolent being, because they know I’m about to rip their hearts right out of their chests with no regard for their humanity.

---