Page 74 of Red Queen

“Ah, but that can be easily remedied.” Her words drip with venom as she produces a dagger, its blade curved and cruel.

She presses it against my flesh, and with swift, sadistic pleasure, she cuts. The pain is searing, white-hot, and relentless.

“Still feeling regal, princess?” she taunts, twisting the knife.

My blood—a royal crimson—flows freely, soaking the cold floor.

“Fuck you,” I snarl through clenched teeth, thrashing against the agony. Each word is a battle cry, evidence of my unyielding spirit.

“Such language for royalty.”

“Go to hell.” My voice is ragged. “You may take my blood, but you will never take my spirit,” I say, the defiance in my words unwavering despite the pain coursing through me.

Catarina’s sneer cuts through the air like a knife. “Oh, but I intend to break not just your body but your spirit as well. Your defiance only makes it all the more satisfying.”

I grit my teeth against the pain, refusing to give her the satisfaction of seeing me waver. “You will find that breaking me is no easy feat, Catarina. I am stronger than you could ever imagine.”

Her eyes gleam with malice as she leans in closer, her face twisted into a cruel smile. “We shall see about that, my dying Queen. We have all the time in the world for you to learn the error of your ways.”

“I will never bow to you. No matter what horrors you inflict upon me, I shall never submit.”

Catarina’s smile widens as she raises the dagger once more, tracing it lightly along my skin. “Oh, I do so love disobedience. Let us see just how long that cheekiness lasts.”

She prepares to strike again, but the door opens.

Catarina straightens, her face unreadable, eyes on me.

“What is this intrusion?” Her grip on the dagger tightens.

A guard comes into the cell, nervous and wild-eyed. “Intruders were found in the dungeons, Catarina!”

Alexandru? Has he come for at long last? Thank the gods!A slice of hope blossoms in my chest.

Catarina’s eyes flash. “What? Intruders? Kill…oh, wait.”

“Please! Catarina, don’t?—”

“Hurt him? Are you ready to beg.”

Silence stretches as I fight instinct to do just that.

Finally, she waves off the guard. “Go, I have unfinished business here.”

“So not even for him will you beg?”

“I beg and you’ll do what you want.”

The annoyance that flashes answers me.

“How do you feel, you look flustered, and not well, worried about your lover?” She snaps her fingers. “Silly me. That was ages ago.”

My head spins, turning light and the pain is nothing compares to the fear lighting up all my pathways. “Alexandru? H-he came?”

I grab the panic. If he did come, which I think he did since she used it against me, he got away. She doesn’t have him. A creature like her would open with that, Taunt me.

No, he’s alive. Safe. Somewhere. And I raise my chin. “He did, didn’t he? And he got away. Don’t deny it. I can feel it.”

“You feel nothing but pain.” But Catarina’s amusement wanes; perhaps she grows tired of our game of pain and resistance. She steps back, wiping my blood from her hands with a look of indifference. “This bores me. Your screams lack variety.”

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