Page 55 of Crowned A Traitor
“I suppose I owe you now,” Wolfgang said his eyes masked by his fallen hair. “You look better,” Klara said, and Wolfgang pulled himself slowly upright. “I mean, you look less dead.”
“I’ll take it,” Wolfgang said.
Klara noticed that Arthur remained close to Kharon.Death’s Deliverer and a soul, will Kharon let Arthur off the boat?The thought had only dawned on her. Arthur didn’t belong on this plane anymore; only his sentence kept him here.Would he want to pass over?Klara didn’t know where he would end up.To have your soul destroyed meant an endless sleep. After years of servitude, maybe Arthur would want that.Klara pushed the thought aside.
“Where are we?” Wolfgang asked, pulling his hair back away from his face, and they came to a fork in the River created by a magnificent cliff chasm. Klara pointed to the right side, “See that reflection, like a sheet of glass. It’s where the Humans pass from their world to ours.”
“And them?” His voice dropped, looking at the distorted souls in the water, unable to enter the pass, Doomed to circulate. Distorted faces and sleeping souls floated in the black ink.
“Those who couldn’t pay the price of passage to the next life,” Kharon interrupted, and Wolfgang paled again.
“What happens to them?” Lottie asked as she squeezed between Klara and Wolfgang. Lottie leant over the edge for a closer look.
Both Wolfgang and Klara reached for Lottie to stop her from falling in. “The souls are plucked,” Klara started but Wolfgang interrupted.
“When you’re older, I’ll tell you more,” Wolfgang said. Klara hadn’t considered Lottie was too young to learn about souls forced into servitude.
“I’m not little anymore, I want to know where they go,” Lottie’s brow creased.
“They will work in Malum until they can pay the toll,” Klara simplified, and Lottie rolled her eyes. A trait she shared with her brother before she got up to sit with her unicorn bag.
“She is only seven, she still thinks we all go to Heaven,” Wolfgang said, and Klara looked at the chasm separating the River. “When I was her age, I thought we all went to Hell.” Klara was surprised by Wolfgang’s laughter, and she couldn’t help joining in.
It was a devastating omission, and yet she told him.Trusting him is a risk, Klara thought, looking at his improving complexion.It would have been much easier to hate him if he had the face of an Ogre. Would Frendall look at someone the way he had once looked at her? No.
Klara stopped herself from thinking of the Commander.
“You should get some sleep, it shouldn’t be long now,” Klara told him, and his eyes lingered on her. “I think you need it more than I do,” Wolfgang said before going to lay beside his sister.
~13~
“Klara.” The sound of her name caused her to reach out but instead of the wooden rim of the boat she found cold marble. Klara flexed her jaw as the sudden rise in heat prickled her skin. “Arthur? Lottie?” She called, trying to stand as her vision blurred, “Wolfgang?”
Her name echoed around her once again. Gone was the rocking of the longboat. The darkness surrounding her was only interrupted by a rush of flames in the corner of her Father’s throne room. Panic ripped through her. Klara didn’t know if it was the stifling heat or her racing heart, making her sweat.
“Listen to me! We don’t have long.” The whisper floated around her as the chandeliers lit and Klara stood on shaky legs. This isn’t possible, Klara looked at her translucent hands and sighed in relief. She was a projection. Her Father had summoned her soul. Klara’s body was still on the longboat with the others at least she hoped it was.
“Father?” Klara called as a circle of candles caged her. Looking for the King, she saw the maroon liquid pooled at the steps to the King’s throne. Her stomach dropped, knowing what her Father had done. The only way to summon a soul was to sacrifice another. Another life lost because of me.Klara suppressed therage coiling inside her.
“You have betrayed me daughter.” Klara’s eyes followed the voice to the lifeless body lying at the base of the King’s throne. “Betray you? I’m hunted by the very Queens’ you sent to protect me.”
Lucifer leant his elbows on his knees, his face drawn, and his eyes rimmed with dark circles.
“They told me about your plan to leave.” The King banged his fist against the throne, and the room shook, but Klara felt a sense of ease knowing he couldn’t harm her in a projection.
“My own flesh wants to leave for Kalos. Those filthy Faes, you think them better than us!” His voice dripped with contempt for those on the other side of the River.
“Yes, I do. I never asked to rule Malum or Hell. All it means is waiting for Abadan to take my head. I would rather be in exile.” The King’s eyes flashed red. “You have responsibilities!”
“What of your responsibilities? Abadan is tearing Malum apart as we speak. And yet you sit here wailing about me.” A long silence fell between them.
Klara bowed her head, trying to extinguish his rage. “Eve and Abadan are vying for your throne. They wish to put their children in your place. Maybe Eve wants the Forest, but I can be damn sure Abadan wants Hell. You damned me the moment you said you wished to retire to play with Humans.”
“I’m the King. How dare you dictate to me!”
“Then act like the King!” Her roar tore through her throat.
“Nonsense...” Lucifer scoffed flaring his nostrils. “Those children are mere soldiers. I would never allow their ascension.” The King paced in front of his throne, “You are of me,” Lucifer pointed at her.
