Page 56 of Hupotasso
At least, I was.
Viper’s new edict might just shatter the protective shell I’ve built around my sanity.
Tatyana giggles and arches her back as she comes, kicking me away, and I spit out a piece of her red toenail polish that had wedged between my teeth.
Before this all happened I could truly say I would never kill someone, not on purpose.
Now, I crave murder.
I would kill these two in a heartbeat.
The weeks of torture have changed something inside me, hardened me. I used to think everyone had some redeeming quality, and it was not up to me to decide who lived or died. I mean, what if the person I killed went on to be someone who cured cancer or did something that changed the course of history.
Not any more.
I couldn’t care less if Viper and Tatyana held the cure to every disease known to man.Theyare a plague on this planet, and they deserve to die.
I lean back now and stare expressionless as Viper continues outlining his new order. An order I must follow, no matter how heinous it is. And this time, he’s outdone himself. I can’t help but wonder if this was his plan all along, if all my subjugation had led to this intrigue.
Because it won’t be just me who’s destroyed by his new plot.
I hang my head as Tatyana rises, stalking from the room, saying she has ‘business to attend to,’ and leaving me alone with Viperand the newborn calf he has chained in the corner, ready for his sick, nightly games.
“And Angie, you’ll make sure he feels everyinchyour man,” he goes on. “You’ll adore him, fuck his brains out, and make him think he’s the only one you’ve ever loved, while at the same time telling Falcon you hate his guts and would rather be dead than married to him.”
I shake my head, but no words come out.
“Time to make a baby Jag,” Viper laughs harshly. “Get to it.”
42
Sauntering towards mother’s rooms to discuss our latest uncomfortable dinner, I jerk my head as a scream pierces the quiet hallways.
The smell of blood hits me almost instantaneously.
As I reach Mother’s room, Jag right behind me, I take in everything in an instant. Asumpta, her sword bloodied and raised, ready to strike again, her boot on Tatyana’s chest where she lies laughing maniacally, one arm basically severed at the shoulder.
And Mother.
“NO!”
Falling to my knees I lift her head gently to my lap and press my hand to the wound in the centre of her chest where a knife protrudes.
I barely glance up as Jag stops Asumpta from dealing the death blow to Tatyana, before cursing loudly as the Russian runs to the window and attempts to smash through and fall to her death. He catches her, throwing her to the ground and shouting that death is too good for her as he and Asumpta pin her down and Asumpta growls that she must be under someone’s control. They both act quickly to stop the assailant from swallowing her tongue and choking herself to death.
As Tatyana struggles, her arm, hanging on by just a few sinews, snaps off completely, and her screams begin, horrified and shocking in their intensity.
Asumpta laughs as Jag slaps the Russian and shouts that if she complies and shuts the fuck up he’ll get her medical aid. She sobs and begs for help before starting to pray in a steady stream of Russian as Jag shoves Asumpta’s blade into the fire.
Prayers won’t help her now. Jag and I will find out whose control she’s under. We’ll find out every secret she’s ever had. But it relies on her not bleeding out. I don’t even look up as Jag pulls the blade from the fire and sears her shoulder. She screams once and lapses into unconsciousness, the smell of roasted pork filling the room. We’ve both been on enough battle fields to know cauterisation will stop the bleeding until she can be seen by a doctor. Providing she doesn’t die of shock.
But right now she’s not my concern.
All around me staff are shouting and running, and I know help is on the way. But I also know Mother’s losing a lot of blood. Theknife has either pierced or nicked her heart. I can’t tell from the angle it’s in. Either way, her wound looks fatal. With Father dead and the hupotasso broken she’s mortal now. She can die as easily as any human can.
“Mother,” I whisper.
Opening her eyes she stares up at me, seeming to drift away then come back as though she’s just recognised me.
