Page 29 of Unlikely Omega

That’s how I feel as I’m escorted to the dungeon of the fort, a place so rarely used I’ve never even visited it before, so unused that rats watch me from the corners and the wooden bench pushed against one wall of my cell that has rotten and fallen to pieces.

I kneel by the bars that form one wall and stare out into the dark. The place stinks of rot and piss and death. I’m not sure if I’m more worried about spending the night here or the Synod’s decision about my fate.

How did it come to this? How did it happen?

Only one person knew about the blood, I think, only one person who would tell on me because he barely knows me and doesn’t owe me and I’ve clashed with him already.

Finnen.

Pressing my forehead to the ice-cold bars, I chant his name in my head, letting my fury warm me up, hide the fear. “Finnen. Finnen.”

He said he wanted to protect me, but he’s a priest, and he talks to the other priests. I remember the look on his face when he told me I’m bleeding. He didn’t believe me when I said I cut myself.

He told them.

Handed me over to them.

Why? What does he stand to gain? Did he decide to give me up and save himself, a scapegoat for their mounting paranoia, so he could go on unharmed, maybe even rising in the ranks?

Damn him.

I don’t even know why I’m so upset. He means nothing to me, just like I mean nothing to him. We never pretended otherwise.

So why does it hurt so much?

It doesn’t make sense.

I sit on the bench of my cell and try not to think of him, not to let the anger and fear consume me. I probably won’t ever see him again, and it’s both a pain and a relief.

So I can hardly believe it when he comes to me.

It feels like a small eternity later when he arrives. I smell him in the dark before I even see him. His footsteps are soft, bare feet whispering on the rock from which the fort was once cut.

He whispers, “Ariadne.”

“Come to gloat, have you?” I jump to my feet and grab the bars, press my face to them. “Go away and may you be cursed forever.”

His steps halt. “Gloat? I came to tell you that I’ll do my best to get you out of here.”

“Now you want to pretend you’re my friend? You told Elegos, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I told him. How do you know?” He steps so close that his scent winds up around me, subtle and yet persistent under the stench of the dungeon. “He goaded me. I lost my self-control.”

“This is all your fault.” A sob threatens my voice and I have to stop and swallow hard. “My life was none of your business. You did this to me.”

“Ariadne—”

“My bleeding was none of your damn business!”

“What are you talking about?” His hands close over mine and I want to knee him in the balls but the bars are making my plan difficult. “Ariadne! Listen to me.”

“Why?”

“You think I told him about the blood? You told me you cut yourself. How was I supposed to know it was your awakening?” When I struggle to pull my hands away, he only grips them harder. “I told High Priest Elegos that I have claimed you and that he has no right to harm you.”

I squint at him, needing to see his face, his expression, but it’s too dark. His hands are too hot over mine, scorching, just like his scent winding its way through me, making my insides clench, making me burn along with him.

“Why should I believe you?” I whisper.

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