Another breath froze her lungs, those iron bands loose and yielding. The stone she lay upon felt soft and thick, malleable as warm dough. Melting into the implacable sturdiness, she drew another breath to fill her lungs to bursting. Otaso spread her wide, shuffling between the pale length of her legs with teeth bared in a victorious snarl.
He’d given her everything, never left her wanting for anything except the small, useless pleasures of the sun on her face and the warm dust on her skin. She only had to succumb to him. He would have what he wanted, craved for so very long.
A tear fell from the brittle sweep of her lashes, smearing through kohl and powder. Scoring her cheek with the effervescent chill of it. The oddness of it momentary, the vague memory of her misery always hot and salty, never hurting this much, dashed away as another slipped free.
Aida didn’t want this, whatever it was or would become. She could not lie idle under him as he stole away even the flicker of hope.
Scream shrill, it ricocheted through the room.
Stone splintered, the crack of it shuddering through the dome before great chunks plummeted to the floor in thunderous hammers. Wood and glass fell before their weight, their sounds of destruction added to the melee. Otaso bellowed, eyes alight with his power and rage as he wrenched Aida closer. Skin peeled from the backs of her legs as they scraped over the rough edge of stone, she screamed again.
Blackness took her with a booming thunder, launching her into the swirling eddies of the starlit night to land in a crumpled heap upon the ruined floor. No sense of time came to her as Aida pushed up on weak arms to look around her. The quiet was eerie, the only sound the clatter of small stones tumbling to scatter across the ruin of the room. A low groan caught Aida’s attention. Shoving to her feet, using the jagged edge of a large rock to haul her upright, she searched the carnage.
“You… little bitch,” Otaso snarled as he shoved Vasari’s limp body from him.
Aida gasped, hand to her throat until the old general groaned and slapped a hand to the deep gash spilling blood down his face. Too late she saw Otaso coming towards her. Scurrying back, she held out a shaking hand to stop him. A worthless gesture as he stalked his prey while she sought to put the drifts of rubble between them.
“Years I have invested in you. Years! All for this moment,” he shouted, face twisted and shading to an unhealthy purple. “Coddling and pampering you, and for what? Look what you have done!”
“S-Sir, please, I… I don’t…” Aida screamed as he vaulted a table torn asunder, snatching at her arm. The hiss of ripping cloth loud in her ears, she tried to twist away. Caught in his cruel hold, she wasn’t going anywhere.
“The moment is gone forever, and you have ruined everything.” In an unexpected move, he let her go. Letting Aida stumble over the wreckage only to grab her by the throat. “Not even worth being a wet hole. You sicken me.”
Aida blanched from the coarse growl, understanding his meaning if not the words themselves. Knew it as a lie, as that darkness that had haunted her all these years shone bright in the depths of his murky eyes. Holding his wrist, she didn’t dare to claw at his arm as her breaths became further strained. Bit her tongue hard enough to taste the coppery tang of blood to keep her pleas silent.
Otaso threw her to the floor with a bellow that brought down more rubble. The arches groaned their distress as the sounds of his fury collided with cracked rock. Cowering before the man who held her life in his palm, Aida scrunched her eyes closed and awaited his commands. She did not understand what had happened. Whatever force had created such chaos and destruction was not Otaso’s, but she didn’t know where it came from. Impossible to imagine her racing thoughts of freedom, the horror at being his in every way he could claim her could wreak such violence.
Aida screamed when Otaso grabbed her arm and began dragging her. Remaining slipper unable to find purchase, her sounds of pain rushed in their wake as he hauled her through the rubble, uncaring of the tears in her gown or the rough marks cutting into her skin. He didn’t even pause when he burst through what remained of the door where dozens of his army congregated with wide eyes and pale faces. Otaso let them see her as she writhed at the end of her arm, screaming her mangled pleas at his stiff back.
He heard not a word of it. Ignoring Aida even when she grabbed hold of his torn robe, clinging to it. Sobbing as she implored him to stop. It was at the steep, dark stairs leading downwards that her confusion turned to horror. Stark terror raking cruel fingers down her back, she launched herself backwards. Ignored the tearing sensation in her shoulder as she grabbed hold of the smooth stone, her lacquered nails ripping to the quick as they scrambled for any purchase.
“I’m sorry, sir, please. Please, not this!” Aida shrieked in a mixture of pain and fear as Otaso grabbed the tangled knots of her hair, jerking at the braids hard enough that strands pulled free to drift through the darkling shadows.
Otaso said nothing. Fist clenched in her hair, his other arm slammed into her stomach. Doubling her over with a guttural moan, the corset stabbing into her flesh. Carrying her down the steep flight, he acted as if she weighed nothing at all. Her struggles meant nothing, a bare twitch to the solid muscle pinning her against his side.
The further they descended, the darker it became. Malicious shadows swirled through the weak glow of Otaso’s magic. A scarlet ball that sputtered and dimmed until only a small sphere illuminated the next step for the heavy tread of his boots. Hungry darkness grabbing at Aida’s flailing limbs as her tearful screams became a cacophony of misery.
Dank air sucking at her skin, the pervading chill seeped into the marrow of her bones as Otaso’s sure strides carried them deeper into the belly of the castle. The very pit of the Abyss opening wide to accept them as he came to the line of crusted locks and slimy bars.
The iron gate’s stuttering wail sluiced through the tangled darkness as Otaso forced it open, the dingy sphere above his head dipping and swaying, a drunken fire bug as he shoved the bars wide enough to admit his bulk. One great heave sent Aida through the air.
Body landing against the wall with a heavy thud, she collapsed the floor in a broken heap. Mouth working to pull in a breath, she clawed at the vulgar bricks. Dragging herself towards the rippling waves of fury that slammed around her skull. Beating her senseless though he stood back with his chin high. Staring down his nose at the wretched creature struggling to voice her entreaties.
“You’ll remain here until I decide what to do with you.” Swinging the barred door shut with another scream of metal, a surge of crimson washed over his hands. Locking the gate fast to all but his hand. The swell of power dimmed his orb further, the murky russet limning his harsh brow in a ruddy glow. “I suggest you consider your plight, girl. Think long and hard about what you have scorned so thoroughly and what shall become of you now.”
“Please, sir,” Aida yelled after his retreating back, arms outstretched through the jagged bars. Hoping against hope he would turn, that he wouldn’t abandon her in the empty pitch of this place. Tears and panic twisting through her, choking her on acrid bile, she attempted to give him pause. “Please, Otaso, I beg you—”
“You will beg me, Aida,” Otaso’s fading voice said, sliding through the deepening shadows. “In time, you will learn to beg very well.”