Two Thousand Years | The Empire Saga #1

Chapter Twenty-Three

She heard humming.

No, it was chanting. Low and melodic.

It wasn't English, and though it sounded familiar, she couldn't decipher it.

She smelled something burning. Candles and incense.

Her body ached, and she wondered if her collision had broken anything vital. The surface she laid on was softer than the floor, so at some point she was moved.

Attempting a deep breath in, she coughed as her lungs revolted, but not enough to cause concern. At least she could breathe.

Still, her head pounded, but was it due to a concussion or the incense?

Only when she tried to move her hand to rub her temple did she feel the cold bit of hard metal wrapped around her wrists. Panicked, she quickly opened her eyes and looked up. Her fears were confirmed as both wrists were shackled above her head and chained to the bed's headboard.

"I'm sorry, Empress, but you gave me no other choice."

Reylor's voice brought her out of her haze, and she frantically tried to pull her hands down and out of the restraints but was painfully unsuccessful. Her efforts only created fresh cuts where the metal dug into her skin.

Craning her head down, her ankles suffered from the same fate. Each leg had its own manacle and was chained at opposite posts at the foot of the bed. She tried to free them, but again her efforts were in vain and she screamed out at her frustrations.

"Fighting will get you nowhere, Empress."

Alex followed the sound of his voice toward the end of the bed, where he stood leaning against one of the posts with his arms crossed against his chest. The look of pure satisfaction across his shadowed face made her stomach churn, but it was his eyes, with their unnaturally deep red glow, that made the panic, rage and fear within her finally boil over.

"You bastard!" was all she could spit out amidst her fury.

He shrugged. "I've been called worse, I assure you, but no, not this time. I gave you the chance, the choice, and you chose...poorly."

He walked along the edge of the bed, his finger tracing the outline of her leg as he passed. Her eyes followed him through every step, but she was helpless as he leaned over her, his hands resting on the bed by either side of her head, his face right above hers.

"I would have given you everything, Alexstrayna, but you chose to run away from me. Maybe I gave you too many opportunities to consider your options, and that was my mistake. So now, it is my turn to make the decisions for you."

She growled at him and she tried to release her limbs from the chains again, but it was no use.

He stood, laughing at her. "I could have, should have, just taken care of it the first night you were here, but the scrolls were harder to decipher than I expected. But the longer you were here, I realized that the hardest part was already done for me, therefore I was able to manipulate the scrolls better to serve my true purpose."

He watched her with a sick gleam in his eyes. "Initially I thought I would have to start the entire process from scratch, but like a good prince, Treyan has already done it for me."

She glared up at him upon hearing Treyan's name. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't be so naive, Alexstrayna. Do you honestly think he fucked you out of sheer desire or pure romance? Never! It was nothing but necessity. His predestined duty."

"It's none of your business!" she spat.

"Oh, no? So, you haven't figured it out yet, have you?"

"Figured out what?" she demanded through clenched teeth.