Cahira

Chapter 20 - The Queen, not a pawn

  Can I trust him? No. But... If I wanted you killed, I would have killed you myself and not with a poison. And he could so easily kill me. So why would he try to poison me? And he is right, I didn't call Dominic and continue hearing him because even I do not trust him I am curious, curious to know what he wants to tell me.

  I open the glass bottle and smell the liquid. It has no scent. Hesitantly, I drink a little, its strange flavour hitting my tongue. It's neither cold nor hot, neither sweet nor salty. But it has a flavour, different from anything I'd tasted before. I drink a little more. And suddenly it becomes spicy, more and more spicy until I start to feel my mouth and my throat burning.

  I try to speak, to scream for help, but I can't. It is burning me. My throat, my lungs, my entire chest. My eyes start to watery. I look at Danton, my vision in a blur because of the tears. He is staring at me, undisturbed. I was right, he's poisoning me!

  And then, as suddenly as it came, the sensation disappears, leaving an empty space. Literally. I am not breathing. I don't feel my heart beating. But I don't feel the need to breathe. And my body is still working. What happened with me? I open my mouth but Danton is now in front of me, his hand covering my mouth, preventing me from speak.

"Don't speak or the effect disappears. It's temporary. Until you speak or during two hours." My eyes wide in surprise. It is like being a temporary vampire!

  He picks me up and starts running in his horrible vampiric velocity without warning. I feel the urge to puke while I see everything around me in a blur, my brain unable to register any proper image of the things around me because of the velocity.

  And then he stops. We are in a dark corridor, his body preventing me from clearly see anything but the closed door in front of us. With slow movements, he puts his ear to the door, indicating me to do the same, silently.

  "Are you forgetting why you brought her?" Katherine's voice. Irritated, to say the least.

  "I know why I did it, okay? I didn't forget the plan and don't need you reminding me of it at every moment!" Dominic's voice. Harsh and cold as I had never heard it.

  "You can play with her later. First you need to discover what she knows about her parents. Or your work will mean nothing!"

  Dominic growls, a clear warning. "I don't need you telling me what I should do!" his voice is powerful, full of hidden threatens.

  "Whatever," Katherine replies and I'm sure she's rolling her eyes right now.

  "Kat, control your tongue!" he demands, clearly angry. "I'd already told you she knows nothing."

  "And still she recognized the haladie!" Katherine exclaims, her voice harsh and enraged.

  I listen a fist slamming on a counter and Dominic's voice, controlled, calm and powerful. And scary, really scary, "Yes, she did. And now what? We can pretend you've all the power you want. I don't care. But do not try to boss me around as if I'm an average part of your clan. I'm the one making decisions about this and you'll keep things this way, understood?"

  "No, I will not! Your emotions are controlling you and destroying all our work. Her parents are dead! But she is still here! Alive. And you are telling me that she knows nothing when moments ago she almost killed you with the haladie!" Katherine yells, furious.