A/N: From this chapter and on I rearranged a lot of things and added some new scenes, so I'd recommend rereading the next few chapters for the rest of the story to make sense.
"Your Majesty!"
Levana pivoted toward the voice on the outskirts of the control room. A woman had stood up and was adjusting an invisi-screen. "I think I've found something."
Levana shoved past the technician beside her to get a better view. The screen showed the central square of an outer sector—regolith mining, perhaps, judging by the dust that covered every surface, smudging even the camera lens. The fountain depicting her likeness could be seen in the footage, a thing of beauty in their drab world.
The square was full of people, a rarity in itself. Her mandated curfew ensured that the people focused on their work and their rest without being tempted to converge with their neighbors during off-work hours.
"Is this live?" she asked.
"No, My Queen. This was filmed not long after the end of the workday." She hastened through the footage, and Levana squinted to try to make sense of it. Guards, civilians, a just punishment, and then ...
"Pause the video."
The woman did, and Levana found herself staring into the face that had haunted her for months. If there had been any doubt, the monstrous metal hand dispelled it.
"Where is this?"
"Regolith Mining 9."
Levana's lips curled upward.
The cyborg was hers.
"Send word to Aimery—he's to assemble a team for immediate deployment to this sector. Linh Cinder is to be arrested and brought to me for a public trial and execution. Use whatever methods you see fit to detain her." Her vision bled with loathing as she stared at the screen. The haughty girl with her ignorant words and her proud displays. "We are not to tolerate any sympathizing with her or her allies. This uprising must be brought to an end."
***
Something gurgled in the back of my throat as I gasped. My knees buckled, causing all my weight to be held up by the manacles around my wrists. The air felt icy on the torn skin there. Something hot was dripping down my arms.
I cried out as Aimery slapped me across the face again. I wasn't sure whether he had broken the skin or not—I only knew that it felt like fire licking my cheekbone.
"I'll ask you again."
I grit my teeth as Aimery's nails dug into my chin.
"Who else came with you into the palace?"
I glared at him through hazy eyes. "G-go to hell."
He released me in disgust when I began coughing. It was a wet, revolting sound. Red sprayed. Drool leaked out the corners of my mouth.
"You'd be saving yourself the suffering you're currently experiencing should you behave cooperatively."
My head lolled to the side. "But that wouldn't be very fun for you, would it?"
His eyes flashed. "No," he chuckled. "It wouldn't be."
"We both know you won't get anywhere with torturing me." A hot tear leaked down my cheek as more blood welled at my wrists. I winced and shifted to try and alleviate some of the weight away from them.
In doing so, I felt the hook holding them wiggle.
"Perhaps not." Aimery moved to his floor-to-ceiling window, pushing the monochrome curtains to the side. Artemisia glittered like a city of diamonds. "But once we kill your cyborg friend, you won't be of much use anymore."
I shimmied my hands from side to side, trying to loosen the hook further, ignoring the sharp jabs of pain crackling through my nerve endings. "And then what? You'd just kill me as well?"
Aimery stared out the window, seemingly lost in thought. "How long," he murmured, "do you think it would take you to break if I simply left you in a cold, dark cell to rot?"
The hook was less stable than before—I could feel it.
"Humans need company," Aimery sighed. "They go a little crazy without it. Since you hate me so much, perhaps you'd prefer to be on your own, hm?" He turned to face me, head tilted. I stilled my movement immediately.
"I always imagined that's what death would be like. A cold, dark cell—a place where you'd be unable to move. Trapped in your own head with no one else to guide you out of the dark places you end up in. An eternity of conscious nothingness." With each word, Aimery stepped closer.
"You wouldn't do that," I replied. Why won't this damn hook break? "There's no point in keeping a trophy that no one can see."
Aimery stopped before me. He smiled. "You consider yourself a prize? Commander, you have about as much worth as the dirt between your knuckles."
I shot my legs out, catching Aimery in the stomach.
The momentum was enough to tear the hook from its ceiling mount, sending me crashing to the floor. Before Aimery could bioelectrically halt my movements, I punched him once, twice, three times, to send him into a daze.
"How's that dirt taste?"
He groaned.
My fingers wrapped around his throat, my thumb pressing into his Adam's apple. Then I began squeezing.
Aimery wheezed and clawed at my hands, which were soon covered in angry red scratches. I didn't feel it. All I cared about was watching Aimery's eyes dim as I choked the life out of him.
Until they weren't Aimery's eyes at all.
I stilled when I realized it wasn't the Thaumaturge pinned beneath me, but instead little Cress, grasping at my bloody wrists.
"Do it," she whispered. "Kill me."
I swallowed, then increased the pressure on her throat. It's not Cress. It's not Cress. It's not Cress.
Nevertheless, my vision grew bleary as my eyes swam with tears. Cress' eyelids fluttered.
"I'm not stopping you," she wheezed.
A tear escaped past my lashes and landed on Cress' cheek.
"Kill me, Y/n. Just like you did your brother."
What?
I wrenched my hands away as if she'd burned me. In a split-second, Cress was Aimery again, landing a blow to the underside of my jaw.
My head snapped back, and I fell to the floor with a gasp.
Aimery's chuckle was stone on stone. He caressed his neck. "I knew you couldn't do it," he rasped.
My ears were ringing—a loud, obnoxious noise that battered the insides of my skull. "How do—how do you know about Isaac?"
"I had the privilege of overseeing some of his...punishments during training."
My breaths became shallow. White spots danced in my vision from hyperventilation.
Aimery knew Isaac. Aimery had interacted with Isaac. He might have hurt him. Tortured him, like he was torturing me.
Aimery stood and began creeping towards me.
When had the room started spinning? Probably due to a mix of dehydration and emotional and physical strain or...something. I didn't know. I couldn't think straight.
But I couldn't break down. Not here, not in front of him.
"Oh, look at you," Aimery sighed. "You're trying so hard to keep it together, aren't you?"
I scrambled backwards. I couldn't do this. Not right now, not in front of this sadist.
Aimery caught hold of me in an instant, pinning me to the floor. "Now, where do you think you're going?"
"Let me go!" I screamed.
"Oh, no, no, no. You don't get to run from me." He seized my face, digging his fingers into my cheeks. "Not now that things are finally getting so interesting."
I writhed beneath him. "Get off!" My voice broke. Horrifically. Pathetically.
A sob escaped past my lips. When had I started crying? "Please."
Aimery stilled at that. "Oh?" He tightened his grip and I cried out. He had to have drawn blood by now. "I like it when you say that."
He leaned down. His breath was hot on the shell of my ear. "Do it again."
I whimpered. A weak, disgusting noise. "P-please. Please just leave m—leave me alone."
"Aww. I don't think I can do that just yet."
A knock sounded at the door.
Aimery sighed in irritation. "Though it seems I must, for now."
He relinquished his hold and crossed the room, leaving me a weeping mess on the floor.
Through my sobbing, I vaguely registered a stiff voice informing Aimery he was needed somewhere.
"Well, I'm sorry our time was cut short, darling. I'm afraid my presence is required in sector RM-9. The same sector the rest of your friends just so happen to be hiding out in."
His smile glittered like poison.
"I'll try to bring you back a cyborg limb as a souvenir, but things may get a bit...messy."
The door clicked shut.
I was too drained to do anything other than let my eyes fall closed.