Kane looks over at me with pride putting out his hands. "Aren't they magnificent?"
I look from them to him and back again. "I don't understand. What do you need with mortals?"
"Transference," he states. "I plan to use these souls to infuse Drogaem's corpse with life. On the mortal plane these three are examples of what mortals believe to be bad or unworthy. They are the castaways, those humans that no one will ever notice have gone missing."
I begin to speak without thinking, reaching the end of my rope. "Kane, this is horrible. This is not only wrong on a human level, but this is morally inept. These are people just like me."
Kane scoffs, laughing to himself. "They are nothing like you and you are nothing like them. You are not necessarily completely a mortal, now are you? Your powers give you a magical ability."
I step forward, trying to appeal to Kane so that I can keep him from killing these people. "What happened to you? What happened to the man that I thought you were? The one that seems to care about others, to comfort me, to find just as much beauty in life as there is in death? Where have you gone?"
Kane rolls his eyes and walks away with the torch in his hands. "That's a very mortal thing to say. You're being sentimental about something that only lasted for a few moments and you still question whether it was real or not. Sacrifices must be made, and if you'd like to take one of their places, feel free."
I am speechless, I thought for just a split second that Kane would see what he was doing was wrong, but instead he pushes me away. He has broken any vow of kindness he has ever made toward me. He has tainted the relationship between the Underworld and the mortals.
This moment cements the idea in my mind that even my life is expendable.
Chapter 11
Briar
My walk back to my chambers is silent, and Kane has abandoned me to his own processes and demands. At first, I walk quickly, putting space between me and him but as the lights grow brighter, I am comforted by them. My breathing is heavy, and I turn the corners with purpose not paying the least bit of attention to any paintings or servants along the way. Getting back to my room, I burst through the door, locking it behind myself and hurrying over, throwing my body down on the bed. Immediately tears flood my eyes and all I can see are those scared faces down below, screaming for me to help but all I do is turn away.
There's no way that they don't know that I'm a mortal. I turned my back on my own people, my own kind. Their screams are still echoing through my ears, and I can't make it stop. I'm devastated and I cannot believe that Kane has sunk to this level. That he has no more remorse than the God who ruled the Underworld before him. It's the first time in my life that I don't know what I'm supposed to do. My whole life has been planned out for me, every step outlined, and even when I came to the Underworld all alone, I knew what I needed to do and where I needed to go. But this is beyond my understanding. There is no one to guide me.
Slowly I pick myself up, wiping the tears with the back of my hand. I wrap the cloak around me but turn my head away from the fabric, smelling the stale scent of the crypts below. My thoughts follow Willem and how he has offered to sneak me out of the castle regardless of who will be taking me. As tempting as it is, as much as I want to run, run, and run until my legs will no longer carry me, I have already seen the people below and I cannot leave them. They are helpless, and Kane can squash them in an instant. They have no ability to fight back and it's incredibly unfair.
With a sniffle I stand up from the bed and walk over to the window, glaring out at the fields below, the city beyond that. All the people that live there, they worship Death, they believe him to be their God, their leader. What would those of them down below think of such cruel and unusual tendencies? I want to believe they would be appalled, that the people that I am bound to lead as their Queen would have a higher moral standard than what I have just seen, but the truth is I really don't know. All the things that I've learned and I still have only seen but a drop.
I sniffle again, raising the back of my hand to my eye and wiping the tear away. As I do, I pause staring down at the city, thinking about my conversation with Willem earlier. Kane hasn't just changed, he is a completely different person. So different in fact, I cannot help but think that perhaps he's not himself, that someone has infiltrated his mind and is controlling him in some manner. It would make sense as to why he doesn't seem to know about our past, why my instincts aren't to go to him any longer, and why he can't sense my emotions and feelings. He speaks of nothing but cruel and unusual punishments. He thinks about nothing but raising Drogaem from the dead.
If Kane can be controlled, where does that leave me? With my dreams, the voices, and the reflections, fear settles in the pit of my stomach. What if I too am being controlled, not by whoever is controlling Kane, but by this woman that continues to haunt me in my dreams and my visions. This soul that I've seen ever since I stepped foot on Drogaem's sandy beach. The tomb infiltrated me, but I fear that isn't the only thing.
I stare at
