Smoldered Flames: Part I of the Edonia Series
Chapter 31

Valeri

Stanley’s face slowly turns blue and I ease my grip. He takes a tremendous breath before I hem him again. Stanley taps my arms, begging for me to release him. I release him finally and smack him across the face.

He kneels down on the ground, his hands flying up in defense. At that moment, I didn’t care. An unknown source of rage filled my bones. My fists began to pound into his weak flesh. My feet kicked at his abdomen. Not once did he fight back. Why wasn’t he defending himself?

I pause suddenly. Stanley had become a bloodied mess. I drag him to my room and slam the door shut.

Removing my necklace, I roar my inner voice to him. “WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?”

“I…I’ve been here, Mistress.”

“LIES! I SAW YOU! YOU WERE TAKING THE CHILDREN! TELL ME WHERE THEY ARE!”

“What children?”

“Very well. Since you want to play a game of incompetence, I’ll show you incompetence. Stay here, do NOT move.”

I run out of the room and head to Eros’ that’s diagonally from mine. Before I could knock, he opened the door.

“Val-” he begins, shocked.

“Save it! You owe me one.” I growl.

“What do you mean?” he asked, with a stunned look.

I cross my arms. “Don’t play dumb. I need a pair of Vitality cuffs.”

Eros shakes his head. “I didn’t take you for the risque type, Val.”

I hold the palm of my hand out, cocking my eyebrow. He sighs in exasperation and walks back into his room. Before I could take a peek, he rushes back to the door and tosses the Vitality cuffs at me.

“Here. The handcuffs can only release the person bound by the one who placed them.”

I can feel his heated gaze as I retreat back to my room without a thank you. Entering my bedroom, Stanley is curled up in the corner of the room.

“Come.”

He stands weakly and wobbles towards me. Stanley holds out his wrists and I place the vitality cuffs. He stiffens before crumbling to the ground.

“Until you are honest, the cuffs will remain.”

“But mistress-”

“SILENCE.”

I jerk Stanley to his feet. I hold my finger out and summon a stygian claw. He stiffens while I yank out his hand and scratch it. Blood pools at the center of his hand. I scratch the palm of my hand.

While I grasp Stanley’s bloody palm I say, “I, Valeri, bound thee, Stanley, to me for all eternity or until he has told me the full truth of the past. Only then will he be free.”

Wind erupts around us and an amber luminescence surrounds our hands. I take off my eyepatch and see a golden rope interweaving its way around from within our hands, traveling towards our wrists. Stanley’s eyes bulge out in panic. I release his hand in disgust.

“You are not to leave this room, unless I command it. You will not shit unless I command it, do you understand? Nod your head if you do.”

Stanley nods his head. I walk off to the bathroom to wash the day away. Afterwards, I put on my necklace and make a beeline for bed. I shut my eyes, but the image of the children’s frightened sobs haunt my dreams.

********************************************

I wake to someone knocking at my door. Stanley stands in the middle of the room where I left him last night. A small part of me feels bad about it, but my rage overtakes that feeling. I open the door to Eros holding out a yellow Blood N’Fused drink. I roll my eyes as I close the door. He places his foot in between the door and the frame, preventing the action.

I sigh in exasperation. “What do you need?”

“I would like to try and make amends,” he says, handing the drink to me.

“And you think a drink will do the trick? Fuck off, Eros.” I say and try to slam the door shut. Eros moves his foot out of the way before it gets caught.

“I also wanted to tell you that we are leaving soon for Central City. Sacrum Solstitium will begin in less than a week. It’s a few days worth of traveling. SU is on a break until Ianuani 3rd, 5033.”

I opened the door again. “I’m not going.”

“Sorry, tigress. It’s mandatory for all who are mateless to attend.”

I growl silently. “Fine! When are we leaving?”

He winks at me. “Soon, actually. You have about thirty minutes.”

“Whatever.” I snarled.

I grab the drink from his hands and slam the door shut. Stanley still stands in the center of the room.

“Go get cleaned up and get something to eat and to drink from the kitchen,” I say aloud.

Stanley nods silently and goes to the bathroom. I grab my brown drawstring back and stuff it with the magic leather, lingerie, and other miscellaneous items I could think of. I lay out one of the magical leathers on the bed for Stanley. I didn’t think I was that bad of a Mistress.

Stanley comes out with a towel around his hips. He had lean muscles with protruding ribs. He’s four inches taller than me with pale ivory skin. The bruises were more prominent and I wiped my face of any guilt present.

“Get dressed, we’ll be leaving soon.”

He dresses quickly with no questions asked. I hear another knock on the door. “We’re coming!”

I hurriedly put on a magic leather cloth and put my hair in a ponytail. Opening the door, I see Adeyemi standing at the doorway.

“You will ride with me. Your pet will ride with Eros.”

I shrug a shoulder. “’Kay,”

He hesitated. “That’s it? No objections?”

I narrowed my eye. “Did you want me to object?”

Adeyemi says nothing, walking to the living room with the others. Cassius stands by a window with his arms crossed. Eros sits at the bar counter with a drink in hand. Daxter sits in an armchair, deep in thought. Everyone stands when we appear.

“Let’s head out. The sooner we leave, the sooner we will arrive at Central City.”

We gather our belongings and leave the Keep. The sun had barely risen by the time we stride across the corridor and out on the courtyard. Biting winds nip at my skin. Naka lands at a distance, followed by my other pods’ steeds.

Naka lowers her giant gray head with her eyes on me. She starts to stalk her way to us, but Adeyemi stands in front of me.

“There’s no time for foolery, Naka.” he asserted.

She growled in response to his reprimand. I let out a small smile. Naka narrows her dark eyes at me, raising her reptilian lip in a snarl. I shrug my shoulders in return. We gather around and climb onto our steeds.

I sat in front of Adeyemi and the chilly air grew worse the higher we rose into the sky. The view was beautiful despite the iciness. There weren’t many birds diving in and out of the sea. I can hear the beguiling laughter of mermaids while they frolic in the sea. The whistles and clicks of dolphins indicate that they’ve joined the fray. The sun makes an appearance behind us when I see land at the distance.

I gasp at the wintry mirage in front of me. Tall trees covered in snow and icicles. White blankets of snow engulf the land of Sanomalis. The ocean brushes against the shoreline. A family of Arctic foxes dive into the snow for food, the occasional baying and howls of wolves off in the distance, and a small herd of pegasi galloping down the shoreline, brings joy to my heart. For a moment I forgot about the horrors of the world. For a moment, I wasn’t Valeri or Helena, I was just a female taking in the beauty of Earth’s creation.

We fly over Sanomalis and over a large frozen lake. Soon, skyscrapers gleam brightly in the sun. Metal rails curve in and out of buildings. Gigantic trees also grow within the city. People rush to and fro their destinations. Small business venders shout out how better their products are compared to others. Eco efficient vehicles zip across paved roads that line the city.

I was in awe of the city. An airport-esque area comes into sight with marshallers. They guide Naka and the others to land in a certain space. I get off of the giant beast and follow the others to a nearby transportation area.

Adeyemi turns to us. “Alright, we are going to rest at Etorius Gardens. I don’t care what you do, just don’t cause any trouble.”

He then points to me. “You are to stick with the pod, no wondering off. Cassius, you are in charge.”

I sigh dramatically. “Great, we are being watched by the Big Bad Wolf. Oh whatever shall we do?!” I add the dramatics by placing my hand over my forehead as if preparing to faint.

Cassius rolls his eyes while Eros guffaws loudly. Daxter smirks, crosses his arms, and shakes his head lightly. A sort of warmth settled in my chest. I hide my happiness behind a cool expression void of emotion.

When we got on the train, a dark sensation rose within my mind. I have a feeling that some truths will be revealed, and I won’t like it.