Chapter Forty-Four:
"A Fractured Key"
Raya’s wrists ached.
The iron shackles were old but unyielding, clamped tight enough to bite into her skin without breaking it. She had woken to cold stone beneath her, the scent of damp rot and rusted metal thick in the air. The only light came from torches burning low, their glow casting fractured beams that cut through the gloom.
Shadows gathered along the dungeon’s walls, deep and unbroken. Somewhere in the distance, water dripped steadily, the sound maddening in its repetition.
She wasn’t alone.
Sterling stood just outside the bars of her cell, watching her the way a collector might admire a prized relic.
His coat, pristine despite the dungeon’s filth, stirred slightly as he moved, the heavy fabric brushing against his boots. The torchlight cast sharp angles across his face, deepening the horrifying look of satisfaction in his eyes.
“Isn’t this just so sweet?” His voice smooth, almost amused. “The Players are finally on the board. The Waystone is nothing but dust. My plan to capture the Guardians is proceeding beautifully… and now?” He tilted his head, regarding her with something close to satisfaction. “Now, I have a Key Player sitting in my dungeon.”
He sighed, as if overwhelmed by his own good fortune. “Oh, things are going so well. But I mustn't get complacent, you are right my young friend. Never lose focus until you achieve your goals.”
Raya kept her expression still, refusing to give him the reaction he wanted. Every inch of her body screamed to move, to fight, but she knew better. Sterling wasn’t the kind of man who rushed things. He savored control, reveled in it. If she was still breathing, it meant he had plans for her.
He studied her for another moment before stepping back, his attention shifting toward the sound of approaching footsteps. A slow, deliberate clap echoed down the corridor, each beat carrying a mocking rhythm.
Hex had come. She moved with an unsettling ease, each step light against the stone, owning the space with an eerie confidence.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Her midnight-black hair caught the dim torchlight, but it was her eyes that held the most danger, brilliant, fevered, and brimming with untamed sadism.
She stopped beside her father, one gloved hand resting against the bars as she peered inside with childlike curiosity.
“I wanted to play with them longer,” she whined, her voice teetering between a pout and a giggle. “You always take away my toys too soon!”
Sterling barely glanced at her. “There will be other games.”
Hex huffed, leaning closer. “But I liked these ones. They were interesting.” Her gaze flicked to Raya, then to Ani's collar in her father's hand. Something darker grew beneath her amusement. “That one, especially. I could have held his head in my arms and stroked it all day."
Raya was helpless to do anything but listen to their mockery, but if Hex wanted fear, she wouldn’t get it.
Hex smiled, slow and deliberate. “Will there be more soon father?”
"More than you can imagine my twisted little child. Patience with the anticipation, makes the taste of satisfaction, all the sweeter."
The torches grew closer to their ends, hopelessly casting wounded light only seemed to deepen the darkness.
"Come now child, there is much still to do."
Hex drummed her fingers across Raya's bars, "I'm sorry we couldn't play more. I'll have some food sent down for you, but this time no enchantment to hide the rot and maggots... okay? Sound good?"
With that they were gone, taking Ani's collar with them.
Raya stood there in silence for a moment, then, she just couldn’t take it anymore.
Her whole existence had been a struggle, a fight she had never agreed to, one she had never won. She had no memories before waking up on that cold street, no past to cling to,just Ani. Ani, who had given her a reason to keep going. Ani, who had saved her, even when she had considered abandoning him.
Would he have done it if he knew? If he had known she had thought, even for a moment, of leaving him behind that night? She didn’t think so. He would have felt betrayed. His own family, his own bond, considering turning their back on him. And for what? This? This cruel joke of a world?
And now, she had been given him back, only to have him ripped away once more. She had fought so hard, endured so much, only to end up here, alone in the dark, in a cell where no one was coming to save her. No one even knew or cared she was here.
Her body felt heavy, the weight of it pressing down on her like the stones around her. The fight bled from her, drained away with every breath until all that was left was exhaustion.
Her breath caught. No. Not here. Not now.
She clenched her fists, nails biting into her palms, willing herself to push it down, to hold on. But the weight was too much. The ache in her chest swelled, a fist tightening its grip around her heart.
She curled into the corner, wrapping her arms around herself, and for the first time since losing Ani, she allowed herself to break.
Silent at first, then shaking, then ragged and unrestrained.
She cried.
Raya knew, without a doubt, that whatever was coming next would be worse than the chains.