THIRTY SIX

Word Count: 1818

~Akara

Silence consumes the room, the attention in the room focused on the glowing hot steel bar in Tai's hand.

Slowly, I drag my gaze to Marek, whose expression is flat, but there is no fear to be seen in his demeanor. He watches Tai keenly, aware of the King's quivering arm, the tight grasp on the rod, and how he stares me down, his intention to inflict world-ending pain on me with that single item.

"Do it. I dare you," Marek puurs.

Tai tilts his head slightly, hesitating. I stare down the tip of that metal bar, terrified. Tai is just doing this to break Marek, to prove a point...But why do I have to be on this end of this? I take an uneasy step backward, pleading with my eyes for Tai to realise how absurd this is, to realise that nothing is worth this.

Tai swallows, motioning at me with his other hand. "Come here."

"No, you're not going to permanently scar my skin to make a point," I breathe quietly, as if negotiating with a true maniac.

I'm aware that I could be ruining Tai's entire plan, but I'm not so sure he even has one. Marek is just standing behind the cell bars, watching us with growing interest. He has to believe Tai's performance, because I'm starting to believe that Tai is willing to hurt me, to scar my body to get information out of Tai.

Tai shrugs, callous and unbothered. "You can be healed."

My heart jumps into my throat, pulse throbbing against my skin. He doesn't mean that, does he? Him and I are both aware that he can heal me, but if he does, there is a possibility that the issue will arise again in a few months. Yet by him saying that he can heal me, it is him considering doing this, that the consequence can't be too high, so it's worth the risk. Suddenly I want to throw up.

I back up some more, until the rough concrete wall behind me grates against my fingers. "Tai, please don't."

He approaches me, one cool, calm step at a time. His rings glitter on his fingers, signifying who he is, a King, a powerful leader who would do anything for his Province. His back is straight, muscles tense as he holds the steel bar in front of him, cold eyes gliding over me, as if he is looking for any space on my skin to burn me.

"Alright Tai, give it up," Marek chokes from within the cell. "I'll talk."

Tai pauses in his step, and an overwhelming amount of relief crushes down upon me, nearly having me sinking to the floor. I'm not sure what made Marek decide to end it. Did he truly think Tai was going to hurt me, and he couldn't bear to watch it? Or did he see it for the lie that it likely is, and thought to preserve Tai and I's relationship - that I doubt.

Or maybe he just didn't want to see the fear that encapsulated me. That everyone in this room was witnessing.

Tai drops the steel bar onto the ground, the sound clattering through me, the last thing I can handle, as he looks into Marek's cell. "Figures. You really are pathetic."

I can no longer hold back the urge to throw up. Bending at the waist, I'm sick all over the ground at my feet, at the foot of the cell. To my horror, it's blood, scarlet red and spreading across the dark grey of the floor. I feel it hot against my lips, dribbling down my chin and into my cupped hands.

Tai jumps back as blood splatters at his feet and up his pants. "Fuck."

"What the hell have you done to her?" Marek growls, stepping forward to grip the bars, looking down at me with a horrified expression, at the blood I've just thrown up all over the floor.

An immense amount of pain stabs right into my stomach, forcing my legs out from under me, my hip and right backside hitting the floor with a bite of pain to follow. I know this dizzying, sickening pain. It's the same pain I experienced when Vaia stabbed me, and when I first showed signs that Tai's healing hasn't been working.

"I'll get a doctor," Tai exclaims, bending down for only a moment. I flinch away from the touch of his fingertips on my back, as if he is still brandishing that bar. "You're going to be okay."

When I don't respond, wincing and gritting my teeth from the pain, Tai stands, swiftly leaving the room to get me help. He knows I wouldn't have let him carry me if he tried.

"Akara...What's happening?" Marek demands, sliding down to kneel at my level, looking as though at any moment he might try reaching through the gaps in the bars for me. The concern in his eyes, the fear, it's all real. He looks over me, eyes pausing on where my hand clutches my stomach. When I follow his gaze, I notice I'm bleeding again, blood seeping through the fabric of my shirt.

"I'm dying Marek. Something is wrong," I whisper, pain lacing each word I grit out.

Marek summons a breath, closes his eyes for a short moment, before he gracefully stands. My eyes go blurry for a moment, as the pain is almost too much to bear. However when I can see again, Marek is using a key to unlock the cell door. Where he got them from, I'm not sure, but I also can't think of a reason to care right now.

He approaches me, kneeling down at my side. "Come here...You're bleeding through your shirt."

I look up, and for a moment, his frosty blue irises and silvery mark make the pain seem less severe. "You had keys all along?"

"I'm no fool Akara," he shakes his head. I figured he wouldn't have allowed himself to get caught without having another plan in mind. He gently touches my arm, seeking permission. When I don't protest, he lifts my arm with heart-breaking tenderness, examining the blood. "What happened here?"

"Vaia stabbed me, the night of the rebel overthrow...Did she not tell you?" I ask. Marek is a smart man, he should have been able to determine that something was wrong when I grasped my stomach, especially if he knew.

He blinks, a flicker of unknown emotion clouding his eyes. "No..."

"Tai tried to heal me." I wince, shifting my spot, Marek still gripping my arm tightly. I may be revealing Tai's secret, that he has powers of some kind, but I don't know what else to do. If I don't find help soon, I'm only going to get worse. "Marek I'm going to die."

"No, I'm not letting that happen," he growls lowly, looking over me as if there is something he can do, a way for him to make the pain go away. Him and I both know that isn't possible.

"If Tai comes back, he is going to kill you," I exclaim, looking toward the door.

As much as I have been trying to convince myself that Marek is the enemy, that he can't be trusted, I know in this moment that I'm wrong about that. Whatever Marek's intentions are, he cares about me, and isn't going to let any harm come to me. I just hope I can make it so he doesn't cause Tai any harm either.

"I'll kill him first, before he even has a chance to touch me," he mutters, not even bothering to look intimidated or frightened by Tai's potential return. I'm worried Tai will see Marek standing so close to me, see that he truly cares, and that he will do anything to save me, and blame me for that...Maybe I am to blame.

I grip Marek's arm in return, feeling the hidden strength beneath the fabric of his shirt. "No, don't hurt him."

"He was willing to burn you because he was angry at me," Marek growls, anger lacing his tone, creeping into his expression. He doesn't bother holding it back, doesn't bother erecting that mask. He's angry at Tai, but he is also angry at himself. Were it not for him, Tai would never have threatened me in the first place.

"He was scared. He knew you would tell him not to, he wanted to prove you still care about me, and you gave him that," I rationalise. Tai and I never spoke about this beforehand, we never had the chance to. But that has to be his reasoning?

Right?

"And what if he did hurt you Akara, what would you have done then?" Marek demands, grip on me tightening. Only an hour earlier Marek was in my room, ready and willing to be seduced by more. Or perhaps he knew the entire time I was lying, that he never wanted my desire,

I shake my head, refusing to believe the gentle Tai I know so well would ever intend to harm me, even for someone he hates as much as Marek. "He wouldn't have..."

Marek reaches up to pull my hair out of my face, allowing me to concentrate on something else other than the pain still echoing in my stomach. "You don't know that, and you will never know for sure what he intended to do to you."

"I'm giving you one chance Marek... to get out of here, before I scream," I breathe calmly, although my warning rings clear.

I won't sit here and allow him to speak about Tai like he is a bad man, like he wishes harm on me. What I need is to think about this myself, in my own time, to not trust the word of Marek, even if the feeling of his fingertips gently brushing my skin feels admittedly amazing.

Marek examines my face for a long, cold moment, before he stands, leaving me continuing to bleed on the floor. We both know he needs to get out of here before Tai returns.

His concern, his fear and his admiration for me are all evident on his face before he turns to leave the room, casting one more glance before he is gone.

💚••💚

If you guys want to read ahead, you can read more of KING'S SEDUCTION on Radish! It's chapters ahead of Wattpad (:

You'll will find it under KING'S POSSESSION on Radish, as season 2!

👻••👻

I'm officially rewriting Alpha Jasper's story now on Radish! It will be following the same storyline with the same characters, but with revised scenes and some new ones!

I love Jasper's story so much that I wanted to go back and rewrite it. I hope you guys will enjoy it, you can find it now on Radish (:

Snapchat: midikacrane

Instagram: Sophie_Midika

~Midika 💜🐼