Under the Lavender Moon by Christina Fong

Author:Christina Fong [Fong, Christina Mai]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Christina Fong
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

• • • • • • • • • •

I surveyed the other cages. A red birthmark in the shape of a four marked one woman’s shoulder blade. Had she been thrown in a cage simply for possessing a mark believed to be cursed?

The cages all held dead or dying women. They had been beaten, their bodies bruised and cut. One cage contained nothing but black ash. Fragments of terra cotta clay, figurines of petrified women, littered the floors of other cages, but the broken pieces and moss that grew on the wooden cage bars indicated they had been killed long ago and left forgotten. They hadn’t even been given the decency of a burial. Angry tears burned my eyes.

A chilling scream broke through the frozen silence of the forest. The piercing cries of desperation echoed in my ears. “I promise I’ll do whatever you want if you spare us.”

Some poor woman was being tortured.

A whip cracked. “There is no forgiveness or mercy for those who have sinned against His Majesty. Sneaking around the palace to see your lover is disgraceful.”

A hint of jasmine and coconut wafted through the air, cutting the rot and death. That was Empress Limera’s perfume. I remembered it from when she had come to assess the trinkets.

“True love is not a sin. It is the emperor who forced me to leave my fiancé.”

“You had no business becoming engaged with a man, a palace soldier nonetheless, when you were still of eligible age to be His Majesty’s faela. You and your lover deserve worse than death.”

“Punish me, then. Leave him alone.”

“It is too late. He was beheaded this morning.”

“No!” Broken sobs reverberated through the forest. “We committed no wrong. It is you and your lecherous husband who deserve worse than death. May both of you be cursed in your next four afterlives.”

Another series of lashes sounded, and Empress Limera’s shouts rose above the young woman’s screams. “You continue to deny your infidelity, and now you shout blasphemies at your sovereigns? I promise by the time I am finished, you will wish I had left you a way to take your own life. Oh, how I shall enjoy hearing you beg me to stop.”

Footsteps sounded, quickly growing closer. I jolted up and hid behind the trees. Empress Limera emerged from the path, appearing so quickly, she could have been a specter summoned from the depths of the underworld. Three women followed her close behind—two older middle-aged women dressed in trifle uniforms and the third in trinket robes.

Irica. My childhood tormentor carried herself with dignity, mimicking the empress’s haughty demeanor, but her pale face and wide eyes reflected terror.

I held my breath until they walked past me. I felt for my necklace, trying to let the pendant calm me.

I came out of hiding and headed in the direction where the empress had come.

I recognized the tortured girl. She was one of the other trinkets. She was a little older than I, between eighteen and twenty years old. The girl lay on her side, her back covered in blood and shredded skin.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.