It was all she had left of her dead mother… Her only inheritance.
His throat tightened as he remembered her giving it to him six months ago. “I can’t take this, Zarya. I know what it means to you.”
“Please take it. My father used to say that it would protect me from harm. See…”—she’d pointed to the side of the stone—“ it has the face of Tearsa on it.” Tearsa was the goddess of healing and protection. “I’ve never been wounded while wearing it. And I want her to protect you, too. Please, Kere. You’re everything to me. I have to know that you’re safe at all times.”
He’d allowed Zarya to put it on his pinkie and had sworn to her that he’d protect it with his life.
It was a vow he intended to keep.
Even though Darling was paralyzed, he focused the mental powers he had as hard as he could. They weren’t going to take her ring without a fight. Touching the part of his mind that functioned on a higher level, he managed to clench his fist shut to keep them from removing the ring.
They tightened their grip on his hand as they attempted to pry it open.
Darling used everything he had to keep his fist tight and to protect that ring like he’d promised.
Pip cursed him for it, then pulled out a knife and sliced his finger off.
Pain ripped through him as tears dulled his sight and his head swam. He felt so sick.
Jeering in triumph, Pip danced his severed finger in front of Darling’s eyes as he slid the ring off it. “Bonus round. Now we have proof to send to the governor that we have him.” He tossed the bloody ring into the air and caught it. “And I have something I can use to buy my wife a new dress and pay some bills. Thanks, Highness. Tim, stop the bleeding. We don’t want His Royal Faggotry dying on us like his bitch sister did.”
Appalled, disgusted, and heartbroken, Darling let the agony and horror of everything that had happened in the last few minutes wash over him. But worse than that was the fear of what would happen to his mother and Drake after they killed him.
And they would.
There was no way in hell his uncle would ever spend a single cred to get him back. Not after Arturo had already sent an assassin to kill him. And he knew that for a fact. He had given the contract that Arturo had signed listing him as the target to Hauk for safekeeping until tonight when Darling had planned to use it to call Arturo out at the CDS.
Little did the Resistance know, they’d done his uncle a huge favor today. For once, Arturo wouldn’t have to fabricate a story as to why his “obstacle” had died by an assassin’s hand. Arturo would dance for joy that his enemies had killed his nephew for him.
And the men around him were going to get what they deserved. Arturo as their permanent governor. An uncontested leader who hated them as much as they hated him. One who would take the same amount of pity on them as they’d shown Darling and his sister.
None whatsoever.
May the gods help them now that he wouldn’t be there to protect them from Arturo’s wrath.
Yeah, fate was a bitch, but she always had a wicked sense of humor. Today, he was her punch line.
Tomorrow, she’d be laughing at them.
Darling’s thoughts turned to Zarya. He wanted to believe she had nothing to do with this. That she’d never sanction such cruelty from her men.
But he knew better.
Clarion had the very weapon he’d designed for her. A weapon she’d worn on her body just last night, and had promised she wouldn’t take off no matter what. The only way for Clarion to have it was for her to have given it to him.
I’m such a fool.
He’d let his love for her blind him to her true nature. She was just like everyone else. Selfish. Heartless.
Cruel.
Don’t doubt her. Maybe he stole it.
Darling ruthlessly held on to that single hope until they landed and the men roughly dragged him off the ship. Like his palace guards, they took pleasure in causing him as much pain as possible.
They were halfway through the hangar he knew as well as his own when he heard Zarya’s voice off in the distance.
“What’s going on here?” she demanded as she closed the distance between them.
Pip answered. “We captured the effing heir, Darling Cruel. Can you believe it? How lucky are we? Bastard fell right into our hands.”
Darling couldn’t lift his head to see Zarya, but he prayed she would recognize him and stop this madness. Surely, she would know his body.
His scars.
True she’d never seen them in any kind of light, but she’d felt every inch of his body with her hands and tongue enough that she should know it by now. Couldn’t she sense it?
If nothing else, she should recognize the tattoo on his shoulder blade that marked him as a Sentella soldier and an assassin. While it was custom designed, it still bore enough semblance to the Sentella’s emblem that she’d have to know it. Surely… Not to mention the wound in the middle of his tattoo that she’d castigated him over just two nights ago.
Please, Z. Please see me…