Nesos buried his spear in one of the Empire soldier’s necks, and feeling his strength return, Rexus sunk his spear deeply into the enemy’s armpit.
A horn blared through the plaza, and the Empire soldiers looked up and began to evacuate toward the side streets. Mobs of citizens followed after and killed them.
The revolutionaries cheered, Nesos included. But Rexus couldn’t lift his arm and his knees felt suddenly very weak.
Nesos ran toward him, catching him in the fall, helping him onto the ground ever so gently.
As stillness settled at the piazza, Rexus lay there and looked toward the Alva Mountains, toward the cave, the castle, where he knew the bulk of his men were.
His eyes widened. His soul cried.
The castle was engulfed in a fiery inferno.
The revolution was over.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Ceres’s hair stood on the back of her neck as she waited for the axe to descend on her. The crowd had gone silent, and she heard her executioner raise his weapon into the air.
In that moment, her entire life flashed before her.
Yet, to her surprise, the blade never dropped.
Instead, she felt arms around her waist.
And a moment later, someone was hoisting her into the air.
She landed on her stomach, hunching forward, and realized she was draped across a horse’s back, her legs on one side, her head on the other. Someone hopped onto the same horse right behind her, whipping it to a sudden start, and Ceres felt a strong arm holding her around her waist, preventing her from falling. She heard arrows swooshing by, hitting against armor or a shield.
The Empire soldiers yelled, the spectators clamored, but their voices slowly vanished as the horse galloped away.
The horse stopped after riding for a while, and she felt her new captor descend the horse. Then sturdy hands grabbed her waist, lifted her off, and set her onto the ground.
She removed the blindfold from her eyes and her breath stopped when she saw Thanos’s face.
“Come,” he said, taking her hand, pulling her with him toward the palace.
“Wait,” she said. “Why…how…?”
She noticed her hands were still shaking, and she couldn’t believe she wasn’t yet dead.
He dragged her into the main entrance, her knees so wobbly she could barely keep up, confusion and anger and surprise reeling through her at once.
“We must speak to the king and queen this instant before the Empire soldiers hunt us down,” Thanos said.
Ceres stiffened and snatched her hand from his, the thought of seeing the king and queen petrifying.
“No! Why?” she asked. “They ordered my execution.”
Thanos pulled her behind a pillar in the vestibule, gently shoving her against the cold marble, looking into her eyes.
“I meant what I said at the Stade,” he said.
She narrowed her eyes.
“You can trust me with your life.”
When he leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers, she became breathless.
“And…I need you,” he said.
Thanos lifted his hand and looked at Ceres’s mouth while tracing her lips with his fingertips, his touch as light as a feather.
She shivered in delight, his scent all around her, his face an inch away, but the war between her head and her heart caused her to stiffen. She should not, no, she would not delight in his touch, she forbade her body. He was still the enemy, and for as long as she lived, he needed to remain that.
Reaching behind her head, he pressed his cheek to hers, the tenderness causing Ceres to let out a faint sigh. She felt his hand wrap around his waist, their bodies pressed against each other, warm, tender.
“But you must tell no one,” he said, pulling away. “Come. We need to see the king and queen. I have a plan.”
Against her will, she let him lead her into the colossal vestibule, and they ran past massive marble pillars that reached all the way to the high ceiling. Ceres had never seen the likes of such architecture; it seemed the palace was a building made by the gods. Silk curtains, shiny chandeliers, marble statues, and golden vases adorned the interior. Having just been in the dungeon, having lived in extreme poverty her entire life, it was as if she had been transported into another world.
Arriving at the second floor, he led her to an enormous bronze door and opened it. They stepped into a huge rectangular room, and at the end of red marble pillars, and rows of seats filled with finely dressed men and women, were two thrones. There sat the king and queen.
Holding Ceres’s hand, Thanos walked toward the thrones.
The king rose, his face red, blood vessels protruding from his forehead.
“What have you done?” he bellowed.
The queen placed a hand on the king’s, but the king only returned her gesture with a threatening glare.
“If you promise to spare Ceres’s life, I will agree to marry Stephania,” he announced.
Ceres glanced at Thanos sideways, wondering what he was doing, confused about his earlier advance.
“Do you think you run this kingdom, boy?” the king said, and then turned to the Empire soldiers. “Arrest them!”
“You will not arrest me!” Thanos yelled, taking a bold step forward as he pointed at the king.
But the Empire soldiers did not heed Thanos.
The king waved his hand and with that, Ceres and Thanos were grabbed again, and this time, both were hauled off to the dungeon.
Ceres stood by the bars, peering out into the dungeon hallway, her disbelief slowly being replaced with hopelessness. It hadn’t even been an hour, and here she was again in this rotting hole, awaiting her fate. At least now they had the cell to themselves, no thugs to fear, but other than that, she knew her circumstances were bleak. Extremely bleak.
She thought of the others she had been brought to the scaffolding with, wondering if their sentence had been completed, if they were now one of thousands of casualties at the hands of the cruel Empire.
And then there was Apollo… Tears filled her eyes and she whisked one away as it fell.
She glanced over at Thanos sitting on the filthy floor, his dignity stripped with one word from the nasty king.
“I’m sorry,” he said, leaning his head backward onto the dungeon wall. “I didn’t think my uncle would throw us in prison.”
“You couldn’t have known,” Ceres said.
“I should have.”
There was a long pause, for what was there to say? Ceres wondered. Examining the events that had led them here wouldn’t change their circumstances.
Thanos stood up and paced back and forth a few times.
“I misjudged the queen’s desire to have me marry Stephania,” he said.
He kicked the wall several times and rattled the cage so hard Ceres thought he might break the bars.
“Don’t blame yourself for others’ cruelty,” she said once he had calmed down, their eyes connecting in the dimness.
“I should have never stopped that horse.”
She held his eyes, his stare intense, the memory of his fingertips on her mouth and of his body pressed against hers still resonating through her.
She heard footsteps coming down the passageway, and when she turned, she saw numerous Empire soldiers throw a young lady and several men into the cell next to them.
She gasped.
“Anka?” she said as she peered through the iron bars, recognizing her.
Anka clamped bloodied hands around the bars, her body covered in burn marks, her lovely black locks gone, shorn in uneven lengths.
“Ceres?” she said, her eyes popping.
The Empire soldiers opened the door to Ceres’s cell and pulled Thanos and Ceres out, dragging them down the hallway.
“What happened? Are my brothers well? Is Rexus?” Ceres yelled back at Anka, desperate to know the answers.
“There was a battle…” Anka started.
But they turned the corner, and Ceres could no longer hear Anka’s voice over the thrashing of the Empire soldiers’ heavy boots. It crushed her.