Ceres ran back through the palace, dashing up the stairs three at a time. She tore past Empire soldiers who tried to arrest her, and darted toward Thanos’s chamber, her feet moving so fast they barely touched the marble floors. Thanos was the only one who could help her at this point, she knew, and if he refused, she would drag him back to Harbor Cave bound and gagged if needed. Thanos needed to tell Rexus that she indeed had declined his proposal, and to allow her a chance to join the revolutionaries.
When she stormed into Thanos’s room, she was sorely disappointed to find it empty.
She sprinted toward the palace gardens, looked in the royal practice arena, and even checked the blacksmith’s chalet. But he was nowhere. It was as if Thanos had vanished into thin air.
The library, of course! she thought.
As she shot back through the gardens, she saw the queen standing on the veranda, eyes like a hawk, a hint of a conniving smile on her lips. And then four Empire soldiers rushed out from behind bushes and trees, arresting Ceres, their grips around her arms so tight it was painful.
“Thanos!” she screamed, thrashing legs. “Thanos!”
But he did not come.
The Empire soldiers dragged her upstairs to the queen’s chamber, and threw her onto the shiny marble floor at the queen’s feet. Two stood in front of the door, blocking it, while the other two marched past the stone statue of a couple embracing, and out onto the balcony, through the open doors.
“Come with me,” the queen said to Ceres.
The queen walked out through the flowing purple curtains onto the veranda, overlooking the ocean. Shaken, but still angered, Ceres climbed to her feet and followed after.
“I still don’t know how you managed to get out of your room,” the queen said, her steely eyes gazing into the distance, a golden wine goblet in her hand. “At first, I thought you found a way to climb out the window and down the side of the tower, but there would be no way to do that and not fall to your death.”
Ceres pinched her lips, not willing to offer up that Anka had freed her.
“So someone in the palace must have opened the door for you, and when I find out who that person is, I will personally skin them alive,” the queen said, her voice flat but strict.
“It’s not that difficult to unlock the door from the inside,” Ceres said, hoping the queen would believe she did it on her own.
The queen glanced at Ceres, squinting.
“I doubt that is what you did,” she said.
The queen turned away and peered across the ocean.
“When I was your age, I thought I could do whatever I wanted, too. Youth has a way of making one naïve and irrational,” she said.
“I am neither of those things,” Ceres said.
The queen took a sip of wine.
“Of course, you are, my dear. Your returning to the palace proves it. You should have stayed far away, Ceres. Here, we have your entire life planned out, and it will not be to your liking.”
“I won’t marry Thanos, if that’s what you mean,” Ceres said.
“You will, and as the new princess, it will be your responsibility to produce babies. Lots and lots of babies. You will never be seen. You will never be heard. Your children will not know you, for the instant they are out of your womb, they will be ripped from your arms to be raised by a nanny, far, far away.”
“I won’t marry Thanos.”
“You have no choice, Ceres. You will wed him and once you have produced enough children, you will be killed off and replaced by another girl, a woman of royal blood, someone deserving of the title princess.”
“Thanos would never let that happen. He’s not like the rest of you barbarians.”
The queen chuckled.
“Do you really think he cares for you?” she said, tsking. “Oh my. You are even more naïve than I thought.”
Ceres’s shoulders grew tighter with the queen’s words. Had he only pretended to hate his family and the royals to gain her sympathy? Had he shown affection to try and make her fall for him when in truth, he didn’t care for her at all? No, she didn’t believe it. His touch and his kiss had been too real.
“Thanos told me a secret, and I must say, he is even more of a barbarian than the rest of us,” the queen said.
“I doubt that,” Ceres said, her guard up.
“I suppose he didn’t tell you he was the one who sought out and killed your brother, Nesos?” the queen said, a glib smile on her lips.
With all her might, Ceres tried to keep her face free from expressing the pang of grief she felt on the inside, tried to force her eyes not to fill with tears. But she could not hold it all inside and fell onto hands and knees as racking sobs tumbled from her lips.
“Why…why are you doing this to me?” Ceres asked, her voice cracking. “How can you hate me so much when you don’t even know me?”
The queen walked toward Ceres, stepping on Ceres’s filthy dress.
“I don’t need to know you to realize that you are a very useful pawn to the Empire,” she said.
“I will never be your or anyone else’s pawn,” Ceres seethed.
The queen ignored her comment.
“Because of this marriage, peace will prevail through the land, allowing the Empire to maintain power. And when you have fulfilled your purpose, make no mistake, you will be discarded.”
The queen nodded toward the Empire soldiers behind her, and they grabbed Ceres’s arms and pulled her to her feet.
“Take her back to her room,” the queen said. “And make sure both her wrists and ankles are shackled this time.”
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Thanos always felt better after talking to Cosmas, and as he eagerly walked toward Ceres’s chamber, he knew with every fiber of his being that the right thing was to open up to her, even if it meant she would not have him.
He marched through the palace gardens, and just as he came around the gazebo, he saw the king approaching with his advisors. His uncle must surely be the most evil man to roam the earth, Thanos thought, a cruel murderer who would go to any length to maintain his power over his subjects.
Thanos veered from the path, taking a different route, hoping the king hadn’t seen him.
“Good day, Thanos,” the king yelled, waving for him to come.
Thanos’s skin crawled, but he approached his uncle as the advisors continued on down the path.
“Walk with me,” the king said.
He strolled down the pathway beside his uncle and toward the royal practice ground, the scent of the flowers so sweet, it was nauseating. Or was it his uncle’s presence that made him feel that way?
“I heard the proposal did not go as expected,” the king said, hands clasped behind his back.
Of all the people in the world, the king was the absolute last person Thanos wanted to have this conversation with. But here he was, trapped, and with no choice other than to answer his uncle’s prying questions.
“Not exactly,” Thanos said.
The king was silent for a moment, perhaps waiting for Thanos to say something.
“I can see you care for this girl,” the king finally said. “And it might surprise you to know that our stories are rather similar.”
That did surprise Thanos, and his curiosity was piqued.
“When I first met Athena, she could hardly stand to be in the same room as me,” the king said with a chuckle. “It was a blind marriage, one my parents had arranged in order to expand the Empire’s borders. I had heard rumors of Athena’s beauty and I could hardly wait to meet her, but when we met, Athena refused to acknowledge my existence in the least.”
“Why?” Thanos asked, having never heard this story before.
“You see, she had fallen in love with someone else.”
It was an interesting story, Thanos thought, but he failed to see how their situations were similar.
“We married, and after the first year, we became best friends, and passionate lovers,” the king continued with a proud expression on his face.
“Why are you telling me this?”